Morrisonn and Ruutu to the box for roughing, 4-on-4, and less than a minute later, Vermette called for interference. 4-on-3, then 5-on-4 for the Caps, but no goal, and we're back to even and full strength.
WASHINGTON (AP) -A 6-foot-7 Web site producer for the Washington Capitals prepared to dress as the team's backup goalie for Friday night's game against the Ottawa Senators because of an injury to Jose Theodore.
Brett Leonhardt, who played Division III hockey in college, signed an amateur tryout contract before the game. If he were to actually get on the ice, he would tie the record for tallest goalie ever to play in an NHL game.
Theodore suffered a hip flexor injury during the Capitals' morning skate, and Simeon Varlamov was recalled from Hershey, the team's AHL affiliate, to back up starter Brent Johnson.
But Hershey happened to be on the road in San Antonio, and Varlamov's plane wasn't expected to land in the Washington area until close to the 7 p.m. game time.
So the Capitals received special dispensation from the league to dress three goaltenders. Varlamov was to take Leonhardt's spot on the bench upon arrival.
Leonhardt's chances of playing weren't exactly remote. Johnson has a sore hip from a fall during Wednesday night's victory over the Boston Bruins.
Leonhardt, 26, played two years for Oswego State in New York and two years for Neumann College in Pennsylvania. He has worked for the Capitals' Web site for about a year and has taken part in drills during practices when the team needed an extra goalie.
The Capitals also reassigned forward Oskar Osala and defenseman Sean Collins to Hershey.
So, of course, the Caps have 21 players on the roster, but they'll only have 20 on the bench, since Varlamov is supposed to replace Leonhardt as soon as he gets there. I don't know if it happened already.
There was a penalty to Alex 3 (Giroux), just killed. I hope Johnson will have his shutout, this time. He has made 20 saves so far. Auld only stopped 13 of the 15 shots he faced.
In the meantime, the Bruins are thrashing the Thrashers: 4-1 at the first intermission. Pavelec gave up 3 goals on 4 shots; replaced with Hedberg, who gave up "only" 1 goal on the next 4 shots.
Here's what happened: after Giroux's penalty, Heatley got called for slashing. 4-on-4 hockey, then Caps on the PP, and after only 5 seconds of this, Ovechkin scored. The Caps had been in the offensive zone for a while, though.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I got 1,293 e-mails from our fans, because of a couple of mistakes I made the other day, just after you came back, Roger: I had said that Helmer had registered his first NHL point, as if he was a kiddo, although he's a 36-year-old AHLer with some NHL experience (more than most of our players). I also said that the Caps had been solid at home. This is if you consider losing a game 5-3 at home being solid, which they did to the Panthers on December 2 (first regulation-time loss at home this season).
Varlamov was on the bench late 1st (#40), Leonhardt was # 80.
Very entertaining game, I left on the first Ovechkin goal, where I screamed "WHIP IT!" before he shot, and "WHIP IT GOOD!" before it hit net..... little Devo reference, there....
got home still 3-0 with 11:00 left in regulation, and now it's 5-0 with goals from green and Ovie (again). Johnson has been stellar tonight, Backstrom 3 assists, Fedorov and Green 3 points each, what a great night. Good to see 91 and 52 back on the ice..... and Semin is proving what I've thought for a long, long time- he may be BETTER than Ovechkin in many area of the game.
End of game, another great win. With Semin and Green back, Caps will be hard to stop again. I guess Johnson starts tomorrow again, unless it's Leonhardt, or Mike Vogel.
This message has been edited by marc_mehdi on Dec 12, 2008 9:33 PM
