Hockey Night in Washington; Caps vs. Canes

Welcome everybody, as the Carolina Hurricanes come into town to face our Washington Capitals. With the ice surface being put back in so recently, neither team had a chance to partake in a morning skate at the Verizon. With our boys being able to skate at Kettler, hopefully that gives us a little bit of an edge coming into tonight's game.

It's clear that the fans have gotten the note about filling the arena with red. Down by the glass during warmups red jerseys and t-shirts fill the lower parts of the sections, while the upper areas are starting to fill in with red. And apparently the Canes fans heard, because I've seen a whole lot more white jerseys than red for them.

As the warmup wraps up Semin, Ovie, and Green are still working on the ice, and Kolzig is talking to Coach Prior by the bench. Then the buzzer sounds, and the 4 of them join the rest of the team in the locker room. After all the hype coming into this game, we're only about 15 minutes away from the puck drop. All we can do now is wait...

Games notes after the jump.

First Period: WSH 2, CAR 0 As the buzzer sounded the Verizon went crazy. The Caps head into the locker room with all the momentum. After the 2nd goal was scored, the shot of Laviolette was great. He looked like he wanted to strangle someone. So I'd imagine a good talk, or yell, from him between periods.

Huet has been making some great stops, and the Caps counter-attack has been pretty good so far. They just need to keep doing what they've been doing, and they will get the job done.

* The Caps are all over the ice to start the game. We're 4 minutes in and the place is roaring. The Caps are hitting, forechecking, backchecking, getting shots, doing it all. And right now they're out shooting the Canes 6-1. Even Semin is throwing his body around.

* The Caps are letting the Canes set up a little too much in the offensive zone on even strength. They need to put more pressure on the puck and force the Canes to make mistakes.

* With 5 minutes to go Matt Cooke bangs in a rebound for the first goal of the game. Much like the overtime game winners for Boston College and North Dakota last weekend, Cooke came across the crease, found the rebound on his stick, and just slipped the puck in past the outstretched skate of Ward.

* During the tv timeout the Caps announcer asked everyone in attendance to see if there was a golden sticker underneath their chairs. If so they won something, although it wasn't really said what the prize was. After 30 seconds or so of people looking, you hear "Happy April Fools!" Pretty good.

* With a 2-on-1 for the Caps they fail to convert, but draw a hooking penalty on Ray Whitney.

* With just under a minute left Brooks Laich takes a pass from the corner from Fleischmann and dekes Ward, slipping the puck past his pad.

Second Period: WSH 3, CAR 1 This game is getting more intense with every shift. Both teams are giving some extra shoves after each whistle. Everyone, even Semin, is banging away, and the refs are doing everything they can to keep the game in check. Tonight has been billed as the biggest game of the year, and it's being played like it. The bad blood is boiling, and I wouldn't rule out a big brawl in the third. It might even include coach Laviolette, who seems to be boiling over himself on the Carolina bench. The Caps start off the third with a 1:26 left on the powerplay, so let's see if they can start things off with a bang.

* Canes cut into the Caps' lead with a goal less than 3 minutes in. The worst thing about it was that it was actually a good goal. Walker tipped a shot from the point, it slipped through Huet's pads, and then Walker cut behind Huet and banged the loose puck in. A hardorking goal.

* The Caps get a powerplay, but are unable to make it 2-for-2 and fail to score. The Canes did a good job of preventing the pass to Ovie at the point for the slapper.

* Washington takes back to back penalties, but the 5-on-3 is quickly turned into a 4-on-3 when Scott Walker gets 2 minutes for goalie interference. The Canes fail to score on the advantage, and we go to 4-on-4.

* Carolina has a shorthanded breakaway, but Huet makes the great glove save. Staal looks like he's going to throw a jab at Ovie in the corner after the whistle, so Ovie decks him into the boards. A scrum ensues and Ovie and Wallin get matching roughing minors.

* Semin scores an incredible goal from next to the net. After some chaos in front of the net Semin collects a bouncing puck with his legs backdoor and whips the puck under the crossbar for the goal. Laviolette is absolutely livid on the Carolina bench. He had to be warned by the ref to take it easy.

* The Verizon has arguably the best video clips in the league. I just saw the motivational clip go from inspirational (We Are Marshall, Friday Night Lights) to funny (Starsky and Hutch, Old School) back to serious.

* The Caps put serious pressure on the Canes on the powerplay to end the period, and there's a little scrum after the buzzer. The Canes are getting angry and the bad blood is only getting worse.

Third Period: WSH 4, CAR 1 The Caps just did everything right tonight. Combine that with a couple calls going their way, and they could do no wrong. They played with desperation, and it showed. The biggest contributor tonight might have to be the fans. It's the biggest and rowdiest crowd I think I've seen all season. It was just a great night overall.

* The Caps pass the puck around a little too much and blow their powerplay.

* Momentum has shifted as the Caps are playing more defensively and are a little more guarded about taking chances. Carolina has used that to their advantage, and are pressing more in the Caps zone.

* It was noted up in the press box that after some iffy penalties against Carolina the refs would probably put away the whistle for the most part against Carolina. It doesn't look that way, as the Caps have had several powerplays in the third. Whitney just got another one, and I'm beginning to think the Canes would have been better off without him.

* Semin gets a hooking penalty to negate the powerplay. It's tough to see since he's been playing with so much abandon tonight. He drove a couple guys into the boards early on, and I had to double check that it was actually him.

* Make that still a Caps powerplay, as the Canes get a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. Laviolette has been so mad all net that you could have seen it coming.

* Wrong again. Seconds later Kozlov gets a holding penalty to make things 4-on-4.

* Ovie spins around and unleashes a slapper that beats Ward far side for his 63rd goal of the season. The Verizon is absolutely going crazy. Ovie ties Luc Robitaille for most goals by a left winger in a season. When the camera for the big board shows him on the bench after the goal, he shows the crowd he wants them to get loud, and boy do they respond. It is LOUD.

Postgame

The company line seems to be "We haven't accomplished anything yet." Everyone knows that they need to push for their final 2 games, and they need to see the chips fall their way in some other games. As for the game tonight, Mike Green noted that he'd "never heard it like this before." That sentiment was echoed by BB as well later on.

Huet downplayed his role, saying all he did was make a few saves. When the Caps score 4 goals, he's not the main guy. He did admit, however, that it felt good hearing the roar of the crowd when he was called back out as the #1 star of the game.

Coach Boudreau noted the play of his defense after losing Shaone Morrisonn 10 minutes into the game and having to run only 5 defensemen. They clearly stepped up, because I didn't even realize they had lost someone. When asked about what he thought about Semin's surprising checking tonight he, along with Ovie later, noted that "everyone's committed and they're into it. When you get guys that aren't normally used to hitting and competing...you know everyone's got a common goal."

The bottom line is everyone is scoreboard watching, and everyone knows they need to finish their last 2 games strong. This Caps team has shown they have what it takes to win crucial hockey games, so everyone should be excited for the last 2 games. I'll be back at the arena on Thursday, so until then, keep checking those scoreboards.

Joe Dumas 06:36 PM

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