Caps vs. Buffaslugs 12-26-2008 Post-Mortem

Add another one to the highlight reel... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Bryan Helmer with two assists, a +2, his first 1st star in the NHL but what was more important, he wasn't on the ice when any of the Buffaslug goals were scored.
• Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore looked solid stopping 22 of 24 Buffaslug shots. There wasn't much he could do on the two he let in but he didn't come up with any dazzling saves tonight. A much better team effort in front him tonight and as long as he doesn't give up a soft goal, it should be enough to pick up a win.
• Mr. Donald Brashear had an outstanding game tonight and deserved to get the game winning goal.
• Oh yeah, A.O. with his 23rd goal on the season, puts him 7th on the Caps All-Time Goal Scoring list with 186 goals just two behind Bobby Carpenter who scored 188 in his Caps career. A.O. is now up to 16th on the Caps All-Time scoring list with 357 points, 6 points behind Adam Oates.

THE BAD

• We couldn't really tell one way or another from the replay we saw at the game, but the goaltender interference penalty on Brooks "and Dunn" Laich looked very, very iffy to us. Where was Wes McCauley last April 22nd? (Us? Bitter??? No....)
• Another third period fade, giving up two goals on nine shots.
• Penalty Killers were 1 for 2 tonight which isn't as bad as it sounds but the goal that was given up was the result of three players breaking out on a botched clear creating a 2-on-1 down low.

THE UGLY:

• We understand that he's just a rookie but Karl "Malden" Alzner was on the ice for both Buffaslug goals tonight. The only reason why he was even was because he was on the ice for one of the Caps goals. Sending him back to Hershey wouldn't be the worst idea in the world for the kid.
• And speaking of sending players back to Hershey, can we please get Alexandre Giroux out of here? Furthermore, skating him and Eric Fehr (who could also use some fine tuning in the AHL but will never clear waivers) with Michael Nylander has got to be the worst possible way for the Caps to showcase Nylander for a trade if they really are shopping him around. No wonder Nylander skates in circles.

We hate to rain on everybody's parade (yeah right...) but we're starting to see signs of the AHL players starting to bog down this roster. It is pretty safe to say that without A.O., the Caps would have lost this game because without him, there wasn't much offense generated. He once again led the team in shots on goal (8) and it was his linemate, Viktor Kozlov, who was second on the team in shots on goal (5) and was open for most of the night because he was skating with A.O. The sooner we can get healthy, the better off we'll be also the recall energy is quickly evaporating. The scary part is though, we're still winning hockey games.

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