Monday, January 16, 2006

You Can Only Hope To Contain

Capitals 6, Coyotes 1

“No way! No Freaking way!” I couldn’t help but screaming on Alex Ovechkin’s third period goal where he scored a goal on his back with his stick over his head and finding just the width of the puck hole to score his 32nd goal of the season.

It was quite possibly the best goal of the year by Ovechkin. I had to watch the replay again and again to fully comprehend what the phenom rookie had done. It was the 17th game that Ovechkin has had a multipoint game with 2 goals and an assist.

When I talked about goal support for Ovechkin, this is what Craig Laughlin talked about spreading it around. More of the Caps needed to score and not leave all of the goals come on the shoulders of their top point maker, Ovechkin. The Caps got goals from Ben Clymer, Dainius Zubrus, Brian Sutherby, and Matt Bradley.

The Caps did a great job in all aspects of the game, defensively and offensively. The Caps kept the scoring chances of the Coyotes down in front of back-up Brent Johnson who was a part of the Coyotes system.

It was a surprise to see Johnson in net, but made sense as he played very well in two straight games. The Caps were able to dominate the Coyotes by playing their brand of hard work hockey. The Phoenix bench boss Wayne Gretzky could only shake his head as the Coyotes let 4 goals by the Caps slip past Brian Boucher in the second period.

Overall Grade: A

Zubrus was credited with the first goal that was an errant pass in front of Coyote’s goal by Mike Ricci that squeezed its way into the net. After review, officials gave the goal to Ovechkin as it didn’t look like Zubrus had touched the puck.

Wash Post has the news and notes of the game. The Caps come off a three game road swing were they won 2 games in Phoenix and Anaheim. Ovechkin scored 6 goals in that stretch. The Caps bring their 2 game winning streak home to the phone booth to play St. Louis on Thursday night.

Ovechkin’s unbelievable goal, I am sure, will be the number one play tonight on Sports Center, unless of course they show some college basketball ally-oop. Call the votes off, no more debate, Alex Ovechkin is the Calder winner. ‘Nuff said.

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