In a weekend that sometimes seemed like it doubled as the KHL All-Star game, the Devils and Caps played two interesting games over the last forty-eight hours, with the Devils winning a 3-2 penalty-fest on Thursday after Ilya Kovalchuk decided it with a five-on-three bomb (after another talented Russian, Andrei Loikotonov tied it earlier in the third), then the Caps retaliating with four straight third-period goals to break open a 1-1 tie this afternoon with Alex Ovechkin harkening back to his glory days with a hat trick in a four-point game.

Although I wasn’t surprised and kind of expected a split out of these two games, the special teams continues to be alarming for the Devils.  Even if the PP is apparently ranked in the top ten, that rank is inflated by an insane amount of 5-on-3 goals (five so far), and hasn’t looked particuarly good most of the time with a one-man advantage.  Our insistence on starting Kovalchuk on the right side of the ice and having him circle back around to the point or the left side doesn’t help, as he never seems to be in prime one-timer position.  The one time he was on Thursday night – voila – he scored.  However, the PK is an even bigger concern right now giving up multiple goals in multiple games.  Ever since the Islander roasted the PK twice, the man disadvantage has been leaking goals left and right and is one of the worst in the league right now.

Even Pete DeBoer doing the right thing and restoring Mark Fayne to the lineup at last after Henrik Tallinder‘s dreadful Thursday game didn’t help.  Ironically most of Ovechkin’s goals came with the Fayne-Anton Volchenkov pairing on the ice, starting with the opening goal in the second period which came after a defensive breakdown left Mike Ribiero open in the slot.  Fayne creeped toward Ribiero, who dished off to Ovechkin for one of his patented one-timer goals from just outside the left faceoff circle.  After Kovalchuk retaliated with a patented snipe job in the final minute of the second period, Ovechkin scored again early in the third period, using Volchenkov as a screen and firing a hard wrister that trickled through Johan Hedberg.

Though the game was only at 2-1 at that point, it started to get the feel of one that could get out of hand very quickly a la the Pittsburgh game a few weeks back, or the Isles game a couple weeks ago.  Ironically both of those games were 5-1 losses, as this one would prove to be.  Washington’s third goal – and the only one without Ovechkin being a factor – came when miscommunication between Hedberg and Andy Greene led to a Hedberg puck handling snafu behind the net, and Eric Fehr took advantage and put it into an open net for a shorthanded goal against.  Predictably, our powerless play did nothing to help the cause.

With the score now at 3-1, the penalties started coming left and right, and so too did the PP goals against.  Ovechkin got his hat trick with yet another one-timer off the left circle in front of Volchenkov again.  Amazingly, Volchenkov’s managed to avoid being sat in our game of ‘merry-go-round’ on defense, despite his role as a PK specialist and our PK stinking up the joint really since last April.  Perhaps too, the fact we have been rotating guys on defense is starting to hurt more than help with guys being put into different roles and having different partners on an almost daily basis, other than the Greene-Adam Larsson pairing which has been constant.  Then again Larsson didn’t have a great game either with two penalties and at least one horrendous pass in the first period.

Overall scoring’s been an issue too, with just thirteen goals in the Devils’ last six games.  Now that the David Clarkson hot streak has officially ended with no points in his last four games and just one goal in his last six, they need to start getting more from guys like Travis Zajac (three goals and two assists in eighteen games this year).  If it weren’t for his big playoffs last Spring, I’d seriously be wondering if the guy was a legit top six forward, considering he had a 13-goal, 44-point season two years ago playing every game and this year his sticks have been in the deep freeze.  Kovalchuk’s been doing his part but he can’t do it alone, especially if the Devils are going to allow multiple PP goals per game.  Bobby Butler‘s two-point game a couple weeks ago remains his only production for the Devils in ten games, as he’s been stuck on the fourth line most nights.

Yes, re-acquiring Alexei Ponikarovsky helps offset the loss of Danius Zubrus – to a point, but they still need to replace the fifty-plus goals that walked out the door when Zach Parise left and Petr Sykora wasn’t offered a contract.  With our questionable forward depth, losing Zubrus and Ryan Carter in recent games hasn’t helped, although the one positive that’s come out of it is the last two games by Loikotonov, who has surely opened some eyes with a key goal Thursday off a faceoff win, and an assist this afternoon on Kovy’s goal.

Still, they need to find some scoring and fix the leaky PK soon.  Not to mention stop this senseless merry-go-round on D that’s benefitting nobody.  In this shortened season, first place can turn into eighth place – or ninth – in no time at all.  Especially with the compressed schedule.