Varlamov, Beagle Lead Caps to Shutout of Habs

If the Washington Capitals play this well every game, then they could finally achieve their goal of capturing the franchise's first Stanley Cup. Tonight, against a Montreal Canadiens team that eliminated (and embarrassed) them last spring, the red, white and blue (American version) scored enough, played decent defense and had a stellar penalty kill for a 3-0 victory behind 25 saves from Semyon Varlamov.

One of the stars of the night was Jay Beagle, who scored the team's first goal on a beautiful no-look shot and was buzzing all night. He was rewarded for his efforts with the game's second star. On his goal, Beagle gathered the puck from Eric Fehr behind the net and, just as goalie Carey Price thought it was going to pass, deposited the puck top shelf via a backhand at 16:20 of the first.

Then, about three minutes later, Mike Green (while falling down) whipped a back-door pass from Nicklas Backstrom behind Price to give the Caps a 2-0 lead. The Caps' final goal came on an Alex Ovechkin empty netter with 32 seconds left.

The Caps' defense was solid tonight in a game with 14 penalties. They were sound in their own zone and kept their assignments well. They also killed off five Montreal power plays to improve on their 84.8 percent (7th in the league coming into the game) success rate.

If there are any nits to pick, it would be that the Caps' power play looked disorganized and couldn't convert any of its eight opportunities, despite 15 shots (half of their total output). Their power play (18.5 percent, well down from their record 25.2 percent last season) appears lost.

And, in a game where Backstrom, Ovechkin and many other Caps looked like they were back in prime form, Alex Semin was invisible. He had two shots and one of his all-too-frequent lazy, hooking calls. He didn't pose any threats and too frequently looked out of place on a team that is trending up and rounding into a squad that looks (nearly) like one that would fit well into the rigors of a long postseason run.

Note: Reports surfaced today that the team might be headed to Sweden to begin next season. No official word from the Caps as of yet.