FanNation - The Republic of Sport

First, it can be said that the Capitals did what they had to do last night. When you see the Islanders on the schedule, and you regard yourself as a good time, you need to get the two points.

The Capitals did that, despite blowing a two-goal lead in the third period and being taken to overtime on the island in last night's 5-4 victory. Washington played a pretty solid first two periods aside from penalty killing - but then were awful in the third as the Islanders scored twice to force the extra period. The tying goal was set up by an awful penalty from Tomas Fleischmann, a play where he made an unnecessary hold that just put his teammates in a bad situation on a night when the New York power play had already scored twice. Flash had just exited the box when the tying goal went in off that Jon Sim, who definitely qualifies in the "Cap killer" class of player. 

In the overtime, Alexander Ovechkin was denied by both posts on the same shot with about 40 seconds left, and I had a hunch that if we got one more shot, we'd score. When the Islanders turned the puck over in their own zone in awful fashion, Nicklas Backstrom collected the puck, fired a quick pass to Ovechkin in the slot, and he ripped a nasty, off-balance, top-corner shot past Joey MacDonald for the 5-4 victory. 

Among the good signs we saw were that defenseman Milan Jurcina started shooting, his laser in the second period took a deflection of an Islander defender for a goal. He's got the kind of shot that makes you think he could be lethal from the point if he was more aggressive with his shot. It can definitely lead to good rebounds if we can get people in front of the net. The first couple goals were created from hard work, and the play in the overtime was strong. You could tell they didn't want to go to a shootout - and that's a smart move because this team sucks in the shootout. 

What I saw that I didn't like was some of the play from Alexander Semin. Yes, he made a great backhand pass to Ovechkin to set up the fourth goal. But I thought overall, he was a tad on the lazy side. Semin is our version of the moody striker at times. Sometimes, he just doesn't seem into the show, as it were. I think last night was one of those nights - perhaps becuase it was "just" the Islanders, or because it was in that awful barn they play in - whatever it was, I hope he's more into things against St. Louis at home tomorrow night. I thought we took some stupid penalties, and I thought someone really needed to take charge in the third period and no one did. 

That changed in the overtime, as I thought the Capitals had much better jump and skated better (perhaps because it was 4-on-4, who knows), but it all worked out in the end for two points. 

Washington leads the Southeast by 8 points over Carolina, who beat Montreal last night, and 10 over Florida. 

Elsewhere, thanks to Yahoo I got to watch a good bit of the Blackhawks' absolute demolition of the Oilers in Edmonton. Chicago scored a 9-2 victory, outskating Edmonton all over the place and looking like a reverse picture of those mid-80s Campbell Conference finals games where Edmonton would hang a 10-4 scoreline on the Blackhawks on their way to another Stanley Cup. Chicago is a great team to watch - they are a Western version of the Capitals in many respects.