Caps @ Penguin Scum 4-6-2010 Post-Mortem

Still won the third period, even though we didn't need too... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• For the first time in Franchise history, the Washington Capitals break out the brooms on the Penguin Scum in regular season series.  Yeah, yeah we know it doesn't mean anything that playoffs and Cups and Terrible Towels are the only things that count.  But you have to take a nod to history here.
• In the battle of #1 Centers, Nicklas Backstrom with a "quiet" 3 assists tonight.  All of them primary.  And he won 62% of his faceoffs.  You can't say the same for his counterpart.
• And let the kvetching begin, Captain A.O. with two goals tonight to reclaim the pole position in the Richard and Ross Races.  The second goal was an empty netter with .2 seconds left in the game that he and the Caps were working hard to get.  Remember, the first tie breaker for both trophies is fewest games played and Captain A.O. has that one well in the bag on all his competitors.
• Too bad we can't pick up AM signals in our Command Center here because we would love to hear the Jeff "Sergeant" Schultz bashers equivocate his +5 tonight on the Post-Game Show.  That's right, +5.  Sarge was not on the ice for a single goal against tonight and the only Caps goal scored with him on the bench, a Power Play marker which wouldn't have yielded him a + anyway.  Sarge is now leading the league in +/- with a +44, one better than Captain A.O. who was only a +1.  Serious question here, why isn't Sarge getting consideration for the Norris trophy?

THE BAD:

• Tom Poti however was on the ice for two of the three goals against tonight.  So what else is new?  He however escaped with a +2 because he was Sarge's partner again tonight.
• Eric Fehr with two penalties tonight and wasn't able to convert a couple of prime chances that he got.

THE UGLY:

• Shaone Morrrissonnn had a difficult night tonight to say the least.  He was a team worst -2, the only Caps to post a minus rating tonight, but it was very well earned.  He lost his stick and instead of letting an unscreened and square to the shooter Semyon "The Saviour" Varlamov make a routine save on Jordan Leopold in the second period; he tries to block the shot and ends up deflecting it into his own net  That alone is good enough to earn tonight's John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles Bonehead Play of the Game Award.  Not to be outdone though, Morrrissonnn also played a large role in the third period Leopold goal by trying to lie on the ice to block the shot, at a perfect distance to hide the puck coming off of Leopold's stick from The Saviour allowing Leopold to blow it by The Saviour who had a solid game.
• Four Power Plays for the Penguin Scum to just one stinkin Power Play for the Caps.  And because it took Captain A.O. all of four seconds to score, the Power Play time was a gaudy 6:42 seconds in favor of the Penguin Scum.  Don't ya love it when the refs don't even try to hide it?  The second Leopold goal was started when Backstrom got tripped at the Caps bench with no call and Tomas Fleischmann took a stick to the face later in the third period after the Caps had scored on their lone Power Play which wasn't called either.
• Oh, and we were serious last night about never wanting to see the Erskine Bowles - Tyler Sloan pairing on the blueline again unless it is in a Caps Alumni Game.

Here's the part about tonight that cracks us up, the scratches for the Caps were, Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green, John Carlson, Scott Walker Texas Ranger, Eric Belanger, Boyd Gordon, Brendan Morrrissonn, and Milan Juricna.  That means, yes the Erskine Bowles - Sloan pairing was out on the ice, as was The Human Bruise Quintin Laing and Jay Beagle Yet not only could the Penguin Scum, missing just Evgeni Malkin-Lindros (who has been missing all year to be honest) and Chris Kunitz, not only couldn't win the game tonight; they couldn't even get the lead or tie the game back up after the Caps took the lead exactly 13 minutes into the game.  Forget getting swept by the Caps and having just 3 wins in 17 games against the teams ahead of them in the overall league standings; that alone has to weigh heavily on the Penguin Scum's minds.  The Caps are just playing out the string waiting for the playoffs to start but the Penguin Scum still actually have something worth fighting for.  Maybe the Penguin Scum are tanking again, trying to set up another second round date with the Caps and don't want to win their division.   But if they aren't careful, the Penguin Scum won't make it out of the first round if they keep this up.  Another two points, another record set for wins in a season, road wins in a season, and points in the standings.  Things just keep humming along and we're not even trying that hard.

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