Random Recap - Caps 8, Senators 6

What a wild game, it had everything good, bad, and ugly.  

• Semin’s back in his groove
• Poti has to do more to stop Mike Fischer from scoring off deflections
• Ovie with a big game performance.  He had a cut leg?

This team has to play a lot better defensively and for a full 60 minutes.  But a win is a win.  Happy New Year, folks!  

Random Recap - Isles 3, Caps 2 (OT)

Kolzig had a better night.  Put Schultz in the press box for the next game.  Merry Christmas.

Caps on Segways

Absolutely priceless.

Random Recap - Sabres 5, Caps 3

• Kolzig had a bad night. ‘Nuff said.
• Buffalo schooled the Caps in the third period.  Their puck possession late made the Caps reactive, the complete opposite of what took them to their 3-game win streak.
• SOMEBODY FIX THE ICE.

Random Recap - Caps 3, Rangers 2

(NOTE: I’m still trying to come up with a name for these post-game analyses.  I’ll use different ones until something sticks)I didn’t see the entire game (missed much of the third).

• Scratch Tom Poti for the next game.  He played the shooter when he should’ve played the pass on the two-on-one that led to the Gomez goal, and was lazy in front of the net for the Straka goal.
• Joe Motzko, who knew?  Donald Brashear, who knew (squared)?  #87 was a goal away from a Gordie Howe hat trick.
• @Matt Pettinger’s non-goal: it would’ve been a goal if the shooter wasn’t in a Capitals jersey.
• Mike Green with some nifty moves.  Glad to see it pay off with the GWG in Overtime.
• To Brendan Shanahan: Hey, at least you don’t have to skate on this ice 41 times a year.

New Nicklas Backstrom article

A wonderful piece by Corey Masisak in this morning’s Times.

For Tomorrow, from The Peerless

Always an entertaining read.

Dameon Nelson’s Take on Raw

A more enthusiastic review of the show can be found here.

Courtesy of The Pro Wrestling Report.

Back and Forth (Part 2) - WWE Raw 15th Anniversary

I was back and forth between the Caps/Devils and this, which ran way into overtime.

All I can is this: decent show, though I get the sense that anyone who watched the whole show may have felt force-fed everything from the last 15 years.  The crowd went cold during the Battle Royal finish, with Ted DiBiase paying off I.R.S. to climb over the top rope and out of the ring after taking a bribe.  The only match of merit that helped build up anything for Armageddon was the Jeff Hardy/Carlito Ladder match for the IC Belt. It sounded like J.R. and King were setting up Jeff Hardy/Triple H as a show-stealer on Sunday night.

Otherwise, did you smell what The Rock was cooking?  Neither did I, and I was understanding but disappointed that Dwayne Johnson declined to appear.  He contributed greatly to Raw’s success, and watching him give Vince McMahon a Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow just one more time would’ve been a great way to allow fans to thank him for those contributions (and a great way for The Rock to reinforce his appreciation for the fans who enabled him to launch his Hollywood career).

Back and Forth (Part 1) - Caps 3, Devils 2

• Didn’t see the first. 
• I’ll take a stab giving Boudreau’s system a name: Puck Hunger — a lot of which the Caps had in the second.  If you’re puck-hungry, the puck finds its way to your stick.  If it finds a way to your stick, you have a chance to score, and the Caps did. 
• It was great to see Quintin Laing get his first NHL tally. 
• Unfortunately, they didn’t play that way early in the third, and Clarkson scored as a result to keep it interesting.  

They’d better stick with Puck Hunger on Wednesday when the Rangers come to town.