'Canes are 3 points ahead with as many games. So Caps have to do as good as 'Canes do, and to beat them twice (in Raleigh and DC).

'Canes are leading 4-2 with 33 minutes left. Caps know what they have to do...

Also, Caps have to keep an eye on Florida, but 'Canes and Panthers meet tomorrow, so they can't both get two points out of that. Hopefully, this game won't go to overtime. And I guess it's better if Florida wins it.

Other foe: Sabres can overtake Caps tonight for 9th place if they win and Caps lose. But Caps can also be ranked 8th after tonight's game if they win it, whatever happens in other rinks.

Fehr out, Laing in.

Backstrom vs. Kane and Toews.

Homage to Tony Esposito.

Sabres are down 4-1 to the Lightning end 2nd, and the Rangers are down 1-0 to the Devils.

Patrick Kane: 17-45-62 in 73 games.
Jonathan Toews: 20-27-47 in 55 games.

Nicklas Backstrom: 12-49-61 in 74 games.

Hawks with an early 1-0 lead.

Oh, wait, under review.

2-0 now.

Listening this on the radio. Maybe it's a good time to step out and await the results tomorrow.

________________________

'NO' to drugs; 'YES' to mirrored visors.

Yeah, they're looking like the "other" Caps tonight....

And SOGs are something like 7-1.... almost another goal.... now 11-1.... like an entirely different team than last night.

3-0.... nite, Marc.

Perreault adds a third one.

Bruce Boudreau calls his time out.

Exactly 10:00 gone, the Caps go on  the PP- and they better connect.

Caps on the PP. Good opportunity to reduce the deficit. They better do something.

Not even a shot on it....

I'm uploading a video so I'll stay a little longer. But I'm not sure I'll hear the final horn of this one.

And to make matters worse, the Sabres are tied at 4-4 now, and the Rangers are tied at 1-1. And the Canes lead 5-2.

Sabres lead now, 5-4.... the Rangers are in OT, so have at least 1 point.... meanwhile, the Caps have 2 SOGs this period.

4-0 Hawks, lights out, case closed..... SOGs are 18-3.... but the Caps get ANOTHER PP with 1:33 left 1st-

now or never.

Nope.... 4-0 Blackhawks, end 1st.

meanwhile, Buffalo scored 6 in the 3rd period to win 7-4, the Canes won 5-3, and the Rangers won in a shootout- everybody with 2 points, except the Caps.

2nd on, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......... 10:00 left 2nd... zzzzzzzzzzz..........

5-0, end 2nd.

I think I'll join you in checking the results tomorrow.... have a good one.

I'm still around... couldn't listen. I guess it was not a bad thing.

For Sabres, Vanek had a natural hat trick in less than 8 minutes, all goals with a primary assist by Roy and a secondary by Stafford (I guess it's a very rare thing).

5-0 Hawks after two. Caps must imitate the Sabres and score 6 in the third, now, hehe, or at least 5.

Laich on the rebound, huge save by Khabibulin.

Ovechkin - Backstrom - Kozlov
Semin - Fedorov - Fleischmann
Laing - Gordon - Cooke
Brashear - Laich - Bradley

Morrisonn - Green
Poti - Schultz
Lepisto - Jurcina

Kolzig
(Huet)

Scratches:
Fehr, Steckel, Erskine, Eminger, Johnson

Semin with a wide open net, highway robbery by Khabibulin!

And Khabibulin pays his homage to Tony Esposito with a shutout.

"I just think we had a real stinker," Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We stunk in the first period. We were getting out-shot 18-3 at one point. Everybody was playing bad. They were lethargic, didn't have any jump, from [Alex] Ovechkin to [Donald] Brashear."