Caps vs. Rangers 1-3-2009 Post-Mortem

The fluke was that they fell behind 4-0... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• The last time A.O. scored shorthanded was in a 7-1 loss at Ottawa on March 2nd, 2006, needless to say, it didn't double as the game winner. For now he is the official League Leader in goals scored (he's tied with Jeff Carter of Philadelphia, but Carter is currently playing, if Carter does not score tonight in L.A., A.O. takes over on the tie breaker which is fewest games). A.O. has now tied Adam Oates for 15th on the Caps All-Time Scoring list 363 points and is now 32 points behind Bobby Carpenter for 14th place and is three goals behind Dave Christian for 5th place on the Caps All-Time Goal Scoring list.
• And speaking of Shorthanded goals, the Penalty Killing unit more than got the job done with getting the Game Winning Goal but also going 3 for 3.
• From the looks of things, with the return of Alexander Semin and Mr. Donald Brashear, the Caps didn't lose anybody else to injury tonight. This is a minor miracle considering the pathetic condition of the ice tonight.

THE BAD:

• Milan Jurcina had a tough game tonight and his -1 reflected that.
• Eric Fehr made some questionable decisions early on in the game and has picked up Tomas Fleischmann's inability to finish scoring chances.
• Despite going 1 for 4, the Power Play was once again "special" as the Caps had trouble getting set up. Heaven only knows why the Rangers got away from pressuring the puck when it is clear as day that our Power Play unit cannot handle pressure.

THE UGLY:

• If we're going to have fighting in the NHL, can we please at least leave it to the professionals? Semin's fight tonight was as embarrassing as Canadian Diving Team Captain, Low Blow Secondary Assist Cindy Crosby's was earlier today. While Semin got the Game Misconduct for not having his jersey tied down, he should have been given the game misconduct for those girly slaps to Marc Staal's back.
• And speaking of fighting, just what in the world are we paying Mr. Brashear $1.2 million for? When Semin got into his fight with Staal, Mr. Brashear was on the bench. However, Mr. Brashear was on the ice when Michael "Meadowlark" Nylander got into his scuffle with Scott Gomez and didn't look too concerned about "doing his job."
• Scott Driscoll blew an offside call on the Rangers lone goal of the night.

After the sloppy effort on Thursday night, the Caps needed a solid win like this to cap off the best 40 game start in franchise history. As the intensity of the season starts to pick back up, the Caps will need to continue to raise the level of their game as well. But let's not kid ourselves here, the Caps match up very well with the Rangers. The real test is going to come on Tuesday when the Flyers show up. If the Caps can play like this against the Flyers, then they could be onto something.

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