Caps vs. Panthers 2-27-2007 Post-Mortem

Well, that was a real defensive struggle. Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• After falling behind 3-0 less than 8 minutes into the game, the Caps were able to regroup and eventually tie the game up. This team has a reputation of not ever giving up and tonight they showed it.
• The Power Play was 3-5 and actually looked dangerous tonight. Of course, some people couldn't understand how the other two Power Plays were blown...
• A.O. was back to his old self tonight all over the ice and racking up 2 goals and 2 assists in the process. Whodda thunk that Zubrus was holding him down???? (That's a joke people, walk away from it)
• Not only was A.O. back in form tonight, the offense was rolling about as well as I've seen it in a long time. The criss-crosses and overlaps were sharp and the Caps were able to generate great pressure on the Panthers with 33 shots on goal for the game.

THE BAD:

• Did our defenders at least have the courtesy to give Brent Johnson a couple of clothespins??? Criminey that was a brutal start. No, Johnny didn't make any great saves and there were a couple of goals that he outright flubbed but the guys in front of him offered him little protection in that first period.
• Could somebody please explain to me why Eric Fehr was a healthy scratch and Bryan Muir was inserted into the lineup? I think it was pretty clear that we've run up the white flag on this season so why is a hack like Muir getting icetime over a rookie who needs it? And can we get Mike Green back into the lineup too so that we don't have to watch John Erskine-Bowles anymore?
• It is no wonder Florida likes playing in Washington. Absolutely dead crowd tonight. Nope, the Caps start wasn't anything to cheer about, but the way the team came back deserved a better reaction from the fans.

THE UGLY:

• Once again the game was decided by a gimmick.
• I didn't even get inside the arena before I heard my first "McPhee sucks!" and some clown kept yelling "TRADE McPHEE!" after every Panthers goal. This is driving me to drink. Folks, if you're that freakin' upset about the direction of the team, please do yourself and me a favor and please don't bother showing up at the games anymore. While I myself don't understand the trade, I am tired of every single move this franchise makes being hyper-criticized by the fan base. I promise that there will be more on this tomorrow.

Deadline day games are always weird. The Caps were certainly skating around in a funk in the first eight minutes of the game and Glen Hanlon made good use of his timeout early on in the game to reverse the flow/ wake the team up. Sad to say once again that had we come out stronger at the start; we wouldn't have needed overtime and a gimmick to decide this game.