FanNation - The Republic of Sport

So given a couple days now for the game and the big Christmas Eve dinner to sink in (that's how we do it in our family), it is still pretty amazing to think that the Washington Capitals came back from a 4-0 deficit Tuesday night in Madison Square Garden to beat the New York Rangers, 5-4, in overtime, on Shoane Morrisonn's goal about a minute into the extra session.

In the first period and for a bit of the second, the Capitals were absolutely awful, looking like a team that had clearly forgotten how to play hockey. Bryan Helmer and Dave Steckel topped the abysmal list, making decisions and plays that let the Rangers enter the zone unimpeded and practically score at will. The woes of the defense (missing Mike Green, Tom Poti, Jeff Schultz, and Brian Pothier - I don't know that we can really miss John Erskine, to be honest), left the forwards often trying to cover up for them and that didn't work, as the Rangers feasted on the Ovechkin line for four goals. At one point in the game, the top line was a combined -11. 

But the game also shows why the old axiom about how any shot on goal is a good play is really true. It was, in truth, Ovechkin's most harmless shot of the night - a flyer from the left wing boards that then deflected off Ranger defender Michael Rozsival's stick, and then over the shoulder of a surprised Henrik Lundqvist, that sparked the rally. It was one of 13 shots on goal for the night for Ovechkin. 13! It makes you wonder why other top scorers don't do this all the time. We have seen Ovechkin lead the team in shots on goal in 20 straight games now. Some would argue that this is being selfish. But who on the team has a better chance of scoring when he shoots than Ovechkin? In fact, who in the league has a better chance of scoring when he shoots than Ovechkin? I'm more than happy to see him taking 10-13 shots a game if that's what it takes to win. He hasn't been hogging the puck to make it happen. Teammates are finding him, Ovechkin is still looking to be the playmaker when the situation calls for it, and he's getting his shots. Perfect mix to me.

After the first period, I was ready to stuff Jose Theodore into a woodchipper. It wasn't that the three goals were all his fault - his defense, as we've mentioned, really left him for dead. But after a slight period of improvement, Theodore is back to badly overplaying everything from side to side. On New York's third goal, Theodore had slid all the way to Weehauken before realizing that the shot was coming on the rebound and by the time he had his bearings, it was 3-0. And having been lost in Weehauken before, let me tell you, it sucks.

Theodore got better late, and made a couple nice saves. But he's not a number-one goalie. I'm not sure Brent Johnson is either, but given the contract situations, you can't just send Theodore down. So Simeon Varlamov, who won his two games while with the club last week, will have to continue to work hard at Hershey. The only hope in my book is that as we get close to the trading deadline, a team with cap room is going to need a goalie to contend and we can let Theodore go and go with Johnson as the top (crosses fingers) and Varlamov as the backup. Johnson has come up big in the playoffs before (while with St. Louis) so it wouldn't be a stretch for him, I don't think, but we need to keep him healthy. 

I can only hope that some of the D get healthy soon. The call ups have been good for the most part, but Helmer isn't an NHL player. I'd rather see Lepisto in that spot at this point. 

All of that said - holy crap it's fun to beat the Rangers. 

Merry Christmas!