NHL.com Game Summary NHL.com Game Recap
It wasn’t a pretty win, but I’ll take the two points just all the same. Especially given the long history Washington has of losing to the Penguins – they had lost the past six meetings before tonight. Japers’ roundup mirrors my own thoughts, though On Frozen Blog’s roundup was funnier – they made a drinking game out of the number of times the on-air announcers referenced Sid the Kid. Certainly, there’s no love lost for Crosby among Caps fans, but the amount of on-air time spent discussing an injured player bordered on ridiculous – Sid the Kid was mentioned 27 times by OFB’s count + five in the post game. Worst was probably Malkin’s first goal – he hadn’t even stopped celebrating and the announcer was already talking about Crosby.
Caps were pretty dreadful on special teams tonight. Pens had three goals on eight penalties while the Caps had only went one for six. However, the penalty kill came thru in overtime overtime with the Caps down 5-3 for 1:07. The Caps won both defensive zone face offs and blocked four shots – Quintin Laing had three of those blocks – and kept the Pens from registering a shot on goal for the entire power play. That was money. If they gave out game stars to unsung heroes, Laing would have gotten one.
For all the great young talent on the Caps, there’s got to be real concern about goaltending. I love Olie the Goalie, but he didn’t get it done tonight. The Penguins had a grand total of 15 shots (14 if you don’t count the one from beyond the blue line with one second left in overtime). 5 goals on 15 shots == a pretty crappy save percentage. Malkin’s first goal was very impressive skating, but he didn’t so much shoot as throw the puck at the net. And letting Talbot’s open the scoring by stuffing the puck in at the post was weak sauce as it were. I’m not so much worried about it for this season, but with Kolzig talking retirement as his struggles, I’m not sure who the Caps have in the pipeline between the pipes.
It sure was fun getting to watch an entire Caps game in its entirety with my family. Patrick and Riley watched most of it. Patrick wanted to know who the bad guys were – he figured it out after I pointed out the Penguins were wearing black…like Darth Vader. 😄 Julie wanted to know how I’d handle it if Patrick grew up to be a professional hockey player, but was drafted by Pittsburgh. My love for Paddy Boy far exceeds my hatred for the Penguins, though that’s the only scenario I could imagine rooting for the Penguins. My boy Patrick, however, protested and said he wanted be a Capital and play with Alex the Great. Patrick will be 18 by the time Ovechkin’s contract is over. It could happen. Guess I gotta teach him to skate!