A TWO GUINNESS Day: Caps 2 - Bruins 1 (OT/SO)

We’re long past the how…it only matters how many. And two points – no matter how ugly a manner obtained – is the object of the exercise.

The Caps picked up a hard-earned two points this afternoon against the Boston Bruins in a 2-1 shootout win.

The Bruins tried to rope-a-dope the Caps into an afternoon nap of a game, and it almost worked, the Bruins launching shot after shot at Caps goalie Cristobal Huet, and the Caps doing their part by trying—and failing, for the most part – to dent the four-wide defense the Bruins sought to employ to keep the Caps from gaining the Boston zone with any momentum.

In the end, though, it was a Russian twist on a St. Patrick’s Day weekend as Sergei Fedeorov netted the only regulation goal, and Alexander Semin and Viktor Kozlov potted goals in the shootout to earn the extra point. Who’d think that in a game where Russians were the only ones to rustle the twine, the one that would be absent from the party would be Alexander “Still on 99” Ovechkin.

Fedorov, who ended the game with more ice time than in any previous game in his short stint with the Caps (22:48) had another in a string of solid games. The goal was nice, but even without it (in which case, the Caps lose, of course), he was for the most part solid. Four shots on goal and 12 faceoff wins in 21 chances. For those of you keeping score, Fedorov has won 95 of 150 draws – 63.3 percent – since coming over from Columbus. If a club is going to play a possession game, it helps to start plays with the puck.

If there was a number that was cause for concern, it was this one – 21. That was the number of giveaways the Caps had (Boston had eight). And it was a group effort – 12 Caps (including Huet) had giveaways. Oddly enough, the player you might expect to have a couple – Alex Ovechkin (tied for third most in the league) – had none.

If you’re looking for a “grind your teeth into a fine powder” frustrating effort, you’d have to look to the Boston side of the ledger. Three times this year, Marc Savard registered six shots on goal. In each of them he registered at least a point. Today, Savard had eight shots in 21:44 of ice time and had two others blocked. His return on that investment in effort?...nada, zilch, the big zero. No goals, no assists, no points. At least Chuck Kobasew netted a goal for his six shots worth of effort.

The runner up for frustration, though, might be Ovechkin, who had six attempts blocked (yet another example of Boston’s “get in the way” defense).

If you’re not aware of what time of year it is, spend a couple of minutes looking at the time-on-ice chart. Note the shifts by period…

Eric Fehr: 6-2-2
Tomas Fleischmann: 5-2-2
Donald Brashear: 3-2-1

None saw the ice in overtime. The bench got a might shorter, one might say, as the game wore on. Not surprising, considering the stakes.

OK…now what was that UFB* in the third period?! Alex Ovechkin is skating into the Bruin zone, trying to split two defenders, and is taken down when Mark Stuart hooks his shins, and Ovechkin is called for diving? Uh, sorry, no. That qualified as among the dumber calls one will see this year, and one is at a loss to understand the rationale for it. Maybe for an instant the referee saw an “8” and thought “Alexander Semin,” who has from time to time been accused of sharpening his thespian skills in pursuit of the two-minute call.

So now it starts…six games on the road against teams with a combined record of 204-192-44. Three of the teams – Nashville, Florida, and Carolina – are either fighting to hold or fighting to gain playoff spots. The others all have records better than .500 at home. Four teams are fighting for that eighth playoff spot, two points separating them. In what is perhaps an odd scheduling quirk, only Florida and Washington play one another over the last stretch of games. None of the four play any of the other four teams between now and the end of the regular season. That will make for some intense scoreboard watching between now and April 6^th, when the Flyers play the Penguins on the season’s last day.

Fun, ain’t it?

* “utter f**king bullsh*t”