On Frozen Blog

An exciting game, on the whole, though the first period could be bottled and sold as a remedy for insomnia. Both teams were hurting and tired coming in, and it took them the snooze period to get it in gear. Once they did, though, some good drama.

• I’m worried that the heavy minutes that Brian Pothier has been playing is catching up with him, especially considering he’s the defacto #1 defenseman on a team currently missing three blueliners due to injury. I’d love to have the Caps find a way to scale his minutes back.
• Jeff Schultz had, overall, a surprisingly solid game. Mats Sundin made him look silly on one open-ice rush, but the big pivot does that to veteran defensemen, as well. Around his own net, Schultz was solid, including some nice work on Sundin and Alex Steen. He had more ice time than Mike Green tonight.
• Speaking of young rear guards, Green’s play continues to excite and, on occassion, scare. His confidence in pinching in on the play, or leading the rush, is . . . robust. He also clocked Darcy Tucker in the corner in a puck-pursuit battle.
• I didn’t think the penalty shot was the proper call, but the Capitals can’t complain about the officiating, overall. Sure was nice to see three power-play goals for the DC club.
• Mats Sudin was the best Leaf on the ice tonight, and in the third period he took his play to a higher level. His penalty shot was nigh-unstoppable.
• With all due respect to Mr. Sundin, the best player on the ice, by far, was Alexander Semin. His stickhandling was amazing — he moved around at will, it seemed. Effortless keeps, quicksilver-like dekes, just breathtaking. His fluid curl-and-drag on his goal was remarkable. Where Alex Ovechkin is a bull in a china shop, Alex Semin is the fox in the henhouse — sneaky, elusive, and agile. It seemed to me that late in the game Ovechkin and Semin really began to find a higher level of chemistry — if that plays out, it’s bad news for future opponents.
• Kris Beech was invisible tonight, and Klepis gets an incomplete.
• The Fight Card: By my observation, the Tucker/Sutherby fight was even, with Tucker landing two big shots early, and Sutherby landing 3 or 4 back later, with less behind them. The Brashear/Belak fracas had a similar result, with Belak getting some shots in early, but Brashear getting his helmet off and getting several shots in as well. Slight advantage to Brashear in the set-to, as it looked like Belak was bloodied in the encounter.
• Dainius Zubrus’ goal was a beaut, and Locker brought up a good point: if you try to pull that off, you just know you are going to get clocked. Zubrus did, by McCabe, but what a pretty goal. All three of the Caps’ tallies tonight were aesthetic-friendly.

A spirited contest when both teams woke up. Good to go into the break with a win, and happy holidays to everyone out in hockeyland.