Is this...Happiness?: Capitals 2, Senators 3
3 Comments Published by Miss. Scarlett on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 6:59 AM.
The best way to celebrate America's Inauguration Day? A tilt between the two nation's capitals of course.
Guys, I think this is happiness I'm feeling. I know it doesn't necessarily mean anything about this team actually lifting itself from the pit of suckage...but dang it's always nice to see the team pull itself up from the boot straps and show some character.
Like I mentioned, I did miss the first period because I was out skating. As happy as I was to see the Senators leading, that of course didn't last long as the team was badly outshot 3-12 in the second period. Of course, thanks to Brian Elliott this team managed to stay in it and win the game thanks to a very timely goal by Brendan Bell off of a tripping penalty by Alexander Semin. Semin had a disastrous shift going into that penalty with a really bad give away as well.
Dany Heatley scored the other two goals for the team, both on the PowerPlay. More than ever, we need the Heater to get going, not because he's expected to, but this team has a .811 winning percentage when he scores twice in a game. Thanks, TSN!
Shean Donovan was injured in the Sens Skills Competition this past weekend which gave Peter Regin a chance to be called up from Binghamton. In his Senators debut, he was fairly quiet but did manage over 10 minutes of ice time. Christoph Schubert was moved back to forward so that Bell could be reinserted in the line-up after being a healthy scratch. Considering he potted the game winner, I think it was obviously a good move on Craig Hartsburg's part.
The team was also effective in shutting down Alexander Ovechkin. Normally, he has the Senators' number as he has ridiculous numbers against us, but yesterday, while he was certainly effective pushing people around and making great plays, the Senators managed to keep him off the score sheet.
While I'm ecstatic with the win and happy to see our PP clicking, I don't know if it's cause for concern at all that all of our goals came with the man advantage and whether or not we should be worried about this team's ability to score even strength. This does give me the faintest of all faint hopes that they can make a playoff run but I suppose with the All-Star Break coming up, the team can't really ride this momentum wave into more games. Let's just hope some time away will re-energize this team and they won't slack off in the time between.
Labels: brendan bell, brian elliott, dany heatley, home win, washington capitals
I don't think we need to worry about the even strength any more than before. Washington hadn't given up an even strength goal in two games before we even started. We had some chances to score, but their goalie (thibault?) was playing really well. The three we got were all "good" goals, where he didn't really have a chance of making the save. Last night we played 40 minutes of hockey and got lucky, but I'll take it.
More analysis, less cynicism!
/can't help myself
Theodore played really well. There were many panicked moments for me when Ottawa just couldn't get it out. Our defence would get plenty of chances to clear but they just couldn't do it. It was tense.
Also, our testy crowd starts booing (frequently) at the slightest show of weakness. We really are a frustrated group.