Got my First Hockey Fix in a Week

Well it's been a busy couple of weeks at work, very hectic time at ICx Technologies since it seems like every prospective customer we've been talking to and every federal program we've been tracking/pursuing all need active follow-up. In any case I haven't had the time to blog or really follow the Caps as closely as I would like and certainly had no time to really do any research in the days leading up to tonight's match up between the Flames and "our Washington Capitals". As has been the case the past two weeks I got home late and when I turned the game on at about 8:20PM there was 10 minutes left in second period, the Caps were down 2-1 and for the next 6 minutes or so of play it seemed as if Mikka Kiprusoff was going to be impenetrable for the entire evening. Even in the short time I watched the Flames gave the Caps the man advantage twice and Kiprusoff stoned them. As the period was winding down, once again the Caps gained a man advantage when at 17:21 Kristian Huselius was called for hooking. Once again it seemed like the Flames netminder would be up to the challenge. However after Kiprusoff foiled the Caps first scoring chance of the power play, he yielded a rebound on an solid shot from Alexander Semin and the Great Number 8 - Ovechkin was able to fielded the bounce and netted a slick wrist shot from 9 feet for his 55th goal of the season tying the game at 2 -2.

After the intermission the Caps came out for the third period and dominated the Flames, out shooting them 8-2 for the period. Once again, Kiprusoff kept his team "in the hunt". The Caps had six solid scoring chances where the only thing between them and the lead was the play of the Flames netminder. They played very solid hockey forechecking relentlessly and when it was required applying the same ferocity when backchecking. Ultimately the Flames yielded two more power plays to the Caps in the third period and after Ireland's own, Owen Nolan ,was whistled off and sent to the "sin bin" for hi-sticking at 16:31. The Caps responded to the opportunity, "swarmed" and just controlled the play until at 18:06, Alex Ovechkin took his 11th shot of the night, a blistering 57foot slapshot from the right point and scored his second goal of the night (Ovie's league leading 56th on the season) to put the Caps up 3-2. The final excitement when Ovechkin looked like he might get his hat trick with an empty netter but fanned and had the attempt blocked.

All in all a fun "2 point night" for Caps fans. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear the Caps will gain much ground tonight in their quest for the playoffs as Carolina seems well on the way to beating the Chicago Blackhawks, though they did gain two points on the Eastern Conference eighth place Flyers who lost to the Maple Leafs 3-2. Next up, Southeast Division rivals Atlanta Thrashers, Friday Night home at the Verizon Center. LETS GO CAPS!!!!!!!!!!!!