Caps @ Senators 1-15-2007 Post-Mortem

Well folks, looks like despite still being on West Coast Time and still feeling the lingering effects of what my doctor tells is an "abnormal organism" (I can only imagine what a "normal organism" would have done to me) and not the flu; I called this one perfectly. Well, enough gloating, onto to the abbreviated Battle Damage Assessment...

• Definitely a better effort tonight than Saturday night's stinker. Yeah, the Caps could have played better, but with the roll that Ottawa is on right now (and some of the bounces they got tonight) I don't think it would have been enough for the Caps to win.
• Again, while not nearly as bad as Saturday night, the forechecking was still largely MIA. A good bit of it had to do with Ottawa's ability to move the puck quickly thereby making it tough for the Caps to get in deep and bang the Senators defensemen around. Again, when the Caps can get forechecking pressure, they usually do well, especially in the offensive zone.
• 30 shots on goal is good and about what you want in an average game. However, A.O. (5), Dainius Zubrus (2), and Alexander Semin (2) clearly need to key the offense in order for this team to win. All three were held without a shot in the first period and Semin didn't record a shot on goal until the third. Goals from Captain Chris Clark and Steve Eminger are nice, but the skill guys have to get the job done. That being said, nights like tonight are going to happen from time to time.

I'm not going to complain too much about tonight's game. When all is said and done, Ottawa is a playoff team and the Caps aren't. The Senators are on a roll and the Caps have been in a funk lately. It is easy to forget that the Caps are a work in progress and there's still miles to go here. Yeah, you like to win games and need to have a lofty goal such as making the playoffs, but there are still teams who have more talent than us and all the hard work in the world isn't going to change that a bit.