Sitting at the keyboard...a live blog

OK, well...since we can't attend the game in person tonight, we'll try this live blogging thing for the Caps-Habs contest...we apologize in advance for an utter lack of readability...

7:09...geez, van Massenhoeven?...we're doomed.

7:11...Ovechkin down...and was that a pin dropping I heard?...nice swipe, Alexei...

...and Morrisonn didn't make it out of the pre-game skate?...what's the over-under, President's Day?

7:14...Ovechkin lays out Begin...guess he's ok.

7:16...looks like the Caps want to pay the price a little more in crowding Huet...first Pettinger, then Steckel. Much shoving ensues...

7:19...shots -- Caps 6/Habs 0...Eminger got the seventh jumping into the hole on the weak side...nice save by Huet

7:22...ya think that was a pretty amazingly dumb roughing penalty Donald Brashear took?...

...nice kill...to chance to string together chances in the Caps' end.

7:33...Begin needs to take acting lessons. That was a half-hearted appeal on the delay-of-game.

...and so much for that...a pretty weak stick call on Semin

7:35....Ovechkin on a one-timer...you can't stop it, you can only hope he whiffs...1-0 Caps.

...and wasn't that a nice cross-ice feed from Jurcina

7:42...the Caps are almost playing this like a road game...denying the Canadiens much in terms of flow, playing very deliberately on offense...


-- end of the first...Caps denied Montreal the transition game that killed them on Tuesday, and when Montreal generated a little downhill momentum, Olaf Kolzig was there...after one, the leaders:

goals: Ovechkin (1)
assists: Jurcina (1)
shots: Steckel (2)
hits: Ovechkin (2)
blocked shots: Poti (2)
takeaways: Backstrom (3)
faceoffs: Gordon (5-2)

7:53...I'm going to go out on a limb and say Milan Jurcina really "caffeine's up" for games...geez, his interview with Al Koken needs to be stepped down a couple of speeds so I can figure out what he said...something about "blue lines," I think.

...Backstrom is oh-for-five in the circle so far...

8:07...one gets the feeling that the game is quietly moving toward Montreal..they're in that "lull a team to sleep" mode...

...uh, so much for that lull. Nice quick-hands tap-in by Kozlov from right in front of Huet. 2-0 Caps


8:12...Caps back to the power play...Koivu to the box...to no benefit...

...and Ovechkin has a bloody beak, courtesy of Francois Bouillion.

8:26....this time it was Montreal caught napping...Ovechkin stepped past Andrei Markov to collect a nice chip pass from Kozlov and swat it past Huet...3-0 Caps

...and Montreal gets it right back on a weird ricochet off Alexander Semin's stick and onto Sergei Kastistsyn's blade who whipped the puck into a virtually empty net...3-1 Caps

8:30...Ovechkin's 2-1-3 tonight now has him tied with Daniel Alfredsson for the league scoring lead.

8:37...goal or no-goal. Montreal had a lot of chances, and this one will count, if the replays mean anything. Rebounds rear their ugly head once more in the Caps' end... 3-2 Caps.

8:40...OK, so now both Kastsitsyn's have scored. Hopefully, there isn't a third one lurking in the tunnel waiting to take the ice. And the way the Canadiens got those two goals -- the first less than a minute after the second Ovechkin (and third Caps') goal...the second with mere tenths of a second in the period. The third will be gut-check time for the home team.

8:45...the leaders after two...

goals: Ovechkin (2)
assists: five tied with one
shots: Green (5)
hits: Ovechkin (4)
blocked shots: Steckel (3)
takeaways: Backstrom (4)
faceoffs: Steckel (6-1)

9:00...Ovechkin is the only Cap playing with intensity at the moment...a whale of a hit and some back-and-forth with Mike Komisarek...

9:06...chess match going on...Canadiens trying to spring guys coming down the middle...

9:10...Montreal is starting to win the territorial game...too much time in the Caps' end...

9:17...Bradley with a nice accelerator to get in deep, but couldn't lift the puck over Huet's right pad.

9:18....HAT TRICK!!!...finally...Ovechkin's first home hatter, rifling the puck through the defenseman's legs and past a barely-flinching Huet...4-2 Caps

9:22...and the Caps give it right back by being lazy getting back...Kastsitsyn (one of them, anyway) slides the puck to Latendresse who stuffs it into an empty net. Green and Schultz just weren't in position to defend... 4-3 Caps

9:28....how can a guy 6'3" look like he comes out of nowhere for a save?...Kolzig saved the bacon for the moment on Plekanec.

9:30...and once more, they can't get the puck out of their own end...Kolzig loses track of the puck...Latendresse pokes the puck in from inside the crease with 32.6 seconds left...4-4

...overtime...a three-goal lead blown...goals scored by Montreal in the last minute of the period, twice...and but for Ovechkin, this really isn't a pleasant night for the Caps. As it is, they have one point, looking for the second one. But Montreal has the momentum...

9:36....bad offsides there...Fleischmann could see the play in front of him and didn't need to go in early...

9:40...FOURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!...Ovechkin gets his second four-goal game and ends it, taking two whacks from the top of the crease with not a Montreal defenseman in sight...Green the drive from the top of the zone, ricochet to Jeff Schultz, who sent it in front, where Ovechkin -- eventually -- hit the back of the net.

Caps 5 - Canadiens 4