"Stupid, Dumb, Selfish"

Capitals 2, Senators 3
Scoresheet - Wash Post

You may be asking yourself how does a team beat the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins twice and follow that effort up with an overtime winner against the Conference's worst team and lose to the second worst? Bruce Boudreau might be shaking his head at the same question as the Capitals are guilty of playing to the level of their competitors. The Caps will go into the All Star break with a disappointing loss to the Ottawa Senators 3-2. Now they have seven days to contemplate the loss before playing the Bruins again in Boston.

Sergei Fedorov scored in the second and Dave Steckel added another. Both goals were at even strength. But the Capitals gave up 3 power play goals and their own power play was stifled, 0 for 5. Boudreau wasn't too happy about the effort put forth.

"It's a question of stupid, dumb, selfish - it's just not winning hockey," Boudreau commented to reporters after the game. "The bottom line is with three minutes to go you don't go cross-ice pass in the zone, you get it at the net."

Alex Semin took a ridiculous penalty with three minutes left when Daniel Alfredsson intercepted a pass. The play was well defended, with no need to reach out and trip up the Senators' captain. The Caps had fought back after surrendering a 2-0 lead in the first period. But it was all for not as the Sens were able to score with the extra man.

Again, the Capitals just couldn't close out a back to back and their road record remains a losing one. They do have a plethora of excuses to use if they really wanted to. The Caps did look tired toward the end of each period, showing some travel fatigue. The Caps are still with out key injured players. But those are just excuses.

Alex Ovechkin was held scoreless. Nick Backstrom, Viktor Kozlov and Semin were all quiet tonight in terms of offensive production. Puckhead's Player of the game happens to be Donald Brashear, who seemed to have more pep and jump in his step.

Since the Capitals are taking a week off, I will be doing the same. I may blog if something fantastic happens at ASG. Otherwise this All Star break is a welcomed break for myself as well.