Off Wing Opinion

What exactly was last night? I know it's in the books as a win, but it certainly doesn't feel that way. With both Boston and Philly winning, and Carolina getting a point in the shootout loss, it seems more like a tie at best. The Caps finally beat the hated 'Canes, yet sit exactly where they did before they played - 2 points behind Boston for the 8th seed. And Boston has a game in hand.

While that's enough to make any Caps fan fret, the fact that I have dual fan-ship (yes I just made that up) with the Caps and Bruins, I'm counting on a Flyers free-fall to end the season in the hopes that both my teams get in. This will be a long week and a half, but at least I know it's coming.

With that said, the Caps did in fact leave Raleigh with the win last night. Ovie netted #61, the Canes got a couple lucky bounces, and Kozlov snapped the winner past Cam Ward in the shootout. CapsChick sums up the feel of last night's game best.

This game was, for all intents and purposes, a playoff game. It felt like it for sure, as many of the players acknowledged and those of us watching at home saw for ourselves. There was an intensity that has maybe been missing from previous division games, a sense that this one meant more than the rest. No, a three point game wasn't exactly what the Caps wanted but the two points they came out with in the end were incredibly important for sure.

It might not have looked or felt too good, but those points really do matter. Now they look ahead to tomorrow night's game against Tampa Bay. As The Peerless says;

The Caps can

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 4:38 pm by Joe Dumas and is filed under 2007-08 Washington Capitals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Well tonight will be a big night for 2 reasons. One, it will be the debut of the "OvechKam," a split-screen broadcast of the game featuring a camera on the game and one entirely on Alex Ovechkin. Second, and more importantly, Olie the Goalie will be going for win #300. The Caps haven't lost to Calgary since 1999, so it looks like history is on our side on this one.

The Caps face off against two of the best skaters in the West. Jarome Iginla is the AO of the Flames; he hits, scores, leads his team, and has a hand in nearly everything the offense does. And patrolling the blueline, and hoping to keep Ovechkin in check, is Dion Phanuef. As The Peerless notes, he's near the top of nearly every defensive category in the league.

Phaneuf is as complete a defenseman there is in the game. He is ranked among the defenseman leaders in several league categories:

Points: 49 (T-6th)
Goals: 14 (T-4th)
Assists: 35 (10th)
PIMs: 163 (1st)
Power play goals: 9 (T-1st)
Power play assists: 19 (T-11th)
Power play points: 28 (5th)
Game-winning goals: 3 (T-5th)
Hits: 172 (6th)
Time-on-ice: 26:32 (5th)

Again

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 6:49 pm by Joe Dumas and is filed under 2007-08 Washington Capitals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.