Photo by Eric McErlain
Greetings from the press box high above the ice surface at the Verizon Center as we get ready for tonight's Caps home opener against the Carolina Hurricanes. The press box is filled to bursting tonight, as we've got more press overflow to the far box than you can imagine.
There's one person who's missing this season, and that's former Caps beat writer Dave Fay, but he isn't forgotten. All season long the Caps will be reserving a place in the box for him.
We're a bit pressed for time tonight, but I think it would suffice to say that there's a different kind of buzz floating through the building that's separate and distinct from a typical opening night. I'm as jazzed for the start of the regular season as I've been in years.
Photo by Eric McErlain
Stick with me all night long. Ellen Blanchard is at ice level, and I'll be on AOL Instant Messenger under Emacwriter all night long.
And don't forget, if you're a blogger and you'd like to use any of the photos you see on Off Wing tonight, just be sure to credit the photographer and embed a link to our virtual photo agency inside the photo.
END FIRST PERIOD: CAPS 1 CANES 0: It's hard to express just how dominant the Caps have been in their first period here at home in the 2007-08 season. To say that puck possession defines this team would be an understatement. For most of the first period, the Caps have kept Carolina bottled up in their own zone, forechecking effectively and never passing up an to deliver a hit -- especially when Carolina was trying to obtain possession deep in their own zone.
The result: A period where the Caps outshot Carolina 14-2, limited their chances to a solitary misplay where a great save by Kolzig kept Carolina off the board and took a 1-0 lead into the dressing room.
After a number of great chances, the Caps finally took the lead at 14:24 when Viktor Kozlov broke into the Carolina zone at the top of the slot and left a perfect drop pass for Ovechkin. He picked it up and rifled a wrist shot past John Grahame that beat him stick side to make it 1-0.
One sequence that typified the period came when Brooks Laich was sent to the box at 10:21 for hooking. Over the next two minutes, Carolina failed to record a shot on net and the only excitement was generated when Matt Pettinger took the puck out of the Caps zone and skated it the length of the ice to get a shot off on Grahame.
As for Kolzig, he was hardly tested outside a sequence late in the 1st period when Tom Poti misplayed a pass at the left point, and Trevor Letowski jumped on the puck. He quickly scooted up the ice in alone on Kolzig, who turned away his wrist shot. Kevyn Adams couldn't corral a bouncing puck and it skittered behind the goal line to end the only threat.
END SECOND PERIOD: CAPS 2 CANES 0: More of the same my friends, more of the same. This team is as different from last season as you can imagine. The power play hasn't looked this good since the days of Oates, Bondra and Gonchar. Not only is the team controlling the zone on the power play, they're generating chance after chance -- something we didn't see a lot of last season.
The Caps stretched the lead to 2-0 on the power play. With Justin Williams in the box for hooking, Alexander Semin picked up the puck on the half boards and slid a pass to Milan Jurcina. He took a wrist shot through a screen, and the puck caught a Carolina player's stick and skittered past Grahme.
Laich earned himself a big cheer and a nice red welt when he dove to the ice to stop a Tomas Kaberle slap shot from the top of the slot. And the trio of Chris Clark, Boyd Gordon and Pettinger combined to create a nice scoring chance near the end of the period.
At 14:21, Ovie has an incredible chance gift wrapped for him when the Canes turn the puck over to him at the top of the slot. Skating in all alone on Grahame, he simply loses the handle on the puck and Grahame covers it up. It's the kind of chance that keeps goal scorers up at night if you don't cash in.
FINAL CAPS 2 CANES 0: The story in the third period is about Olie Kolzig and how he turned away the chances that the deep Carolina forward corps eventually was able to generate.
The first scary moment came early in the period when Scott Walker broke out of the Carolina zone with the puck and skated in alone on Kolzig. Busting a move from the right to left wing, he let go of a shot that hit the iron, but didn't catch twine. Later in the period, Carolina's Erik Cole led a rush with the puck up the right wing boards and saucered a pass to Ray Whitney cutting toward the net on the right wing. Kolzig responded with another incredible stop.
More soon from the locker room.
That’s one heckuva scoreboard…. I don’t know how you can focus on the game!