Well, it was another one goal game for the Caps at home against the Bolts. Some thoughts . . .

- The Caps looked to want to play a game from the inside out. Don't give Tampa odd man situations in close, clear the puck to the corners, make the Lightning play "zone-to-zone" instead of giving them open ice in which to skate. For the most part, they were very disciplined in this approach.

- If Ovechkin is a V-8, he looked to be running on seven cylinders today. The passes were a half-second late, his shots just wide. The kind of game you just have to fight through. But he did at the end with a play rookies don't often make. He has the puck on the left side, and instead of trying to work around or send the puck around the boards, he drew two defenders to him, and with the ice opening up, found a passing lane to Chris Clark. At that point, with Tampa's defense overloaded and scrambling to cover Clark, Zubrus could find an opening to get in alone on Grahame. Smart play by the kid, and good stick work by Clark.

- Tampa is a fundamentally more sound club defensively than they were last year. They play similarly to the old Dallas teams. They force you to take shots from places you don't want to go. None of their defensemen might be all-stars (and this was especially true with Sydor out), but they played very strong positionally and kept their sticks in passing lanes. Frankly, I'd have given their whole D-man squad a star.

- Kolzig had to make few 10-bell saves. That was a function of being sharp. Few rebounds (except for a couple early). He gave the club a chance to get its skates under them after taking a couple of penalties early.

- I wonder if Matt Bradley is either sick or in someone's dog house . . . 12 shifts, barely seven minutes . . . his score sheet was entirely blank -- no shots, no hits, no anything.

- Brendan Witt might have played his best game of the year. More than 27 minutes, 4 hits, 4 blocked shots, a takeaway, and no turnovers. Showcasing himself for a trade?

- I get the feeling Jeff Friesen is 'this close' to breaking out. He had a lot of jump for most of the game and was aggressively seeking out the puck. The most presence he's had on the ice in a while.

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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

I stayed for the entire game! True story- at 17:21 of the 3rd, I stood up, and Donna, who sits beside me, asked why; I told her "I want to see them put this one in off the faceoff."

0:19 later.................................. hahahahahahaha!