Saturday, November 19, 2005

Olie's Big Night Back

Capitals 5, Canadiens 1

A second game of firsts for the Capitals. Brian Sutherby scores his first goals against the Habs, the Capitals first 3 and 4 goal lead and the Capitals first win with out a goal or assist from Alex Ovechkin. And I thought the day would never come.

The Capitals finally get the pieces to fall into place. Taking advantage of Montreal’s missed played defense. The Habs defense almost looked as if they were standing around, as if the Capitals took them by surprise.

But the most impressive of the Capitals win was the man between the pipes, Olaf Kolzig. The Caps net-minder stopped 43 shots in an almost shutout. Micheal Ryder’s goal in the second prevented Olie from his 34th career shutout. Coming back from a leg injury, Kolzig was spectacular.

Overall Grade: A

The Caps finally get some pucks to drop their way, benefits of working hard and never letting up. I was very impressed by the play of Chris Clark and Sutherby. Sutherby, a Caps #1 draft pick in 2000, is becoming more a goal scorer than a bruiser I once thought he was. Sutherby received the game’s 1st star.

While on the other end Steve Eminger needs to up his effort a little more. After a quick start for the defenseman, he had gone cold in the scoring department and taking bad penalties at inopportune times.

Wash Post actually did a story on the game (go figure since their coverage of the Caps has dropped, I didn't even see the ap ticker story on the website last night).

Next up for the Caps are the Penguins at the Mellon Arena. It will be the battle of #1 draft pick rookies with Sid “the Kid” Crosby and Ovechkin. If the Caps continue to play like they did tonight, they should be a handful for the Pittsburgh squad.

No comments: