Photo credit: Greg Fiume
Early Saturday morning, some Caps fans sacrificed toy animals in hopes of courting the hockey gods’ favor. That night, the Washington Capitals put a five spot up on the Florida Panthers and generally looked like a darn good hockey club.
John Carlson shot a one-timer to Theodore’s far side that was tipped in by ample bottom of Troy Brouwer, the same gentleman who caught a monster saucer pass from Braden Holtby before unleashing a perfect slapshot on Florida’s Jose Theodore. Joel Ward capped off an offensive-zone takeaway with a snazzy goal from the slot. The Caps cracked the four-goal plateau for the first time thanks to a nifty one-timer by Ovechkin right after the faceoff. Mathieu Perreault earned his first of the year halfway through the third, chasing Jose Theodore from net in the process.
Hey, look at that. No goals against. Hmm.
Caps beat Panthers 5-0.
- During tonight’s game I drank red wine. It was rather… high brouw.
- No, but seriously: Troy Brouwer. The Capitals’ best social-media user was also (one of) its best players tonight. Brouwer had a two-goal night– screening and tapping in Carlson’s shot and firing one of the best breakaway slapshots I’ve seen in a long while. He was also a dynamic force on the power play as well. Fantastic effort.
- Three or more. Former Cap Jose Theodore had a rough night, stopping just 16 of the 21 shots he faced. You gotta feel for Jose, a classy gentleman since he broke things off with Paris Hilton, but we are really thankful for him stinking up the joint tonight. (Insert double-agent joke here)
- Fight! Longtime pugilist George Parros danced with John Erskine, in his first game back from suspension. It was a mostly pointless fight, but at least Erksine got the better of Parros.
- O hai Ryan Zimmerman. No one told you about the dress code?
- After becoming a scoring machine on the power play, Alex Ovechkin finally notched one at even strength. Moar please.
- Ian is calling an audible: Voldemort is staying for right now.
- Welcome back to the lineup, Mathieu Perreault! Perry cleaned up a rebound made possible by some smart fencing from Eric Fehr.
- Have we left anything out? Oh yeah….
Braden freakin’ Holtby. After weeks of really crummy play, Holtby earned his shutout tonight. Florida outshot the Caps, and Braden had the solution to every one of them. There were some scary moments on the penalty kill, but Holtby was perfect. Absolutely perfect.
This was what this team needed. Not just a competent game, but an excellent one. The Caps were energetic on offense and flawless on D. After going up a couple goals, they kept their foot on the metaphorical pedal– pressing for another three.
I’m not saying this is where the team turns it around, but
Wait I am.
This is where the team turns it around. God help any rubber cows and chickens and miscellaneous rubber barnyard animals in the area.
See you on Tuesday, when we do it all again.
This is the face of pure happiness. @russianmachine twitter.com/DominicKreiner…
— Dominic Kreiner (@DominicKreiner) February 10, 2013
