Washington Capitals Thumbs Up Thumbs Down (CMigrator copy 8)
Washington Capitals 3-0 Montreal Canadiens
Boston Bruins 4-1 Washington Capitals
Florida Panthers 0-4 Washington Capitals
Thumbs Up:
Alexander Semin: In his first 27 games this season, Alexander Semin scored five goals along with six assists, numbers that put him on track to tally a full-season career low of 33 points. In his last 22 games, however, Semin has eight goals and 12 assists for 20 points, numbers that, should he have kept it up all season, would have given him 75 points. He had one goal and two assists in his three games this week. The enigmatic Russian is playing some of the best hockey of his career right now, and is making it very hard for George McPhee and the Caps to move.
Matt Hendricks: There is a reason Matt Hendricks established himself as a key part of the Caps team a season ago: his grit, willingness to fight, and goalscoring touch made him indispensable to the team. Hendricks has struggled to be that player this season, but rekindled his old self this week. In his three games, 'Hendo' scored a goal, added an assist, and fought Boston defender Adam McQuaid to stick up for teammate Brooks Laich, picking up an extra roughing minor in the process. It's weeks like these that makes Matt Hendricks worth the money.
Tomas Vokoun: Czech netminder Tomas Vokoun's season has been far from consistent, but this past week he showed why he is considered one of the NHL's best goalies. Vokoun started all three of the Capitals' games, winning two, both through shutouts, recording an awesome 0.99 goals against average and an outrageous .970 save percentage. Vokoun needs to be better if the Caps want to find success, and this week sure has been a good sign.
Thumbs Down:
Karl Alzner: Not many things went wrong for the Caps this week, but one of them was the performance of Karl Alzner. No points, -1, and his first roughing penalty for the Caps defenseman in an otherwise pretty flawless seven days.
