Talking the Hot Start for the Capitals with Joe Beninati

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00:00So, if you're not a fan of Joe Beninati's, then you're not a hockey fan.

00:05Like, so the other night, I wanted to listen to Goldie O'Night, Steve Goldstein,

00:11and Randy Moeller call a Panther game against the Oilers at Rogers.

00:16And then some nights, I want to watch Joe Beninati call a Capital game because he's a legend.

00:21And we got Joe B on coast-to-coast today.

00:25Like, Mafia's, like, giving me Christmas presents today.

00:28Paul Allen of the Vikings, Joe Beninati.

00:31I mean, what is next?

00:33Joe, Merry Christmas.

00:34Good to see you, pal.

00:36Same to you, my friend.

00:37Good to see you.

00:38Better to hear those dulcet tones, as usual.

00:42Hey, so, Joe, now, I almost fell over when they lost to the Blackhawks.

00:47I can see losing to the Stars.

00:48But they had won three in a row before that.

00:51You know, I have a lot of hockey talk on this show periodically, where we'll have, like,

00:56Denny Bernstein on.

00:57And we've talked about the Metro.

00:59And we're like, man, is it disappointing?

01:01And I said to him, the Devils and the Capitals aren't disappointing.

01:05I mean, they're loving life.

01:07True.

01:08And I'm not going to offer—I know the players aren't going to offer excuses.

01:13They're incredible athletes.

01:15But the schedule's done Washington no favors.

01:17Everybody's going to say the same thing around the league.

01:19But there have been so many back-to-back game scenarios.

01:23Three games in four nights, four games in six nights.

01:27And I'll double it up with the way the Caps lost in Chicago an evening ago.

01:31Their normal travel—the team had a plane issue, couldn't get out of Dallas,

01:36really didn't fly into Chicago until the morning of the game.

01:39Again, this is me making excuses.

01:41This is not the players.

01:42They played poorly.

01:43It was as bad a game as I've seen from them in the last two periods an evening ago in Chicago

01:48in the entirety of the season.

01:50Prior to that, terrific run.

01:52Seesaw battle with the Devils for the Metro Division lead, for the Conference lead.

01:57Right there battling Winnipeg for the top spot along with Minnesota league-wide.

02:02They've been unbelievably good on the road.

02:05They set a franchise record with a 10-game win streak before they went into Dallas

02:09this past Monday, Tuesday.

02:10That was a combination.

02:11Dallas-Chicago, which seemed to have tripped them up.

02:14But so many different reasons that we can talk about, Scotty, as for why they're playing well.

02:19But the big thing is they are playing extremely well.

02:22And we're already a third of the way into the season.

02:25One of the things I noticed was how great they've been on the road.

02:31Simplifying the game.

02:33And when you're scoring goals the way they've been scoring, Scotty, they can beat anybody

02:37anywhere.

02:38And it's so interesting that they've been without Alex Ovetsky for about a month's time now since

02:43the broken leg injury sustained in Salt Lake City.

02:47And their offense hasn't fallen off.

02:49And Alex was on a major, major roll prior to the injury.

02:52I think it was 15 goals in 18 games.

02:55But all in all, the offensive production's been there from the get-go.

02:59And especially so on the road.

03:01They've been able to generate offense.

03:03They're never out of a game.

03:05If you look at their record, I want to say they have 21 wins.

03:0813 of those are come-from-behind kind of wins.

03:11At some point in time, they're trailing in the game.

03:13So they know they have the ability to turn it on and finish.

03:17And maybe that wasn't sustainable.

03:19Their shooting percentage was through the roof in October and November.

03:23And yet still, I see them right around four goals a game, which is pretty close to the darn NHL

03:28league.

03:30So this team, the guys that have held up the fort while he's been down have been unbelievable.

03:37I think Dylan's been killing it for him in the middle.

03:40He's racked up like 38 points.

03:43Name some of the other guys that have made such an impact on this team.

03:49Because when he went down, you said it.

03:51He was on a heater.

03:52He was scoring.

03:53People were saying he's going to catch Gretzky this year.

03:55And he was playing.

03:56He looked like Alex from 10 years ago.

03:59Then he goes down, breaks his leg.

04:02It sucked.

04:03Everybody was like, oh, there goes the season.

04:05It's over.

04:06But these guys stepped up big time.

04:08Who are the ones that you thought had the biggest impact?

04:12Well, I'm really glad you started with Dylan Strome.

04:15I think he's criminally underrated.

04:18From a playmaking standpoint, he's been great ever since he's arrived in town.

04:23But especially so this year, that game has elevated.

04:26You know, the caps look pretty solid down the middle.

04:29Every good team, every team that's going to contend is strong at the center spot.

