Bleacher Report - Articles by Zach Evans

Capitals-Penguins: Time To Pull Those Belts Up Tight One More Time!

Zach Evans — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:21:09 -0400

"We're playing Pittsburgh. Welcome to the circus."

Those were Bruce Boudreau's words to the media about playing Pittsburgh after the Capitals had defeated the New York Rangers 2-1 in game seven. And what a circus it will be.

High-Flying Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals against Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Offense against offense, both have the ability to play strong defense.

The key to the series as in almost every NHL playoff series: Goaltending.

Rookie Simeon Varlamov, who went 4-2 with a 1.17 GAA and .952 save percentage, faces off against Marc-Andre Fleury (4-2, 2.39 GAA and .922 save percentage).

You can't have any more hype for this one then there will be. Heck, I wish it was Saturday already so I can make the trek up to Verizon Center to cheer on the Caps.

Every time Ovechkin and Malkin are on the ice, they will try to do out do each other. Semin and Crosby going head-to-head, is a match-up of great magnitude ever since the infamous, "What's so special about Crosby" bit from Semin.

This playoff series will be one of the most watched and memorable in recent memories. For our sake...GO CAPS!!! PENS SUCK!!

Green Means Go For The Norris

Zach Evans — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:03:12 -0400

With all this talk about Ovechkin and the MVP, and how many goals he's going to score this year, I forget about that one guy named Mike Green.

In case you were off doing stupid stuff instead of watching hockey Wednesday night, Green scored his 29th and 30th goals of the season, and a franchise record 17th and 18th powerplay goals.

Green is now 4 goals shy of the franchise record set by Kevin Hatcher (34 goals in the 92-93 season).

With Green pushing his power play goal total to 18 on the season, it's one shy of the all-time single season record for power play goals in a season by a defenseman. Montreal’s Sheldon Souray established that mark with 19 power play goals in 2006-07.

Green has a plus/minus rating of +24 on the season. If he can move it up a notch to +25, he will become just the second defenseman in league history to record 30 or more goals, 15 or more power play goals and a +25 or better defensive rating in the same season.

The other guy on that list? One Bobby Orr, who had 46 goals (16 of them on the power play) and was a plus-80 for the Bruins in 1974-75. That’s pretty good company for Green, if he can pull it off.

Now after relaying all of these stats, I better cut to the chase.

Mike Green should win the Norris Trophy this season. We all know that his defensive skills have improved but aren't up to par with that of a Nicklas Lidstrom or Zdeno Chara. But the Norris Trophy is for the best defensemen, and Mike Green certainly is the best defensemen.

He came into his own last year, but this year has certainly been a magical one for Green, capped off by the record setting eight straight goals by a defensemen.

Mike Green for the Norris, because Green means GO!

With Only Six Games Left, the Race to 60 Is On

Zach Evans — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:18:39 -0400

At the beginning of the year, most of us pondered on how many goals the Great Eight would score this year. Some predicted that his production would be slightly down, some said slight up and some said around the same.

I was one that went higher and said this was the year that magical number 70 would be scored. Okay laugh it off but let's go serious now.

Ovechkin is sitting on 53 goals as of right now, with six games left to go. To get to the magical number of 60 for the second year in a row, Ovechkin would have to score a goal a game for the remaining six games and score a two-goal game in there somewhere.

Theoretically of course, Ovechkin could not score in a game, then score two or three the next night instead of scoring one a night. This seems more likely to me than scoring in every game although that's quite easily possible given the Capitals remaining six opponents.

The Caps start a three-game home-stand versus the Islanders, Sabres, and Thrashers respectively over the next couple of days.

Ovechkin is pretty much money for goals at home and with the Thrashers coming to town, Ovechkin gets to lick his chops on Kari Lehtonen, a goalie he has feasted on in his young career, scoring the most goals against him than any other goaltender in the NHL over his four-year career.

Ovechkin Goal Count with three games remaining: 57

I see him scoring at least two against the Thrashers and a split one goal each against Buffalo and New York.

The Caps are on the road the last three games and all against opponents Ovechkin has lit up this year. To close out the regular season the Caps play against Atlanta again, Tampa Bay and Florida.

Ovie has tormented all of these teams this year (I already documented his success against Atlanta) and I can see him scoring three goals in three games to close out the season, especially with him having high motivation to get to 60 goals for a second straight year.

