It's a Crap Game

I would have taken 30 cracks in the ribs with a pool cue or a thousand spiders simultaneously biting my nuts over losing the penguins game in THAT fashion. Aargh.

Whew. I'm done now complaining about the weekend. The games are in the past. I think Fedorov summed up the games best by reminding everybody that it's a game; an emotional game, but a game nonetheless. And if you look at the circumstances surrounding the games, I think the Capitals played very well in both. Boston was charged and ready for a fight to the end. They played hard and stuck around to the end waiting for the costly mistake. Then the Caps turn around less than 21 hours later and have to face a well-rested and tough Pens squad waiting for them in DC.

Huet played exceptionally. (I read somewhere that the Penguins only had 13 shots but we let in 2 goals for an .850 save% and therefore he played no better than Olie, but that's ludicrous considering that one goal was scored on a 2-on-1 and the other on powerplay rebound.) The Caps fired a multitude of point blank shots, crossbar ringers, and carried most of the play in both games, however, the could not score. This was a polar opposite to the 10-2 shellacking earlier in the week EVERYTHING went in. It was a law of averages and I wished (well after the fact, of course) that after we scored 5 against Boston we could have banked the next 5 by hitting more crossbars and posts. All the good ju-ju for the week was blown through Tim Thomas' disbelieving 1-through-7 holes on Tuesday night.

Another random observation is that the Caps sorely need a left-hand shot that can consistently score like Semin, Ovie, and Kozlov can from the right. Currently we have Laich, Fleischmann, Fedorov and Backstrom as our "legitimate" offensive theats from the left. Laich is becoming consistent for a goal every 3-4 games but the other 3 have ... umm, sucked? Is that the right word? I do believe it is.

If the Caps don't make the dance this year, I'll be dissappointed to be sure, but the world will not end. Hopefully they can come back to the rink, heed Sergei's "IT'S JUST A GAME" mantra and kick some ass from here out. This team was looking at a #1 overall pick just 4 months ago and is now playing above what anybody outside a few puck pundits and beltway believers thought was possible. Hopefully they can enjoy it.