Capitals 7, Lightning 4

Wow.  I am not sure how to feel about this one.  Bittersweet, I suppose.  The Caps continue to win at home (16-1-1 this season), but this had ugly all over it.  Sean Collins scored his first NHL goal which was exciting for him, I am sure, and Johnnie looked good in the net until late in the game.  I think the Caps were on cruise control and then decided they needed to play and then let up again.  They scored two goals a minute after the Lightning scored which regained the Caps’ momentum.  The Caps were very fortunate in this regard.  They also benefitted from two bad decisions by Tampa’s goalie who gift wrapped two goals for the home team.  Gordon made a sweet pass on the first to Bradley (who forced the turnover) and the second to Gordon who shot at a vacated net.  They were both terrible plays by the Tampa goalie.  Horrible.  At any rate, the Caps continue to look for the cross ice pass to Green pinching in and it continues to pay dividends.  Greenie scored the third goal of the game.

How about Clark????  He got into a fight (a draw) which was impressive given his right arm is still in a cast!  But, more importantly, he scored his first goal in the third period on a nice pass from Nylander.  Clark is really playing like his old self over the past five games or so.  He is being an instigator and playing in front of the net causing opposing goalies difficulty.  The Caps will need this type  of play from him.  Also, how nice was Steckel’s goal?  A long cross ice pass from Jurcina to Bradley and another cross ice pass to Steckel who deflected the puck in the net!  All at full speed!  Very cool.

The Caps forechecked very well during the game and forced several turnovers, however they continue to not clear the puck along the boards which led to a Tampa goal.  Ovie made a cross ice pass to Nylander who misplayed the puck and Tampa took it straight in and scored.  The Caps cannot continue to make this mistake.  This will be very costly in the playoffs where one mistake can end your season.  I hope this issue is addressed by Boudreau.

Jamie Heward is out of the hospital and flew back to Tampa.  He suffered a concussion and is out indefinitely.  At 37, this could end his career which would be bad obviously.  I watched Jamie play for the Caps and it is certainly unfortunate that this happened.  Ovie seemed to be upset about it as his play was off the rest of the game and he was remorseful after the game.  I hope Jamie recovers quickly and gets back out on the ice.  He is a great player/person and deserves better.

Thoughts?

Capitals 4, Lightning 2

The Capitals really came out and skated in this game.  They really seemed faster than TB for most of the game.  Two nice power play goals by Gary Roberts gave the Lightning two goals and that was it.  The Caps scored all four goals in the net closest to the TB bench.  Why do I mention this?  Because three of the goals were scored on bad/slow line changes.  Green, Fehr, and Poti’s goals were all scored because TB did not get off their bench and backcheck.  Usually this sort of mistake is made on the far end of the ice.  Not so in this case and they made it three times.  Give the Caps credit for cashing in, but TB really did not do well in a simple area.  Ovie finally scored on a really nice deflection from Semin.  Brashear made a super pass setting up Poti’s goal.  So far this season, the Caps have destroyed teams that did not establish a forecheck and/or clog the middle of the ice.  Last night was no exception.  The Caps were able to clear the zone easily and entered their zone with speed.  TB was backpedaling the whole time, especially in the first period.  The Caps also were in front of the net which helped create problems.  Overall, a well played game.

Kozlov, Federov, and Morrison did not play.  I thought Fehr and Steckel played well in their stead.  I like John Erskine in that he takes the body and punishes people.  I, however, do not like him taking interference penalties.  If he is going to the box, it should be for roughing.  Period.

Think about this.  The Caps are in first place and Backstrom has yet to score or really play like himself and Ovie has just three goals.  What are the Caps going to be like when they do score???????  The Caps should thank Brent Johnson for picking up the slack as his goaltending has been phenomenal lately.  I hope this keeps up.  It is fun to watch the Caps play right now and it is good to see the Verizon Center full.  The Caps are also taking care of business at home.  That is a good thing.  Let’s see what happens in Carolina on Wednesday.

Thoughts?