Monday's Blogging Roundup

Yesterday's afternoon showdown with New Jersey was a heartbreaker. The sad thing is this isn't the first time we've bemoaned a late-game rebound that slipped under the pads of a Caps goalie. But they played their hearts out and were beaten by the best goalie in the league. As The Peerless put it;

It was too much Martin Brodeur, who stopped 37 of 38 shots – many of those stops being of the “holy crap, how did he stop that one” variety.

The Caps out-shot, out-chanced, out-hit, out-blocked, out-just-about-everything’ed the Devils. They just didn’t out-score them, and in the end, that’s all that matters. The Devils know how to win those games; the Caps do not yet apparently have that knowledge at this level.

Any other team and the Caps would have left with 2 points. But that wasn't the case, so it was only a 1 point day for the home team.

And there were kind words for Nicklas Backstrom, Semin, and Quentin Laing from OFB.

# All that said, that was a helluva goal from Alexander Semin. Not a whole lot of guys in the league who can do that. # Nick Backstrom has a talent for avoiding full hits against the boards, maintaining possession of the puck, and being able to continue the play. If I buy a new Caps sweater, #19 is very likely to grace the back. # Quintin Laing has proved that he’s one of the 10 best forwards on the team. At least to me.

And with the playoff deadline looming (tomorrow at 3 pm) Tarik looks at possible movers and shakers in the Southeast Division. The big names are still Hossa, Jokinen, Richards, Boyle, and Prospal. It will be interesting to see if the Caps make any moves.

Capitals General Manager George McPhee recently said (for the second time) that he's not anticipating making a major move. But has the Caps' slump - they've lost five of six - changed his mind?

I know the other day I said they are making progress, and the playoffs are not an essential this season if it means getting rid of good talent in the system. But it would be nice to see if GMGM can do a little work to try and get a low-cost addition to the team. Preferably someone who will stick with the team for another season at least. There is definitely no reason to pick up any rental players at this point. Rentals are really only for top teams in either conference, and the Caps don't need to spend any of their prospects or picks on rentals.

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