Caps vs. Senators 1-1-2008 Post-Mortem

Yes, I know... It isn't the first time and won't be the last... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• I can't say I was surprised at all to see Ottawa jump out to a 2-0 lead less than five minutes into the game. Hades, I would have been more surprised to have NOT seen that. But the Caps response less than 30 seconds after Ottawa got a 2-0 lead and taking just 2:19 to erase the deficit and stake a lead was surprising. Where did that come from?
• Congratulations to the Power Play unit who for the first time all season scored a goal while having a two man advantage and went 1 for 3 tonight.
• Sure Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green had two goals and an assist, but he was also +3. That is the most impressive stat.
• Six goals were scored and A.O. had two secondary assists and cleared everybody out for Green's go-ahead goal in the first period. But the MVP turned the momentum of the game in the Caps favor for good with his huge, clean, hard, and brutal open-ice hit on Chris Phillips when the Caps were down 2-1. That's something that does not show up in the stat sheet.
• The Penalty Killers didn't have much to do, but did it well going 2 for 2 and allowing just 2 shots on goal.

THE BAD:

• Viktor Kozlov ended his goal scoring drought in the first period but then seemed to take the rest of the night off.
• Milan Jurcina and Tomas Fleischmann were both -2. Though Alexander Semin managed the same mark in just 1:45 of ice time.
• 15 shots in the first period but just 11 for the rest of the game. In some ways we were lucky we got away with that.

THE UGLY:

• Once again we enter the third period with a 5-2 and once again we let up and let a team back into the game when they should be put away. However, credit should be give to the defense and Olie Kolzig because the third period tonight didn't become the wild shootout Saturday's did.

If I were an Ottawa fan, I would be rather concerned that my team tonight came out strong to start the game and gave up after Martin Gerber was pulled in favor of Ray Emery. Senator's Head Coach John Paddock was right to leave Gerber in on Saturday as Ottawa was never really out of the game. He also made the right move pulling Gerber quickly after the Caps went ahead 3-2 tonight. But it seemed to me that after Gerber left the game, so did the Senators. Ottawa didn't look very interested in playing in front of Emery and while they did not hang him out to dry, they certainly didn't try to get a win for Emery. When Andrej Meszaros cut the lead to two early in the third period, I thought "here we go again" yet Ottawa didn't pick up their game in an attempt to tie the game up and get a win. They seemed content to make Emery the goaltender of record. It's nice to see that the Caps can break somebodies spirit.

It has been... A TWO POINT NIGHT!!!