Well, that combined mostly good news with some bad. The Caps played an excellent first period, then rode Alex Semin for the win. Olie Kolzig played well, and the team got a much-needed road win, against a surging Hurricanes team. The bad news is that Brian Pothier didn’t play at all in the third period, though Mike Vogel reports that the Caps do not believe it’s a serious injury. Of course, knowing the Caps, Potsie’s leg could be falling off and the Caps would call it an upper-body injury, and state that he’s day-to-day.
- Jeff Schultz played about as well as you could expect him to. His worst mistake was a puck-control gaffe in the defensive zone, but he at least cleared that. Played a simple game, which is a compliment.
- It’s one game, but I liked what I saw from Boyd Gordon as the second-line center. He had two excellent chances in the first period, and he has the speed to keep up with Semin, and his defensive conscience allows Semin to free-lance. Again, just one game, but it looked okay last night.
- Chris Clark was acquired for what is essentially a 6th round pick.
- Dainius Zubrus had a very physical game last night. Great to see.
- Donald Brashear’s pass to spring Semin on his breakaway goal was darn impressive — that’s the second time he’s made that kind of head-man assist.
- Shaone Morrisonn looked back to his old form last night, and that’s a big plus for the team’s blueline.
- The Caps need to work on clearing the defensive zone. It’s been an on-going problem, and it improving in that area would go a long way to reducing the goalie workload and cutting back on opponent’s scoring chances.
- Brian Sutherby’s slick-stickhandling rush to draw a penalty was as welcome as it was surprising.
Good and needed win for the team last night. Back to .500, with a chance on Saturday to get some revenge against Floridia and to be able to head into the All-Star break a game over even. Here’s hoping some momentum was established, and they roll with it.
3 Comments
I don’t believe Pothier’s was actually too serious. His head got sandwiched between a high elbow and the glass and he look shook up in the 2nd period and he didn’t appear after that. Hopefully just a hard hit and they were keeping him out for extra precaution
It seemed to me like the Caps, who came out like gangbusters in the first, tailed off significantly after that. I loved the intensity in the 1st, but they need to find a level where they can play for the whole game. Good win, and Clark had two of the flukiest goals Ive seen in a while….
clark has played well for the caps, but put anyone up there with ovechkin and zubrus and theyll get points. Hell, put anyone with ovechkin, zubrus isn’t much without him i don’t think. But good article man, hopefully petty and the caps can make a playoff push, if my leafs are already in of course.
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