Skeleton Crew Comes Up Short

Capitals 3, Islanders 5

In Washington D.C. politics is king. So when the State of the Union address comes around every January, every channel in D.C. is focused on what powers the nation’s capital. This in turn puts the Caps game on some obscure channel (MHz2, usually the channel ShopNBC.com is on 24 hours a day).

In response to this bad error in timing for Comcast Sportsnet, they have generously decided to replay the game at 2 a.m., and then again later during the day. My wife and I decided to do dinner and instead of watching the game (which is a great frustration on her part when I do watch), I decided to be in a giving mood and watched the rest of American Idol when we got home then did what a majority of America did and watched the President’s speech.

Setting my alarm clock for 2 in the morning, I jumped out of bed and turned to my second favorite channel to watch the Caps play. I am very tired.

The Capitals actually played very well, keeping the game close. Considering the Caps were with out Alex Ovechkin (lower body), Dainius Zubrus (upper body), Matt Bradley (not sure) and Steve Eminger (lower body).

This gave some considerable time to other players. Rookie Mike Green, a defenseman that has shown great potential in the minors looked like a veteran on the ice. Brooks Laich also played really well, he was fast and handled the puck well. But with their new ice time came fatigue and the Caps looked winded late in the third.

Overall Grade: B-

The Caps first real test with out Ovechkin was really a good one. The Islanders are a solid team, and the Capitals made it close for most of the game. The Caps goals were by Brian Willsie, Matt Pettinger, and Jeff Friesen, who all three really needed to find the back of the net. Friesen actually looked relieved after his goal bounced of an Islander skate and into the net.

Wash Post has the inside scoop to the game. Caps play the Maple Leafs on Friday. It should be good with a rested Ovechkin and Zubrus. This time the game will be on a channel that actually exists. I am going back to bed now.