The Atlanta Thrashers mascot heckles Alex Ovechkin.

After a lengthy summer of twiddling our thumbs, Washington Capitals fans finally got to see their boys back in action Friday evening. There was much anticipation surrounding the regular season opener in Atlanta against the Thrashers and their new head coach Craig Ramsey. Most fans expected a blowout win to start the season. The excitement and anticipation was met with a sub-par performance by the Capitals and a disheartening 2-4 loss in Blueland and the news that the Capitals No. 1 goalie, Semyon Varlamov, had been placed on injured reserve.

Caps fans never fear! This team has a knack for winning at home and for putting on shows that won’t soon be forgotten. That was certainly the case the next day back home in D.C. where the Caps pummeled the New Jersey Devils 7-2, with Michal Neuvirth in net.  The last give minutes of the game were perhaps the most exciting, as the Capitals took the pummeling from the scoreboard to the faces and bodies of the Devils players. Not often in the “new NHL” do you see five fights in one game — with four of them being within 10 seconds of playing time.

Out of all the frays, New Jersey Devil Pierre-Luc Leblond got himself a one game suspension for instigating a fight with the Caps’ Swedish Rookie, Marcus Johansson, in the final five minutes of the 3rd period. This sparked quite a bit of outrage on the Caps bench as the young Swede refused to drop the gloves with Leblond seconds earlier before being chased across the ice and lassoed to the ground by the collar of his jersey by the Devils Forward. Capitals Rookie Defensemen, John Carlson, willingly stepped in for his teammate and found himself hitting the showers early because of it. Caps Head Coach Bruce Boudreau tried his best to keep the rest of his players from hopping over the boards before it turned into an all out bench clearing brawl.

Mike Green taking a swing at Devil's Captain Ilya Kovalchuk. Photo Courtesy of Getty Images.

Not only did the evening nearly end in an all out brawl, but most surprisingly — and perhaps the most bizzare fight yet of the young season followed by Pavel Datsyuk and Corey Perry’s spat on October 8th —  2010 Norris Trophy candidate Mike Green and Devil’s Captain Ilya Kovalchuk squared off with 4:17 left to go in the 3rd period.  For the sake of both their manhoods, I will refrain from commenting on either of their interesting fighting styles. Although I’m sure Caps forward Alexander Semin will still take more heat in the dressing room for his innovative fighting style at the expense of Rangers Defenseman, Marc Staal two seasons ago.

In the 2009-2010 season alone the Caps only amounted 20 regular season fighting majors over a span of 82 games. So far for the 2010-2011 campaign, the Caps managed to knock out 1/4 of last years total in a single outing. For a game with so much knuckle-to-knuckle action, perhaps this is an early indicator this team is not just about lighting the lamp anymore. With the off-season addition of DJ King — who was ironically a healthy scratch for the fighting bonanza against the Devils — it is easy to assume Caps General Manager George McPhee had the idea of adding more grit to his line-up. Perhaps this is his way of saying the Caps won’t only beat you on the scoreboard, but in hand-to-hand combat as well now? Can’t say I can complain about that, the team needs to evolve its’ overall playing style *Cough*PowerPlay*Cough* and learn to be more dynamic. Be careful NHL, this isn’t the same Washington Capitals team who will shy away from the rough stuff.

One thing’s for sure, I’m 99.99 percent positive Mr. King will be given a sweater the next time the Caps face the Devils on November 22.

Oh and Neuvirth, I think you are already starting to prove me correct, even if Varlamov has succumbed already to his wonky groin. I still say out of our two young talented goalies, Neuvirth will be the better of the two at the end of the day.

Photos: From Getty Images.

Jose Theodore will take his good looks and flowing mane elsewhere this season.

Hi everyone, hope your summer has been good! Mine’s been eventful to say the least. It’s been pretty quiet on the Caps corner of the hockey world this summer. Then again, perhaps not.

