Hockey Night In Washington: Caps vs. Hurricanes

The Hurricanes come into town tonight with memories of last week's 5-0 win over the Caps still fresh in my mind. They've won two of three since then and will always be dangerous. I'll be at the rink tonight along with Ellen Blanchard and Kris Herell, who'll be stepping in for Kate McGovern while she's recovering.

I'll be available throughout the game via AOL IM at Emacwriter. See you tonight.

Pregame Capsules:

Mike Vogel (Washington Caps.com)
Mike Vogel@Dump and Chase: Kris Beech, Brooks Laich, Bryan Muir and Richard Zednik all return. Captain Chris Clark is questionable as is Dainius Zubrus.
NHL.com (AP)
CapsNut
DC Sports Chick
On Frozen Blog
The Peerless Prognosticator
The Sin Bin
DC Caps Chick
SESO (J.P.)
SESO (Open Thread)
SESO (Cason)

Other Features:

In the Caps locker room with Dan Steinberg (D.C. Sports Bog)

UPDATE: Greetings from Verizon Center, where I've just learned that Tomas Fleischmann has been sent down to Hershey. And with Richard Zednick coming back from injury and Fleischmann getting most of his time on the fourth line it makes more sense for him to get playing time in Hershey -- where, as we all will recall -- he was really ripping things up.

More in a bit.

STARTING LINEUPS: CAROLINA: G: Grahame; D: Babchuk, Wesley; W: Whitney, Cole; C: Brind'Amour; CAPS: G: Kolzig; D: Pothier, Morrisonn; W: Clymer, Bradley; C: Sutherby.

HEALTHY SCRATCHES: CAROLINA: Wallin, Gleason. CAPS: Heward, Clark and Klepis. Interesting what the lines will look like tonight without Clark and Klepis in the lineup. I'll keep an eye on it.

PICTURES: Here's Ovechkin backchecking as Brind'Amour tries to break out of the zone:

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Alexander Semin scoots on by...

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Mike Commodore and Donald Brashear...

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Mike Commodore is struck in the face with the puck.

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Commodore slumps to the ice.

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Alex Ovechkin skates into the zone:

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Boyd Gordon battles Eric Belanger in the faceoff circle:

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Brian Pothier flirts with Ellen.

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Always a good time for an Alex Ovechkin pic:

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

John Grahame fishes the puck out of the net.

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Richard Zednik played well, scored once, but was stopped by Grahame on this play:

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

That's it for tonight picture-wise. The recap is after the jump. See you Wednesday night against Atlanta (again!).

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

END OF FIRST PERIOD: CAPS 0 CANES 0: Pretty non-descript first period, with neither team seriously threatening. Richard Zednik has taken Chris Clark's spot on the top line and on the power play unit, which was 0-2.

Some other interesting happenings: Alex Ovechkin clocked Eric Staal in the Carolina zone along the left wing boards early in the period. Later on, Steve Eminger demonstrated some sandpaper when he dished out some love to Staal just inside the Carolina zone -- a good sign as far as I'm concerned.

Mike Commodore caught a puck to the face in the last minute, but he returned for the start of the second period.

For the period, which was kind of a snoozer, Carolina outshot the Caps, 9-7.

END OF SECOND PERIOD: CANES 2 CAPS 0:: The powerful Carolina power play struck twice, much to the chagrin of the home crowd as they sent the Caps into the dressing room to a shower of boos.

The first goal came with Shaone Morrisonn in the box for holding the stick, when Kolzig couldn't gather up a one-time from Andrew Hutchinson, and Erik Cole swept the rebound in off of his backhand to grad a 1-0 lead. Rod "The Bod" Brind'Amour picked up the secondary assist on the play.

The second goal, also on the power play, was a thing of beauty as Ray Whitney, Brind'Amout and Cole hooked up on a set of pretty passes -- now that's the team that won the Stanley Cup last season. Donald Brashear was in the box for holding when Whitney found Brind'Amour skating in deep along the left wing boards. Curling around the net, Brind'Amour hit Cole, who was stopped by Kolzig. Unfortunately, the rebound came right to Brind'Amour who tapped it in for a 2-0 lead.

It could very well have been 3-0 if John Erskine hadn't swept a puck out of the crease with his hand midway through the period.

All together, the Caps look like a team that's expecting to play back to back games -- which they will tomorrow night in Boston.

After two periods the 'Canes are outshooting the Caps, 22-13.

FINAL: 'CANES 3 CAPS 1: Looks like this Carolina team has finally woke up and realized it wasn't a dream, and that they actually did win the Stanley Cup last season.

Carolina stretched the lead to 3-0 when Brind'Amour found the underrated Ray Whitney who wristed it past Kolzig. Whitney is playing great in the place of the injured Cory Stillman, and I'm surprised he isn't getting more notice for his play around the league.

With Trevor Letowski in the box, the Caps got one back on the power play as Zednik deflected a Ben Clymer one-timer past Grahame to cut the lead to 3-1. Nice comeback for Zednik, who looked like he was getting his game back on track before his wrist injury. The goal was his third of the season.

Whitney, Cole and Brind'Amour hooked up again for Carolina's third goal. After taking a pass from Whitney down below the left wing faceoff circle, Cole found Brind'Amour skating straight up the slot. Brind'Amout redirected the pass and it was a 4-1 final.

That's two sound beatings in a row at the hands of the defending Stanley Cup champs. A nice reality check if you asked me.

More in a bit once I get downstairs.

Attendance: 12,683. Final Shot Count: 29-22, 'Canes. Would have been more, but Carolina was sitting on a 2-goal lead going into the thrid period.

Eric 01:31 PM

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