Capitals forward Brooks Laich characterized the game as quiet during the 2nd intermission, a quote that many understood to be directed at the fans. “Attention #Caps fans at Verizon Center, Brooks Laich says you’re not loud enough.” was one comment on Twitter from Eric Rigsby. The fans got the message, and the cheering intensified in the 3rd period. Although Brooks told us after tha game, the comment wasn’t directed towards the fans :

So both Brooks and Bruce noted the quiet nature of the crowd, and the sleepy feel to the game. However after the Lightning scored two in the 3rd period [...]

Modell’s and select merchandise stands around the Verizon Center are now stocking Capitals Olympic merchandise. They have name and number t-shirts for all of the Caps’ Olympians : Ovechkin, Semin, Varlamov, Backstrom, and Fleischman. Unfortunately they only have replica jerseys for Ovechkin, as Nike did not make them for the other players. I would have totally bought a Backstrom jersey, but I guess that doesn’t fit the color scheme around here. There are only two home games left before the Olympics, but you can also get your merchandise online. Click on the image to the right for a PDF version [...]

Today’s game marked the debut of Slapshot Junior. We presume this is in relation to Kid’s Club Day, but we’re not certain. I do recall the original Slapshot’s son accompanying him at some events, dressed in costume and even having his own mini 4-wheeler. However this appears to be a entirely new costume, and something that we can probably expect to see, at least on weekends. The appearance against Tampa Bay caused rink announcer Wes Johnson to quip on Twitter, “I think Slapshot Jr is taller than Martin St. Louis.” While I was typing this article, he made a second [...]

These youngsters echo the sentiments of many Capitals fans on this Sunday afternoon. Mike Green has been suspended 3 games for an elbow to Michael Frolik. While the hit was certainly illegal, and its tough to argue against the suspension, 3 games seems a bit excessive. Green will be available to return on Friday against Atlanta, and presumably will conveniently be in the lineup against Pittsburgh a week from today. That makes us wonder if this infraction had occurred a few games later, if the league would have looked the other way to preserve their nationally televised marque matchup on [...]

Tha Nationals came to the Verizon Center on Friday. One the 100 level, fans rounded the corners to see Nyjer Morgan, Matt Capps, Ryan Speier, Adam Dunn, John Lannan and Josh Willingham.
Upstairs, fans were treated to Danny Espinosa, Rob Dibble, Drew Storen, Brian Bruney, Craig Stammen and Tyler Clippard.
I’m told rookie Stephen Strasburg was on his honeymoon.

From HockeyFights.com : Matt Bradley vs. Mike Brown

Matt Bradley finally wins a fight!

Before we get to Holtby, CapitalsOutsider witnessed Ted Leonsis and Alex Ovechkin, in a towel (Ovechkin not Leonsis), discussing how many goals the Capitals are on pace to score in the remaining games of the season. They were doing math together in the hallway.
Okay, on to Holtby. The Capitals’ fourth-string goaltender, Braden Holtby, 20, was called up from the minors for the second time this season to sit on the bench and back up starting goaltender Michal Neuvirth. Holtby is 15-2-1-1 with the Hershey Bears this season. Better yet, he stuck around to talk to journalists. And yes, the journalists [...]

Fans coming into Verizon Center on Wednesday for the Caps-Ducks game will see something a bit odd, yellow and red signs on every seat in the house, probably about 18,000 total.
The yellow ones say TIRES, the red ones say PUSH. It’s presumed that they all say “Let’s go Caps” on the flip side but they were all placed ad-side-up.
We’ll see if, during the game, the fans are holding up TIRES and PUSH signs as the Capitals take the ice.