04:34When you can go Strome, Dubois, Eller, and Dowd, you've got all the combinations there.

04:40But you started with Dylan Strome.

04:41From a playmaking standpoint, excellent.

04:44Dubois' numbers don't jump off the page offensively.

04:47But Scotty, he's answered every defensive challenge that Spencer Carbery has asked him to do.

04:53And that includes the likes of Matthews, McKinnon twice, Barkoff, Ropey Hintz.

05:00He's not afraid to match up Dubois with anybody.

05:03And Pierre-Luc takes that challenge and runs with it.

05:06Offensively, as far as picking up the slack since Alex has been down,

05:11you know, the caps are hoping for big things from three youngsters.

05:15Hendricks, LePierre, Alexey Protis, and Connor McMichael.

05:19LePierre hasn't delivered.

05:21They're still waiting.

05:22But Protis and McMichael sure have.

05:24They have been having career years and we're nowhere near the midway mark.

05:28They've helped to pick up the scoring.

05:30The power play has produced well, even in Alex's absence.

05:34Jacob Chikren on the back has put them over the top with his offensive punch.

05:40He's right there with the likes of Wierenski and McCaw in goals this year.

05:44I mean, Connor McMichael is a stunner for me.

05:48You know, most people never heard of him.

05:50The kid out of Ontario and then 14 goals.

05:53I mean, he's among league leaders.

05:56Finishing ability has improved.

05:58He's put an awful lot of work in.

06:00His skating burst is what the coaching staff really likes.

06:03He's able to separate from defenders.

06:06And he's always had a knack, at least since I've known and followed him and watched him

06:10since he was working with Dale Hunter's London Knights in the OHL.

06:14He has the ability to shoot it, pick corners, and finish.

06:18And this year it's going in for him.

06:20Protis is the guy that has really made the gigantic leap.

06:24And I guess that's figuratively and literally.

06:26He's almost six foot seven.

06:28He looks like NBA small forward out there.

06:31And all of a sudden, though, he's worked so hard in the offseason,

06:35shooting with his quote unquote little brother, who's only 6'5", who's a Caps draft pick.

06:40Worked really hard on his skating.

06:42And they're starting to see the fruits of all that labor.

06:45How about this coach of yours, Carberry?

06:48You know, we talked about him on the show.

06:50Denny Bernstein brought him up that he's just been fantastic.

06:54What he's doing with the Capitals.

06:56And I guarantee you, no one's ever heard of him.

06:59But they're starting to know who he is now.

07:01Yeah, Spencer's having, you know, he's very relatable with the athletes.

07:06He's not far removed from them age-wise.

07:08I want to say Warsawski and San Jose and Carberry are the two youngest in the NHL.

07:13Spencer has come in and he was known inside the organization, Scotty.

07:18He had worked with a club in South Carolina in the ECHL.

07:22He'd worked successfully in Hershey in the American Hockey League.

07:26Coach of the Year, I want to say, in both levels.

07:28It's interesting.

07:28Warsawski, Carberry, and coaching in Colorado, Bednar,

07:35all have reached back to South Carolina roots.

07:39Spencer is incredibly intense.

07:41His system and scheme is very, very good.

07:45Give him credit, last year he was able to make a course correction.

07:48He wanted to play fast.

07:50They couldn't do it.

07:51He reworked things, still got him into the playoffs.

07:54This year, with the seven guys they brought in in the offseason,

07:58give credit to Brian McClellan and Chris Patrick.

08:00They brought guys in who could play in Carberry's system.

08:04They're still not the fastest team in the league, but they play fast.

08:07Their possession game's been very good.

08:09Their passing game's been really good.

08:12I can't wait to see the Christmas gift of the Capitals winning at the Garden in Boston

08:17and then the New Year's Eve special back in D.C. to flip the year.

08:23Beat them again, harder, playing Boston on New Year's Eve.

08:27Listen to this, the next games that they have,

08:31Caps on Friday night playing the Canes in D.C.

08:35Then you got the Kings in.

08:37Penguins beat them in overtime last night on Raquel Welch's overtime winner.

08:42Remember Raquel Welch, she was the hottie.

08:45Then you got the Bruins, Leafs, Wings, and Bruins.

08:48Bruins on New Year's Eve.

08:49That's incredible.

08:51A lot of great games.

08:52Joe, I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have you on today

08:55talking about the Capitals.

08:57Good luck the rest of the way.

08:58I think they're going to be a tough customer to deal with

09:01the second half and in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

09:04I hope Obie gets back to good health and he'll catch Gretzky one of these days.

09:08That's going to be very exciting to hear you call that happen in the NHL, Laura.

09:13Joe, I love you.

09:13Merry Christmas.

09:14Happy New Year, my man.

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