Caps vs. Senators 1-7-2010 Post-Mortem

And you thought our defense was bad...  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Niklas Backstrom continues to be selfish, scoring two goals tonight upping his season total to 17 goals and registering an assist as well.
  
• Captain A.O. with one goal and two assists tonight, his first points since ascending to the Captaincy.  He now has 53 points on the season and is just one point away from tying St. Calle Johansson for 7th on the Caps All-Time Scoring list with 474.
• Boyd Gordon played in just his 10th game this season but scored his first goal.  More importantly, he and his fellow 4th liners David "Bolt Cutter" Steckel and Matt "Omar" Bradley ended up with a combined 4 points and a +2.
• The entire first line was a combined +8.  Who says that Captain A.O. (+4 by himself) doesn't play defense?

THE BAD:

• Recently Ottawa GM Brian Murray complained about the officiating his team received, well tonight they certainly got the benefit of more than a few calls.
• 10 of the 18 Caps skaters registered points tonight, none of them however on the second or third lines.

THE UGLY:

• How in the world did John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles end up second star of the game?
• Really nice defensive zone coverage late in the third period when the Caps had a 5-1 lead.  What were we saying about finishing games this morning???

Well folks, with the exception of the last minute of the game when the Caps stopped playing defense (much like Ottawa did in the entire first and third periods) this was about what you would expect.  Though we're waiting to see how people find a way to criticize Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore for this game.  He didn't have much to do but he did what he did well tonight.  We hope he gets another game before January 17th.

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