A Bloody Win

Capitals 2, Predators 1 OT
Scoresheet - Post - Times

I think there is little doubt that the Nashville Predators have a tough team. But the Washington Capitals stood their ground even if that meant taking some pretty heavy blows to do it. In overtime it was Sergei Fedorov that won the game on a pretty pass from Viktor Kozlov to snap the longest losing streak the Caps have had all season as they defeat the Preds 2-1.

The Predators took the early lead, in fact it only took :50 seconds in the game for the Preds to take the early lead. But after a shakey first couple of minutes, the Caps stayed pretty determined.

Things got physical early when Donald Brashear got into a fisticuffs with Wade Belak. Belak took the bout with a thunderous left hand knocking Brash square on the butt. The very next face off Matt Bradley wanted to take revenge by taking on Jordin Tootoo in a battle that maybe Bradley shouldn't have gotten in. Brads ended up with the worst of it as he took the worst as his fast looked like a Warsack test of blood after that fight. Both Brads and Brashear finished the game.

But the fighting didn't end there as John Erskine took exception to Wade Belak in Belak's second fight of the night. Erskine stood his ground and got a few good shots in while Belak got a few cheap shots in including a shot to the back of Erkines head when the linesmen stepped in.

While the Caps let in the first goal in the first minute of play, their defense played a pretty solid game. The blue liners seemed to have a better handle on the Preds and besides the early flurey by the men in blue, the Caps had an answer for Nashville whether it a solid save by Jose Theodore or the defensemen being more active with their sticks getting into shooting and passing lanes.

Nick Backstrom was your only Caps' scorer in regulation. He scored off a pretty pass by Alex Ovechkin who drew in his defender and Backstrom was wide open deke and beat Dan Ellis stick side. Alex Semin was a force tonight, but just couldn't make the puck do what he wanted it to do. He had some great looks and a few nice dekes, but either Ellis was there with the save or shots went wide.

In the overtime period the Caps caught the Preds napping a bit as Kozlov found a wide open Fedorov in front of the net. One deke and the game ended with the Caps getting a much needed two points. Nashville walks away with a point themselves.

Puckhead player of the game has to be Shaone Morrisonn. He had a solid game and was a big part of the shutdown crew as the Caps didn't let in a goal for the remainder of the game. He finished the game with a +1, two shots and three hits, including a monster hit on Jason Arnott (are too!).

Caps aren't out of the woods yet. Next up the big bad Philly Flyers. Caps have to keep their defensive work up and make a few of those shots go in.