I left on the Caps' first goal, a PP tally by Willsie (Ovechkin, Zubrus).

While on the way home, Pettinger (Sutherby, Yonkman) put the Caps up 2-0, where it stays.

The guys are playing well, tonight, against one of the surprisingly better teams in the League.

Zubrus seems hurt, on this last penalty he drew..... gone to the bench, instead of taking the faceoffs. Canes kill, with 4:37 left 2nd.

Couple shifts ago, Witt sent Brind'AMour cartwheeling (literally) to the ice, on a clean hit. Now, Boulerice takes offense, and he and Witter tussle but no real blows thrown. Boulerice gets a double minor, nothing for Witt....

4:00 PP for the Caps! 

WOOT!!!! at 2:49 left in the PP, Clymer blasts one in from the point!!!!

3-0!!! and still a 2:00 PP to go.....

AO gets tripped toe to toe while cruising through the neutral zone, and stays down flexing his left leg..... the Caps immediately go after everyone on the ice. Brind'AMour gets the minor for tripping, giving them a very short 5 on 3 (:05), but a Caps' penalty makes it 4 on 4 with 0:00.2 left in the 2nd.

3-0, end 2nd. Ovechkin got up and skated off under his power, and seems fine.

Tough guy.

Assists on the Clymer goal- Laich, and Pettinger.

After 2 periods, the Canes lead SOGs 22-20, but the Caps lead in hits, 24 to 9..... the guys just have to "stay focused, get 1 more goal, 2 more goals" as Biron said in the interview.

They start the 3rd 4 on 4 for 1:22, then the Canes have a PP.

Another Caps' penalty, and the Canes have :33 of 5 on 3.....

Killed the 5 on 3, and Clark was off to the SH races, but majesky couldn't thread the pass through.... killed the rest of it, and back to ES with 16:23 left 3rd.

Cole breaks in shorthanded, gets hooked, penalty shot......

easy goal. 3-1, Caps.

And, just like that, Brind'Amour pots one, and it's 3-2 with 8:28 left 3rd.

6:43 left, and the Caps flub a line change and get called for too many men.

Forgot to mention that Zubrus got called for diving in the 2nd, but he was really tripped (edit: just in my opinion- there's quite a discussion on official as to whether it was a real trip, or a real dive; from what I saw, it looked like a trip); looked like he landed on his left elbow, when he hit the ice, and hasn't been back since.

Gerber messes up, turns it over, loses his stick, and..... stones Sutherby.....

Two big stops by Olie, just as the penalty expires..... the first one stung him, I think, because he stayed down until he realized it led to a big juicy rebound... he got to his skates just in time for that last save.

Canes are 0 for 9 on the PP tonight.....

4:30 left 3rd.

The Caps break in on Gerber, 3 on 1..... Ovechkin on the left passes to Laich in the center, and.......

SCOOOOOOOOOOORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They finally finished one off!

4-2!!!

And, for the icing on the cake, the Caps' first EN goal of the season by Clark ends the game!

5-2 Caps, with a stunning 4 game win streak!

Woohoo!!!!

The Caps won tonight because of their effectiveness of the PK and because of Kolzig's stellar play in net. GMs around the league should be advised that the cost of obtaining Kolzig for a playoff push increases with every game.

AO's latest goal-scoring streak is finished at 5 games, but his two helpers tonight still gave increased his point total (great finish by Brooks Laich on the Caps' 4th goal). I may be wrong after all; AO definitely deserves consideration for the Hart Trophy this year. His play as of late has certainly been the one main component to the Caps' 4-game win streak.

Superficially, it looks like another one of those mid-season surges we as Caps fans are accustomed to from past seasons. But this is a bit different since this is a rebuilding year. One shouldn't expect this team to suddenly make a playoff push this year; but they should expect this team to become much more solid from top to bottom towards the end of the season. The extent to which the team gels by season's end is the baramoter by which this team's success will be measured. And as long as they continue to compete like they have this month, no one should consider this Caps' season a failure.

These days, commentators from other NHL teams identifies the Washington Capitals as a team that will outwork opponents to win games and therefore difficult against whom to play.

Mark my words: if they say that about this "bottom-feeder" team today, then the Capitals will be the absolute most dangerous team in the NHL in 2 to 3 years.





________________________

ANNIE
I’ve never even been to a hockey game.

EDWIN
Well you fit into this town perfectly.

Great post, Michael! And dead on.

The only drawback to tonight's game was the injury to Zubrus- we'll see if he's good enough to go Monday night. Halpern was rumored to be ready today, but they scratched him again. It was great to see the kids pick it up a little bit in their absence.

I'll be honest- I thought the team, including Ovechkin, came out flat in the 3rd- there were a couple of quick turnovers, and the Canes made them pay on the second one by drawing the penalty shot. There were other parts of the game that could have been played better, but the whole team turned physical tonight and it was a joy to watch. Witt with 6 big hits, had an assist, and drew at least the 4:00 double minor..... stud game.

AO is great, but what little help he does have is falling one by one, and one could tell when he finally got up from Brind'Amour's trip that even he isn't Superman. Let's hope the boys continue to learn and improve their game(s) Monday.

To me, they seemed more timid than flat. The first two periods, they finished their checks aggressively and pressed the attack in Carolina's zone. In the third, they fell back into a "prevent defense," content to just ship the puck up the walls and keep three men back. To their credit, they didn't lose their calm when Carolina scored the penalty shot (what a nonsense call THAT was) and the power play goal.

This team has come a long way since those Southeast Division blow outs early. With seemingly every call going against them (the penalty shot, the washed out goal, the diving call), they would have folded like a cheap suit a couple of months ago.

It was especially nice to look at the scoresheet and NOT see Ovechkin's name in the goal column in a win. Goals by Willsie, Pettinger, Clymer, Laich, and Clark. All that was missing was Bradley to make it a complete grinders night.

And what about Kolzig . . . tossing his cookies between periods and still getting the #1 star?

And more than 16,000 attendance . . . not bad.

___________
Play hard, shake hands, drink beer.

"LA needs two hockey teams like Switzerland needs two navies" -- Norman Chad (from "My 10-Point Plan to Save Gary Bettman from Himself")


If you've read this far, you probably could use a hobby