For starters, Thursday night was a comeback fan's dream. Not only did my Red Sox manage to come back from a 7-0 deficit in the 7th inning to win 8-7, the Capitals stormed back from a 3-0 hole to beat the dreaded Penguins 4-3 at the Mellon.
We can learn a few things from Thursday night's game, all of which can be summed up by Japers' Rink:
The offense is still clicking (especially at five-on-five, where all four Caps goals were scored); the penalty kill is still sucking (allowing all three of Pittsburgh's goals in six chances); Alex Semin is still scoring; and the goalies are still crappy early (Jose Theodore now has a 7.00 first period GAA).
The Caps clearly need to work on both aspects of their special teams. While yes a couple of their goals allowed were "fluky", it doesn't mean it's okay for them to be allowed. Maybe the Caps need to take the Alexes off the ice and put on someone who's a little more defense-oriented. If the injuries on offense continue, I wouldn't mind seeing a Quintin Laing call-up. He knows how to lay out the body.
The Caps continue to dominate 5-on-5, but why aren't the putting a few powerplay goals away? With Ovechkin, Semin, Fedorov, Green, and Backstrom on the PP, the Caps have one of the scariest powerplay units in the league. They just need to take that potential on paper and translate it to the ice.
Penguins coach Michel Therrien didn't react too favorably to the loss.
"We lost the game because we stopped working in the third period. It's pretty simple. We didn't follow the plan in the third. We played on our heels. We were losing battles."We are not paying the price to score goals."
This may be the difference that catapults the Caps deep into the postseason this year. They are willing to pay the price it takes to put the puck in the net. The grinders are scoring, the snipers are putting them away, and they are digging away in front of the net to score, as was evidenced by Tomas Fleischmann's goal to open up the Caps' scoring Thursday night.
Also, the Caps have responded to their injury issues by recalling Bears forward Chris Bourque. Bourque had a great showing in training camp and the preseason, but was squeezed out of the Caps roster due to sheer numbers. But his preseason work hasn't gone unnoticed, and he will be the first Bear of the season to get his chance to make an impact with the big club. He played in 4 games for the Caps last season, so he'll be looking to make a lasting impression this time around, maybe even enough to stick around for awhile. Heck, Quintin Laing stuck around for 39 games last season. Here's hoping Bourque has that kind of similar success.
In reference to their injuries, the Caps don't expect Tom Poti (groin)or Viktor Kozlov (knee) to play. Brashear (hand) is "iffy".
And lastly, all Caps fans can take comfort in the fact that they have some of the cheapest beer in the league and pay less than the league average for tickets.
Tickets are $8 less than the average $49.66 ticket price for teams in the National Hockey League...A 16-ounce beer is $4.50, while the same-size brew averages $6.06 across other venues.
Puck Daddy points out that it's the 2nd cheapest beer per ounce in the leauge. So there's no better place to take in some entertaining hockey and get a good buzz on then the Washington Capitals home games.