Ovechkin Final Goal Count: 61

I see the Great Eight's final goal count at 61 goals at the end of the 2008-2009 season. I wanted to go a little higher, but I tried to keep it realistic for him to break the mark. My prediction is 61 for The Great Eight.

Alex Ovechkin Is On Fire..Or His Stick Is Atleast

Zach Evans — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:43:51 -0400

Last night Washington Capital Alex Ovechkin scored his league-leading 50th goal in the Caps's 5-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Caps played somewhat sloppy in the opening and second periods. Perhaps the team was a bit distraught from the two disallowed goals.

I was in pure "yell at the TV at the top of your lungs" mode when Semin's goal got disallowed for an extremely cheap hooking call, but the Caps were able to rebound nicely.

They cranked up the heat up in the third period, scoring three times in 10 minutes to seal the game away for the Capitals.

The real star if the night was Ovechkin who, after scoring his 50th goal, proceeded to drop his stick on the ice and wave his hands over it up and down as it were too hot from him to touch it.

I'm sure we will hear from Don Cherry momentarily about this incident. Even Tampa Bay head coach Rick Tocchet wasn't amused.

"I think he's a terrific player. He went down a notch in my books after that," Tocchet said. "It's not something I like. It's hard for me to accept, to see something like that in our building."

Earth to Tocchet: The best player in the game is right there celebrating in front of you. You should be honored to get to watch him dazzle the NHL arenas with his moves.

OK, so I'm just a tad biased on the Capitals.

But seriously, you can't tell me for a second that you didn't enjoy that celebration. That's the kind of fun hockey needs in the game, and Ovechkin brings it to you every damn night of the season.

I love watching him play and I love his celebrations. Even Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said he doesn't think this will be the last creative celebration for "The Great 8".

"He's got a shot that's second-to-none, and he's got a determination that's second-to-none," Boudreau said. "There's going to be more seasons where he's going to get more than 50, more than 60 and maybe even 70 before he's done yet."

I will be the one of the first ones screaming my head off when that does happen.

Why People Like Me Don't Care About A-Rod and Steriods

Zach Evans — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:14:44 -0500

Baseball can never seem to let something live and let die. Another "superstar" has admitted to using steroids and another cry of shame is up in the air. People leave the man alone!

After the story came out last weekend that Alex Rodriguez had used performance enhancing drugs from 2001-2003, he came out and said it was true, apologized, and stated that he's now ready for 14 years of clean baseball.

So leave him the heck alone!

I'm sick and tired of players using steroids. I don't give a flying you-know-what. It's sick, old, and the public is tired of hearing about it.

Yes, I DO acknowledge that it's a big problem and baseball needs to clean it up, blah, blah, blah.

But, clean it up behind closed doors and don't tell the media about it. They cannot have a heart attack with whatever you are doing behind the scenes. Other sports have handled situations like this similarly.

Granted, other sports haven't had the doping issue like baseball has but they've had issues that created huge media craziness that manage to go away. How about Spygate?

We thought it was going to go on for awhile, but over time, it died down. And if you asked the average person, they may not even know what you're talking about.

How about the Gretzky gambling ring scandal around four or five years ago. Yea, I know you definitely don't remember that.

The point is...baseball needs a way to clean up the game behind closed doors, so that we can stop hearing about another player using steroids and someone writing a retarded book about it to make money.

Memo to the NHL: Be Afraid—Alex Ovechkin Has Regained His MVP Form

Zach Evans — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 12:00:48 -0500

More than halfway through the season, opposing teams are now fearing what has yet to happen this season. A completely dominant Alex Ovechkin that scores at will, and scores in bunches when he does.

After finishing up a super weekend for himself, Ovechkin scored five goals, two against the reigning champs and a hat trick against the struggling Sens. Ovechkin now has 36 goals on the year, four more than counterpart Jeff Carter (32).

The Great Eight is on tear now, scoring 31 goals in his last 37 games. At this point of the season last year he actually had less goals scored. That's scary for opposing teams to know, yet Ovechkin is now ready to take over and carry the Caps like he did last year.

Except OV won't be carrying them from worst to first in the division. He will try to help the Caps chase down the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins. Ovechkin has definitely been the reason the Caps have stayed at the top of the Eastern Conference this year. Just look at their record when he scores a goal: 23-1-1. If that's not pay dirt I don't know what is.

