Sunday, April 06, 2008

We are the Champions...

Of the Southeast Division!!!!!


Rejoice Caps fans, rejoice!!!

Caps get the 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, and they'll take on either Ottawa (please, please, please??) or the Flyers. It all hinges on the Penguins/Flyers game this afternoon. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but GO PENS!!!!

(Oh, and I apologize for the crappiness of the above picture, but I took it with my cell phone, and didn't have time to adjust the settings when I snapped it. I was busy taking some pics with the digital.)

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

I'm the Voice Inside Your Head That You Refuse to Hear...

BEST.GAME.EVER. That's all I can say about Tuesday night's Caps game. Despite my last post talking about our playoff chances being slim, the Caps are showing that they're not giving up. After going 5-1 on their 6-game road trip, they came back to the Verizon Center last night with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The first game the Caps beat the Predators, but they really only played one decent period of hockey. They held on for the win. Then came the Caps's only loss on the trip. They succumbed to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks, and boy was it a beating. Final score: 5-0. It was bad. Caps fans were beginning to think that loss may have been the proverbially nail in the coffin. But the Caps bounced back, earning themselves the nickname of the Cardiac Caps in the process.

Up next was a road date with the entire Southeast Conference, with only a brief Easter visit in between games. The Caps took on the Thrashers, and they got a 5-3 victory. After that was their brief trip back home for some rest, and then back on the road to Carolina. Carolina. The Hurricanes. The leaders of the Southeast Division. The team 5 points ahead of us in the division. This is a win we needed badly.

The Caps still were not looking all that great, but neither were the Canes. The two goals the Canes scored were deflections off of Caps players. The first was a slapshot that deflected off Matt Bradley. The second goal was reviewed by the officials, but was basically knocked in by Shaone Morrison's skate. The puck ended up being stuffed under Huet's pad, but over the line because Shaone skated into Cristobal. The Caps got it to OT, which really wasn't the best move considering the Canes got a point out of it. Kozlov got the winning goal in the shootout, and the Caps were victorious. Onto Tampa Bay where the Lightning were waiting to play spoiler to the Caps's push for the playoffs.

The Caps drew first blood this time, on a shorthanded goal by Brooks Laich no less. The Lightning responded on the same power play. The Caps were actually down 3-2 in the 3rd period, but with a goal by the other Alex, Semin, that is, the Caps were back in business. We were in overtime, once again, but it didn't matter that the Ning got a point. All that mattered was that the Caps picked up two. Tomas Fleischmann, or "Flash", scored in OT to give the Caps the win. Again, the Caps pull off the victory on the road. Now the Caps have a 3-game win streak going into Sunrise, FL for a date with the Panthers.

The Caps dominated the Panthers 3-0, with Ovie scoring number 62 on the season, putting him one goal shy of Luc Robitaille's record of 63 goals scored in a season by a left winger. Viktor Kozlov got the game-winner, ultimately, with his goal in the second period. Towards the end of the second period, Mike Green finally scored, after a goal-drought in the month of March for Caps's defensemen. Green potted number 18 on the season, and put him one goal shy of the Blackhawks' Dustin Byfuglian's 19.

But even with that stretch of 5-1 on the road, the Caps still had a lot of hockey to play. Flash forward to Tuesday night. The Phone Booth was splashed in red, and I've never seen it so alive. With the Southeast Division leader Carolina Hurricanes playing the role of guest, the Caps were not about to play the role of kind host. The Caps were two points shy of tying the Canes for first in the divsion. Granted, the Canes had the tie break over the Caps, but everyone knew that this game was make or break for DC. The Caps knew it and the fans knew it. The fans were in full force, and I was among the many. I donned my red, and supersticiously let my sister wear my red Caps shirt. I was screaming at the top of my lungs for every player, every play! And I was not the only one. The place was electric. And the Caps were definitely feeding off of our excitement.

When the Canes score first they have a scary good record. The Caps knew they had to score first. And that they did. Mike Green hit a monster shot that bounced off of Cam Ward right to Matt Cooke's skate then stick, and the Caps led 1-0. At the end of the first period, as a power play was expiring, Tomas Fleischmann passed the puck to a streaking Brooks Laich who netted his 21st goal of the season. Going into the first intermission, the Caps received a standing ovation from the Verizon Center crowd. But this was the Hurricanes. They were not going to keel over and die. They came out big and ended up scoring first in the second period, to get within one goal of the Caps. But don't think because this is Carolina that the Caps would keel over and die, either. The Caps were energized and took back their two-goal advantage with a goal by Alexander Semin. Semin was playing great on Tuesday, and getting the goal was just the icing on the cake. Carolina was no friend of the stripes on Tuesday because it felt like they spent more time in the box than on the ice. Always a plus for the Caps. And the Caps were hitting hard and picking up their own penalites, as well.

The game could definitely be described as physical. Even Ovie got into the action. After a stupendous save by Huet, and a subsequent tap by Eric Staal, Ovie defended his goalie with a little roughing up of his own. But that wasn't all Ovie contributed. During a stretch of 4-on-4 play, Ovie snagged a pass from Backstrom in front of the Canes net, and, somehow in mid-spin, ripped one off the post and into the net. You had to see it to believe it! A-freakin-mazing!! That goal sealed the victory for the Caps.

Of course I can't talk about Ovie scoring without mentioning the "M-V-P!" chants filling the arena. I'm gonna give some credit for that to my fellow rowmates in section 413. They had been trying to start an Ovie "M-V-P!" chant for a solid period and a half before the chant picked up after Ovie's 63rd goal. They were pretty excited. I noticed the press really picked up on the "M-V-P!" chants, and, I'd like to think, the fact that my row was directly next to the press box may have been the reason for that.

But here the Caps sit. Knowing that even if they win out the rest of their games, they could possibly still not make the playoffs. I don't like to think that way. There are a lot of critical games on tap for the teams ahead of the Caps in the standings. The biggest game is the Ottawa/Boston game. The Caps need that game to end in regulation. If that game goes to OT, the odds of the Caps making the playoffs are slim to none. If it ends in regulation, the Caps are basically in. And with the way this team is playing, no one wants to face the Caps in the playoffs. They are scorching right now, home and away. The boys in DC are on the verge of greatness, but no one outside of this region wants to hear that!