What Is Done Cannot Be Undone

Capitals 1, National Hockey League "B" Referees/Bruins 2
Scoresheet - Wash Post - Wash Times

Befuddling.

A blow up from Donald Brashear, two phantom penalty calls late and the Caps are left feeling sorry for themselves. I could have come on and written a scathing review of the game right after, I could have blasted the Referees and questioned their family heritage, but I had to really pull myself out of the emotion of a tough loss and look at what really happened in this game as a whole. Hence the late post.

As much as the Caps may have been wronged at the end of the game, credit the Boston Bruins with playing staunch defense and keeping it only a one goal game to that point. The Caps had opportunities to bury the Bruins before that, and they didn't. There were times in the game that the Caps had the Boston squad on the ropes, but couldn't score.

As far as the last 6 minutes of the game, you can thank Nashville's Jordin Tootoo for that triple minor on Don Brashear. Tootoo is notorious for hitting players then taking a whack at the third man in. He took out a player against Vancouver then went head hunting for the third man in. This was similar except for the fact that Brashear was already getting the penalty. Shane Hnidy engaged him, and yes, Brash lost his cool. But in all fairness Hnidy should have been tattooed with a roughing penalty as well.

As far as the other two calls, they were just bad inconsistent calls. I don't mind Refs calling slashes, but call them all game long, not just when you find it convenient. The test of a good Referee crew is that you don't notice them during the game. If they do their job right, it's like they are not even there. Unfortunately, the Refs played a big part of determining the outcome of this game. They were very obvious in this game, and that's not a good thing. Just ask Japer.

All of that aside the Caps can only do what they can do in a situation like that. They lost a game, it was going to happen at some point in the next 14 some games. Now the hill just becomes that more steep. If we could go back in time, I think we would have put a stop to the debacle that was the beginning of this season rather than just fix this problem. The Caps have their work cut out for them. The playoffs are still a possibility, but they have to work for it. Nothing comes easy these days.

Brooks Laich scored his 16th of the season, and Alex Ovechkin continues his point streak now through 5 games. Pens next. Let's move on and get a win at home.