The Caps have signed DJ King and Danny Sabourin, re-signed Ovechkin’s English tutor in Brian Willsie, watched Joe Corvo and Shoane Morrisonn sign elsewhere, and have said Au Revoir to Jose Theodore in these dog days in the lives of us hockey fans.  All of our signings are expected to be on the Hershey roster come opening night for the regular NHL season. This is somewhat to the disgruntlement of that hockey fan who loves a good free agent splash or blockbuster trade in the off-season. Or perhaps that fan who wishes the GM would have addressed some glaring issues on the roster (as last year’s roster clearly didn’t get it done) by now.

*Cough*Defense*Cough*

With the departure of Jose Theodore and the signing of Sabourin, this solidifies the rumor the Capitals are planning on having the net minded by their two young goalies for the 2010-2011 season. Russian Semyon Varlamov and the Czech Michal Neuvirth can rest easy now… or should they?

Has Semyon Varlamov's time come?

Most Caps fans would be lying if they said they were totally comfortable with this idea. Placing the fate of the team in an unproven goalie and a another unproven goalie doesn’t sit well with fans of any team. Is it a bit harsh to call Varlamov an unproven goalie? Perhaps, but I’m going on the whole fact that in two consecutive play-off runs Varlamov has been booted from being the starting goalie by that same goalie we just let walk. One doesn’t exactly want to start planning the parade route with that in mind. Is Varlamov only coming off his first full season as an NHL goalie? Yes, and one must remember that, but two play-off runs have not treated Varlamov kindly. Then again the team in front of him didn’t show up to help some nights, so more leniency must be given with that also in mind.

I also hate to stamp Neuvirth with that same stigma as an unproven goalie with his impressive resumé in the AHL and excellent play in net for the Capitals as a call-up. But truth be told, we’ve not seen what he looks like long-term as an NHL goalie, and until we do, the jury will remain silent. All arrows point to a winner in Neuvirth and for that most fans are excited to see how he will shape up with the responsibility and duty of being our back-up. For all intents and purposes the kid has earned his shot in Washington, and we hope it turns out to win us a Cup before the apocalypse occurs.

Is it Neuvirth time?

This also begs the conversation of which of our two young talents will turn out to be the better goalie? Personally I’ve come to the conclusion that the Czech will beat out the Russian by the time they both hang up the skates (put down the glove?). While I think Varlamov possess the more raw talent of the two, his sometimes jittery play and scrambling in the net will ultimately be his personal evil. He can either dazzle you with the athletic highlight reel save, or make you cringe in horror and disbelief he let in such a soft goal (again) even a person who has never put on skates could have stopped. In some ways I feel his play-off benchings are a warning sign to us all not to pin our hopes and dreams on the young Russian.  While I don’t think he will be a bust by any means, I don’t think we should butter our bread just yet with him.

Neuvirth might not possess that same raw talent, but being so technically sound and such a calming presence in net will make him the better of the two if Varlamov does not learn to settle down in games.  The team feeds off that calmness and plays better, which in turn makes us fans breathe a little sigh of relief (and lets us actually sit and enjoy the games once in a while). His two consecutive AHL Calder Cup winning seasons in Hershey — while also snagging the play-off MVP trophy in 2009 I might add, Chris Bourque grabbed that honor this past season — certainly makes one pay attention. In short: Neuvirth is the more complete player of the two.

Don’t get me wrong, both goalies are going to be highly successful in their NHL careers. As a Caps fan who has been through the Jagr Debacle and ensuing team firesale,  you tend to brace for the worst. However, this is one argument or problem I’d take any day of the week: two young promising young goalies fighting for command of the #1 spot?

Priceless.

Just as they always say, hockey is 20% physical and 80% mental and this is one of those cases where that cliché applies perfectly. So who will win this battle of will?

Photos:  Michal Neuvirth and Semyon Varlamov by Annalisk19 at Flickr.com.  Copyright 2010.  All Rights Reserved.  Jose Theodore by Reuters.