Caps vs. Devils 12-26-2009 Post-Mortem

Finally broke through the second level...  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• The top line was tops again, a combined 7 points and +9 for Alexander "Slappy" Semin, A.O., and Nicklas Backstrom.  A.O. is now one goal behind Marion Gaborik for he league lead, six points behind Joe Thornton (who is currently playing a game) for the Art Ross race, and for the "he doesn't play defense" folks, he leads the NHL with a +21.  A.O. is also now 7 points behind St. Calle Johansson for 7th on the Caps All-Time Scoring List.
  
• And let's not forget Nick for registering his 202nd career point tonight in his 202nd career game.  He has yet to miss a game and his goal in the second period was a huge boost the Caps.
• We believe the call from Steve Buckhantz is "DAGGER!" when a shot seals a game.  Well Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green threw the "DAGGER!" tonight with his goal early in the third period.  Any ideas that the Devils had in coming back were dashed by that goal and he also registered a +2.
• Michal "Bebe" Neuvirth is starting to look a little more comfortable at the NHL level.  He didn't look too good on the goal he gave up but instead of getting rattled as he did on Wednesday night, he bounced back strong as that was the only goal he gave up.
• We'll give General Manager George McPhee kudos for signing Slappy to a one year extension earlier today.  So much for those who were thinking he might be trade bait.
• New Jersey isn't known for having a great Power Play, but they are 8th in the NHL.  Tonight the Devils however went 0 for 4 and one Power Play, were totally on their heels on some occasions.  The Caps registered 5 shots on goal shorthanded and allowed 5 shots on goal to the Devils Power Play.
  

THE BAD:

• The Caps only got two Power Plays and they overlapped for a 1 minute 5-on-3.  Yet the Caps wasted the chance by trying the same freaking play three times in a row.  How about doing something different guys?

THE UGLY:

• Yeah, Bebe should have had the one goal he allowed but he wasn't helped by a great screen set by John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles.  That was his Bonehead Play of the Game.

Well folks, enjoy sitting at the top for the time being because the lead is one point but the Devils still have two games in hand.  Make no mistake, were better off in this position than being 3 points down with Joisey having two games in hand, but the point is, we still need help.  Tonight's win will make things more interesting down the stretch.  We like that after building a 2-0 lead on New Jersey we were able to get that third goal on Martin Brodeur who had an off night.  We'll take a couple of deflections off of New Jersey sticks to get this win.

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