0-0 with a few minutes left in the first period.

Clemmensen in goal for the Devils.

LAICH SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORES!!!!

Erskine took the shot, and Laich scored on the rebound.

Assists: Erskine and Zednik.

Ovechkin thought he had scored, but the goal is waived off.

WASHINGTON Capitals

Ovechkin Zubrus Brashear
Semin Beech Fleischmann
Pettinger Gordon Bradley
Laich Sutherby Zednik

Jurcina Morrisonn
Pothier Erskine
Heward Schultz

Johnson
(Cassivi)

[same lineup]

NEW JERSEY Devils

Elias Gomez Brylin
Parise Zajac Langenbrunner
Pandolfo Madden Rasmussen
Rupp Pelley Janssen

White Rafalski
Lukowich Hale
Martin Oduya

Clemmensen
(Brodeur)

[same lineup, different goalie]

Zednik and Semin also played a few shifts on the top-line RW, and Brashear played twice with Laich and Sutherby. Actually, Semin was only there because he hadn't left the ice with Beech and Fleischmann, but Zednik did start two even-strength shifts on the top line.

In other words, in the second half of the period, the lines were:

Ovechkin Zubrus Zednik
Semin Beech Fleischmann
Pettinger Gordon Bradley
Laich Sutherby Brashear

Shots after one: 10-9 Caps (4 by Elias, 3 by Semin).

Faceoffs: 12-8 Caps, thanks to Zubrus (4-0).

Brashear is back on the top line at the beginning of the second period.

Zajac to Parise, scores! 1-1.

Great opportunity for Zubrus, but Clemmensen makes the save.

Forgot to mention the Rupp-Sutherby fight.

Zednik on the top line again.

In the absence of Sutherby, Zubrus centered Laich and Brashear once.

Rupp and Sutherby are now out of the box.

Fleischmann to the box for tripping (just like yesterday!).

Penalty killed, but no goal by Fleischmann, this time.

Elias and Gomez on a 2-on-1, great save by Johnson!

Third period on.

And Zajac scores early! 2-1 Devils.

Looks like shutting down their top line cost us two goals by their second line. I've heard a lot the names of Zajac, Parise and Langenbrunner since the beginning. Perhaps we should try to shut them down with our fourth line; we had Semin-Beech-Fleischmann on the ice when they scored.

Langenbrunner, one-on-one against Johnson, denied!

See: that line has a lot of free space.

OVECHKIN SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORES!!!!!!

#35, this time for good, I hope.

2-2.

Rupp taken down by Pothier, Devils on the power play.

Langenbrunner scores only seconds into the PP, on the rebound. 3-2 Devils.

Ovechkin's goal announced only now in the rink. Assists: Schultz and Heward.

Hanlon calls his time out with 55 seconds left.

Kolbe just mentioned that we have not seen Semin on the ice since about ten minutes, and he doesn't seem to be on the bench.

Empty net.

Ten seconds left.

Clemmensen makes a save at the buzzer, and the Devils win.

I guess Kolbe didn't see the very short shift that Semin got seconds after the 12:00 mark of the third period. He started the shift with Beech, Fleischmann, Heward and Schultz, and got immediately replaced by Zednik, who played again with Beech and Fleischmann a little later. I don't see any hit or blocked shot, there, on the play-by-play:

11:58 Shot blocked by Pothier, but it was before Semin's last appearance.
12:31 Shot taken by Schultz, but Semin had already left the ice.

Oh, wait: Semin did block a shot at the 9:39 mark, near the end of his last full shift, 9 seconds before Pothier's penalty that lead to the game-winning goal.

Hope he's not injured.

Caps on the ice for the last two minutes:

Ovechkin Zubrus Fleischmann
Jurcina Morrisonn

then (with Johnson pulled):

Ovechkin Zubrus Fleischmann Pettinger Gordon
Pothier

Too bad we didn't have Semin for those last minutes.

Semin is not injured. From the Post:

Semin, meantime, took only one full shift over the second half of the third period. Although Coach Glen Hanlon did not provide a specific reason for benching his second-leading scorer, he did hint that he was unhappy with his play.

"I had a good feel for the rest of the guys," Hanlon said. "I felt they were going to get it done. I just didn't feel that [Semin] was going to score a goal tonight."

Semin was benched. He's been playing an undisciplined sort of game for a month or so now, and with the Caps where they are, it seems that enough is enough.

___________
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