By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
The Penguins should feel confident — and a bit fortunate — to escape the relentless Islanders. New York dominated for long stretches in the series, using its speed to fluster Pittsburgh's talented but sometimes plodding roster of veterans.
Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma insists he still believes in Marc-Andre Fleury, that the issues for the reeling Penguins go far beyond the struggles of their Stanley Cup-winning goaltender.
Holtby was one of the biggest stories in the playoffs last year as he helped carry the Caps to within a victory of the Eastern Conference finals by putting up a 1.95 goals-against average and .935 save percentage. At 22 years old, he showed the poise of a veteran.
Holtby will start the regular-season finale against the Boston Bruins as he and the Caps get into playoff pattern.
For the first 10 minutes Thursday night, the Caps didn't register a shot. But in beating the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1, they rolled to their sixth straight victory.
The Caps went 12-15-1 without Laich, who injured his groin while playing for the Kloten Flyers in Switzerland during the NHL lockout.
Ovechkin has no even-strength goals (and just two power-play ones total) through the Caps' first 10 games. It's a topic of conversation because he's a two-time MVP but especially so at Consol Energy Center where Ovechkin vs. Crosby is in the spotlight.
Tomas Vokoun's face lit up at the mention of Marc-Andre Fleury's name. Fleury is entrenched as the Pittsburgh Penguins' starting goaltender, but Vokoun went there as his backup and in the hopes of winning a Stanley Cup.
Vokoun was handed the No. 1 goaltender job with the Washington Capitals last season, but because of injuries, the coaching change and more, the season didn't go as planned.
At the moment, there's absolutely no goaltending controversy for the Washington Capitals. But it's not playoff darling Braden Holtby who grabbed a hold of the starting job.
If Braden Holtby hasn't done enough to lock down the No. 1 goaltender job and lock it down hard, one can only wonder what people were watching the last time hockey was actually played.
A year ago, Alex Ovechkin and Stan Galiev were on the ice in Arlington, Va., for some informal preseason workouts when they heard the news.
It's August and the Washington Capitals have been quiet since hiring Tim Hunter as assistant coach and Brett Leonhardt as video coach. But that didn't stop Michal Neuvirth from making some August news with comments he gave to the Czech website iSport.cz.
George McPhee flashes a deft poker face often, not willing to share his plans for the Washington Capitals before he makes a big move. That could be the case this offseason, or the general manager could be calmly blunt about not wanting to spend a lot of money in free agency.
The Washington Capitals dealt unrestricted free agent goaltender Tomas Vokoun's rights to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday for a seventh-round pick in the draft later this month, and Vokoun soon after signed a two-year contract worth $4 million.
Tomas Vokoun said during his time as a Washington Capitals goaltender that hockey is sometimes a simple game: You can't win if you don't score goals.
Capitals start slow vs. Hurricanes, roll to sixth straight win →
"I rushed back and look at what happened to me," Vokoun said. "Who knows what I cost myself doing that? But it's part of life and it's something, you can't sometimes control situations. But from my own experience, anybody who has a groin injury, even talking to guys here, take as much as time as you need because it's not worth it."