The continual resurgence of Ovechkin has not just a potent offensive threat, but as also a physical presence. Ovechkin is in the top five among hits in the league which is unprecedented for someone who is leading the NHL in goals.

Ovechkin is having another MVP like season and that's why fans at the Verizon Center serenaded him with chants of "MVP!" after he scored his hat trick goal on Sunday.

And why not? Ovechkin is the best player in the world, and if he keeps playing like this why wouldn't he win another Hart trophy this year? I'm with you Ovie, you've carried this team to greatness and I was proud to be one of the sellout 18,277 chanting MVP! MVP! MVP!

It's the Montreal Penguins vs. the Chicago Ducks!

Zach Evans — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:16:57 -0500

I'm sure we are all aware of the NHL All-Star game starting line-ups by now. But if you've been away for a few days, let me update you on this grand situation. For the Eastern Conference, the starters are Sidney Crosby at center with Evgeni Malkin and Alexi Kovalev on wings. Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek will man the blue line while Carey Price will be in net. Ladies and gentlemen, give a big round of applause to the Eastern Conference All-Stars: the Montreal Penguins!

Now for the Western Conference. We have centers Jonathan Toews, Ryan Getzlaf, and Patrick Kane on the wing. The starting defensemen will be Brian Campbell and Scott Niedermayer, and J.S Giguere gets the start in goal! Ladies and gentlemen, the Western Conference All-Stars: the Chicago Ducks!

Now that we got the humor section of this done with, it's time to get down to business. Guys, I have huge problems with the whole All-Star business first and foremost about the way it's done. The NHL needs to adopt the voting system that NFL does, so that the best players are truly represented. The fans just vote over and over again for their players (like the Canadians) and they take the spot of the true players who deserve to be there.

If anybody believes that Alex Ovechkin should NOT be in the All-Star game, please stand up. Well since everyone is still seated we can move forward. It's absolutely mind-blowing that The Great Eight is not on the starting line. This is the 2007-2008 NHL MVP and the first player to ever win four major awards!

He's tearing up the league this season (27-26-53) and if you can believe it, he's pace to break his points and goals totals from last year! Absolutely unbelievable that he's not starting.

I ask you, the fellow faithful, if the the All-Star voting should be changed. I believe they should adopt the style of the NFL voting for the Pro-Bowl and we'd have a much better and accurate starting line-up for future games. What about you?

Nicklas Backstrom Prospering in Washington

Zach Evans — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:16:41 -0500

The Other Nicklas Backstrom

We are just around the time of the All-Star Game, as people and analysts around the sporting world will begin to give out their mid-season awards for best teams, players, and etc. To me, the most improved player in the Eastern Conference, and possibly the NHL, is Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom.

After a slow start to his year prompting cries of a sophomore slump, Backstrom has silenced and surprised everyone with his play in the last 30 games. Backstrom has 11 goals and 33 assists for 44 points, second on the team only to the Great Eight, Alex Ovechkin.

Of course, living in Washington and growing up loving the Capitals, it might seem a little biased that I pick Backstrom as the most improved player, but just look at the glowing stats from the second year center.

Backstrom totaled 69 points last year (14-55-69) in the 82-game regular season. Through the halfway mark Backstrom has 44 points. He is on pace for at least an 80 point season, with possibly 20 goals and 60 assists.

The Capitals are 26-11-3 (55 points) with a 10-point lead in the Southeast Division and second place in the Eastern Conference overall, trailing the Bruins by seven points (who the Caps already have a 3-1 victory over this year). The Caps are also an Eastern Conference best 17-1-1 on home ice this season.

Backstrom has complimented the exceptional play of reigning NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin (27-26-53) and has helped keep the Capitals on pace for the playoffs.

Yeah, I know your gonna say, "Well he's playing on a line with Ovechkin, of course he's going to get points!" Well guys, I don't see Petr Sykora or Ruslan Fedotenko racking up the points because they're playing with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin!

It takes skill to play with someone as highly skilled as Ovechkin, and the Capitals are benefiting from the great chemistry that two have had ever since they were paired up last year.

I know Nicklas Backstrom is the most improved player from last season, but that's just me. What do you have to say? Sound off, I don't mind. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.