I've decided this is too good to pass up- here's Netsrak's (Karsten, spelled backwards) game thread from official. Just too many links to newspapers, Vogel's pregame stuff, bloggers, etc. in his opening post to try to do it all again:
Timeout with 6:15 left 1st. Assists on the goal were Ovechkin (primary) and Zubrus.
Caps are doing all right, considering Nycholat, Steckel, Helbling in the lineup tonight. Morrisonn's back, but who knows how much ice time he'll get- JB said they saw him at practice this morning, and he was pasty white, and looked like he had lost several pounds in weight.
Sutherby, Eminger, and Pettinger are the scratches tonight, the TV guys said they already headed for N.Y. All with the flu. Johnson is watching the game from the dressing room, so he can stay warm- he's coming down with it as well, I think.
4 on 4 skating for a while..... just under 2:00 as they go back to ES.
I was at the game tonight with a friend of mine who's a Devils fan. Some random thoughts...
Semin looked particularly feisty; I don't recall him finishing checks as often as he did (some of which were a little high). The other good thing about his play tonight was that he didn't get called for hooking through the neutral zone while pursuing the puckhandler off the forecheck.
The Caps first goal was a good tic-tac-toe play. Their second and third were thanks to some excellent screens in front of Brodeur, who had to come up pretty big late in each period.
As for the goals the Caps gave up. The first was purely a defensive breakdown -- someone should've covered Gomez streaking in from behind Elias. Gomez' second tally was a reward for crashing the net, something I don't think the Caps did enough. Brylin's and Elias' goals were just plain bad luck for Olie. A rebound shuffled in some defenders' feet, and then Olie didn't have time to square up on Elias for the Devils' fourth tally.
I wished Hanlon kept the top line together at the start of the game. Klepis didn't really do a whole lot. The only line that kept in tact throughout seemed to have been the checking line of Laich-Gordon-Clymer, with Laich and Gordon taking turns at the draws depending on which dot the faceoff took place. They were particularly good on the forecheck and at getting to the puck first in the attack zone. I wish it had yielded more shots early on (they stopped shooting once Nycholat scored their 1st goal).
Brashear wears the A for Sutherby AND gets PP time on the 2nd unit. He was trying to get a fight in with Janssen (who had the Devils crowd going tonight with his hit on Telbling), but he didn't go for it. After the Laich goal, I think it would've been ill-advised.
Steckel skated pretty hard tonight. He was pretty aggressive on the forecheck.
Overall, not a terrible night (frankly, it should've been a lot worse). The Caps hustled, and they skated for a full 60 minutes. But in the end, they were half their normal roster (without a backup goalie on the bench), plus a whole slew of minor-league recalls, some of whom popped in after the morning skate. And they ended up losing to a solid team that has Martin Brodeur tending goal.
The Devils fans were okay for the most part. The only heckling they did were for Rangers fans and the cheerleader dude. A few shook my hand (I had my Sutherby sweater on) on the way out. I ran into a few Caps fans, one family of them was there and their little boy had a white sweater signed by the 97-98 team.
Bottom line, in five words or less: FLU BUGS SUCK!
The Capitals have been devastated by the flu. Steve Eminger, Matt Pettinger and Brian Sutherby were sidelined because of illness. Brian Pothier, Chris Clark and Mike Green all played despite being less than 100 percent but all three got so sick during the contest that they are unlikely to play tonight against the Rangers.
Yikes.
Michael, what a great writeup! I'm envious of your powers of observation, particularly considering the speed of the game. If I catch 1/5 of the things you do while at a game, I think I'm having an extremely good day.
Watching on TV (and with the benefit of replays), I did think the Devils were feeling a little sorry for the Caps' physical condition and trapping at about half throttle last night- witness, the only crunching hit came in the first couple shifts of the game; Janssen could have done that again anytime after, but chose not to, and neither did anyone else (only 13 "hits" all night for the Devils). Gomez, who often is invisible for the Devils, became a scoring "machine" and got NHL's first star of the night; Brodeur gave up a guy's first ever NHL goal on a play where it looked like he was frozen in stone.
From the Caps' side, I thought Ovechkin laid off a lot of what he could do offensively, just to help ease the newer guys into the lineup (only 2 SOGs, no missed shots).
One last thing: that was the finest Mites On Ice game I've ever seen during any hockey game I've ever been to. A 1-1 draw, both off of very pretty goals for kids at that age.
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'NO' to drugs; 'YES' to mirrored visors.
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