Caps vs. Islanders 2-20-2008 Post-Mortem

There's a first time for everything... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Matt "Princess" Pettinger picked up his first point in a long time tonight but most importantly, seemed to mesh well on the second line. He's not a full-timer on the second line but he can get himself going up there, he could contribute down the stretch.
• Once Viktor Kozlov replaced Tomas Fleischmann on the first line in the third period, A.O. got over his flu bug.

THE BAD:

• Tell me again why we signed Kozlov? Wasn't it for his ability to score in the gimmick?
• Tell me again why we signed Mr. Donald Brashear? Wasn't it so that guys like A.O. and Alexander Semin wouldn't have to fight?

THE UGLY:

• If blowing a 2-0 lead on home ice isn't bad enough, we managed to do it to a team that overcame a 2-0 deficit in their previous game. We knew these guys could do it and let them.
• The game was decided by a gimmick.

Tonight is a prime example of why I don't think this team is going to make the playoffs. The Caps should have put this baby to bed yet their inexperience and declining goaltending cost them the game. You can't put the blame squarely on Olie Kolzig's shoulders because we know he no longer recovers as quickly as he used to. There's no sense in getting mad at Kolzig because players aren't backchecking as hard as they should or finishing their checks around the net. This was a team loss tonight. Throw in Jeff "Sergeant" Schultz's injury and things get even worse because we either have to play a defenseman we have no confidence in (Steve Eminger) or recall Sami Lepisto back from Hershey. While the spin is going to be that "we picked up another vital point," we also let a team in front of us in the standings get two points after we held a 2-0 lead on home ice. Teams that want to make the playoffs do not do those kinds of things.