Caps 4 Lightning 2

Today was Mission Accomplished Part 2 as the Caps locked up the #2 seed in the Stanley Cup playoffs via a 4-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Caps will draw either the Montreal Canadiens or the New York Rangers in the first round. New York would have the tiebreaker based on wins.

As for tonight's game, well, there was maybe about 15 minutes of it that could be considered a hockey game. Tampa Bay came storming out of the gate early on, getting a goal 30 seconds in by Steven Stamkos and keeping the heat on the Caps for the next 5 minutes. But the Caps slowly asserted control and the Bolts helped them out by giving the Caps power play a 2-man advantage, leading to Brooks Laich's tying goal. From there on, the Lightning would get a few chances but the Caps controlled the action. After two quick second period goals by Laich and David Steckel, the Bolts spent the rest of the 2nd and most of the third looking like they were ready to make golf reservations, chase tail at a Tampa bar, get a suntan at the beach,anything but keep playing hockey. I suppose I don't blame them, it's been a long, tough year. Their 2nd goal, by former Cap Matt Pettinger, was almost by accident but the Bolts did collectively seem to say, "Fuck it, we can play for another 8 minutes." But the Caps once again reasserted command of the game, Mike Green got an open netter after skating through some Swiss cheese defense and the Caps locked up that #2 seed.

Hangar Observations:

- While most of this game had the feel of a glorified scrimmage, one thing I did like was that after the Lightning got back to within one in the third, the Caps didn't panic and methodically kept playing their game. Tampa is a mess, actually, let's just come out and say they suck, but you do like to see short memories like that in the playoffs.

- I didn't like Bruce Boudreau double-shifting Alex Ovechkin in the 3rd period. I know he was trying to help Ovie get that scoring title, but you don't want to get your star hurt in a game like that. Besides, since there was a rash of penalties early in the game, why not get Keith Aucoin, Steckel and Professor Matt Bradley some extra ice time?

- Professor Matt looked like Cam Neely or Brendan Shanahan on that setup to Steckel's goal.

- Laich's second goal was what my teammate Jeff Hudson would call a "snipe."

- While the Lightning have sucked this year, Stamkos has a very bright future.

- Still don't like that Jeff Schultz-Milan Jurcina defence pairing. I know that will change when Tom Poti comes back, but still, they scare the crap out of me back there.

Here now are the highlights from NHL.com


So that's it for this game. All the Eastern Conference playoff spots have been locked up, so Saturday's game with Florida will be meaningless. Let's hope the Caps can get out of there without any injuries and be ready to go for the playoffs. Until the next time, let's call this one more...for the good guys.

More From Tonight's Caps Game

Here's a clip from YouTube of Alex Ovechkin's 50th goal tonight complete with the goofy "stick on fire" celebration and Ovie's 1st period intermission interview.


After the game, Tank got the lowdown on the celebration. Apparently Jose Theodore came up with the idea and Mike Green and Nick Backstrom were supposed to participate but hung Ovie out to do it by himself. Tampa Bay coach Rick Tocchet was not amused. He must of had money on Alex Semin scoring the first goal tonight. My take: it was maybe a bit overboard but ultimately harmless. I worry about this kind of stuff more than I worry about what Ovie's celebrations do for hockey.

- Breathe easy Caps fans, apparently Mike Green is OK after looking like he hurt his shoulder in the 3rd period.

Caps 5 Lightning 2

Pretty easy win for the Caps tonight over the banged-up and hapless Tampa Bay Lightning. The game was close after two periods but Washington was able to turn this into a laugher with yet another strong 3rd period.

The real concern right now is the health of Mike Green who went down awkwardly with the Bolts' Steven Stamkos and came up favoring his left shoulder. It looked like Stamkos pulled Greener down by his arm as Stamkos was falling to the ice. Whatever it was, let's hope Green isn't injured too badly. Losing a potential Norris Trophy winner would be disastrous for the Caps playoff chances.

Other than that, like I said, the game was fairly workmanlike. The Caps are clearly a much better team than Tampa Bay and with Mike McKenna in goal, there was no way the Caps were going to see the same caliber of netminding they did from Kari Lehtonen in Atlanta on Monday.

Of course, the big story tonight (besides the Green injury) was Alex Ovechkin getting his 50th goal. It was a classic Ovechkin goal: darting down the wing and unleashing that lethal wrist shot of his past McKenna. Then he pulled out a celebration that Don Cherry will surely object to Saturday night. Ovie put his stick on the ice and put his hands out like he was warming his hands on a fire. Clever, although a bit awkward looking at first. According to Ovie's 1st intermission interview, Green and Nicklas Backstrom put him up to it. I can just see Cherry now bemoaning this one as the death of "The Canadian Way" of hockey. Yes, we need less of Ovie celebrating and more of Chris Simon slashing guys in the face with his stick. Ovechkin also added two assists tonight.

"You will lose."

Besides the injury, Green had a monster game with two goals, including the game-winner that really seemed to get the Caps into soul-crushing mode. It was also good to see Michael Nylander get a goal, or even shoot the puck. Seriously though, Nyls has been a major whipping boy this year but he's actually played a lot better since he got back into the lineup. Another guy it was good to see get one was Professor Matt Bradley. Professor Matt is like the poor man's Brooks Laich, a guy that is all heart minus Brooksie's skills.

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the solid work turned in by Simeon Varlamov. The youngster looked composed, calm and cool in net. If he can learn to stay out of the trainer's room, he's going to be a good one. If he's not already.

So that's it for this recap. Let's hope Greener is OK and its just a stinger or something. As easy as this game was, things will get a lot tougher Saturday night against The Former Hartford Whalers. Until then, let's chalk up one more...for the good guys.