Hands Thrown In Disgust

Capitals 2, Panthers 3 OT
Scoresheet - Wash Post

Bad penalties, a horrible penalty kill and lost opportunities on the power plays. That sentence could be used to describe every loss the Capitals suffered this season. I am tired of hearing, "5 on 5 we were in this game," "We played well at even strength," "We are a tough team to beat when we stay out of the box." These lessons seem hard to learn.

This game should not have gone to overtime in the first place, after what seemed a sure goal reviewed by the Comcast Sportsnet crew who had a shot of the puck over the line. But the NHL didn't seem to care, they just looked at the same replay over and over where you can't see anything, as if to say, "Does it really matter?" Even with that "non-goal" out of the equation, the Caps played true Capitals hockey of late: Lots of penalties and no power play.

The Caps have not even showed up in the three stars of the game in their last three games. That hurts. It almost seems anything the Caps do are not worth wasting ink on. Not even on the scoresheet. Also, in the last four games the Caps have blown a lead.

Chris Clark and Jakub Klepis scored both goals for the Caps and Alex Ovechkin got a pair of assists. On one power play, the Capitals spent a whopping 34 seconds setting up. I know, I counted. By the time they did get the puck in the zone and set up, nearly 45 seconds of their powerplay was swallowed up. It only took 21 seconds for the first shot (which went wide) and the Panthers cleared the puck, making the Caps spend another 30 seconds to set up another attack.

Listening to the enemies' radio broadcast as I do sometimes, George Richards, beat writer for the Miami Herald, told the two Florida Panther announcers that the Capitals lacked any talent outside the two Alexes. I was surprise that I couldn't put up much of a fight to that comment. Richards also talked of a possible Panther run for the playoffs. Umm ... HAHAHAHA! Oh, (wiping tear) now that is funny!