Caps vs. Flames 3-12-2008 Post-Mortem

Now he can retire... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Congratulations to Olie Kolzig on notching career win #300 on what was a solid effort that earned the game's first star. All 300 have come with the Caps and he's the 23rd to do it in NHL History. Next up for Olie should he care about these kinds of things is Rangers Goaltender Mike Richter at 301. It was nice to also see that the Caps were ready with a video tribute with greetings from former Caps players.
• The "OvechKam" experiment wasn't a total bust with A.O. notching two goals to run his total to 56 on the season and opening a four point lead on Evgeni Malkin-Lindros for the Art Ross Trophy (97-93) who only scored a single goal and no assists in the Penguin Scum's 7-3 win over the Buffaslugs. Now at 295 points in his career; A.O. is now only 5 points (a single night's work...) behind one of the guys who wore #8 before him. That's right, Dmitiri Kristich sits at 18th on the Caps All-Time scoring list with exactly 300 points.
• After falling behind 2-1 at 8:57 of the second period, the Caps outshot the Flames 22-5 for the rest of the game. And after the constant berating of the referees at the hands of the Caps fans, the Caps were not whistled for another penalty in the game where Calgary was whistled for five more minor penalties.

THE BAD:

• Sometimes the early goal can lull you into a false sense of confidence as the Caps scored just :53 seconds into the game. An early goal can also serve as a wakeup call for the team who allowed it and Calgary certainly got that call and the Caps tried to coast.
• While both Calgary goals were effectively scored off the 5 on 3 Power Play, the Caps were just 2 for 4 Penalty Killing tonight against a Mike Keenan Power Play. You do realize that Flames Head Coach Mike Keenan famously refuses to practice the Power Play?
• Carolina wins so we gain no ground on them and Florida also wins so we remain in third place.

THE UGLY:

• Miikka Kiprusoff overplays just about everything like Ron Hextall used to. The Caps tried to take advantage of this by passing around him in tight but ended up over passing on many occasions. It's one of the few times we needed to shoot more instead of looking for another pass.
• The John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles Bonehead Play of the Game Award returns to its namesake tonight for his "fight" with Eric Godard in the first period. The Slow-Footed and Dim-Witted Defenseman got his clock cleaned in the bout and on his first shift after the beatdown, he took a tripping penalty and didn't touch the ice for the rest of the game except to return to the bench from the sin bin and to congratulate Olie at the end of the night.

I'll now let you savor the irony of Olie Kolzig notching his 300th win on a night when Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic gave us the first ever OvechKam broadcast....

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