A Pre-Season Win: Caps 6 - Blackhawks 2

Well, that was fun…

…but let’s not get carried away, either. There was good, and there was bad in the Caps’ 6-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks earlier this evening.

Good: Mike Knuble notched a pair of goals on his only two shots on goal in the first 4:52 of the game.
Not so good: His last entry in the official play-by-play was a missed tip-in attempt at 16:06 of the second period. What happened?

Good: Alex Ovechkin got his first two goals of the preseason.
Not so good: He didn’t attempt a shot in the last 28:30 of the game (ok, we’re being picky)

Good: Three assists for Alexander Semin
Not so good: Semin had an awkward collision with Ben Eager. After his “tweak” earlier this week, it was a dicey moment.

Good: Boyd Gordon winning 14 of 19 draws.
Not so good: Mathieu Perreault losing seven of ten.

Good: The Caps took two penalties in the last 40:35.
Not so good: The Caps took four penalties in the first 19:25.

Good: The Caps were 3-for-6 on the power play.
Not so good: The Caps were 4-for-6 in penalty killing.

Good: Semyon Varlamov did not allow an even strength goal.
Not so good: It’s going to be hard to pick two goaltenders with three left (that’s not so good if you’re the guy having to do the picking).

Good: Nicklas Backstrom had a three-point night.
Not so good: Mike Green – eight shot attempts and nothing to show for it.

Good: Tom Poti – plus-1 and a couple of blocked shots.
Not so good: Tom Poti – three minor penalties taken.

Good: Using sticks to score six goals (ok, there was the one off a Knuble body part, which made Kanoobie the Ugly Goal Rally Mutt happy).
Not so good: Using sticks to commit five of the six penalties (high-sticking, tripping, slashing, and a couple of hooking calls).

Good: The top line going 5-4-9, plus-3.
Not so good: Guys on the bubble not playing badly, but not grabbing a roster spot by the throat, either (we did like what we saw from Quintin Laing and Kyle Wilson, though).

Good: A 6-2 win.