Third Time's the Charm

Caps looked mostly sluggish offensively again tonight, but came alive just enough.

Again, the PK looked pretty good. Neuvirth looked very good to awesome. Greenie had a very good game at both ends of the ice, with a couple of very nice stops on Spezza (I think both were in the third period). MarJo had some very good hits (where did those come from?), and at least one nice play on the PK. An impressive goal from Semin, roofing it from very close range, despite having his body at an awkward shooting angle. Carlson had a very good night in his own end, and also looked very good bringing the puck up the ice.

Erskine had some very good hits, and generally looked good in his own end as well. OV had a very quiet night; he was held with only one shot in regulation, though he looked very good for the first shift in OT, and, of course, got the game-winner on his third shot of the night. His eighth career OT goal came five-hole in the waning seconds of OT. I think he fooled the goalie into thinking it was coming faster than it was, because Leclaire's stick cleared out before the puck arrived.

Anyway, despite all that being said, the Caps really did not look very good in the offensive end. And they played almost the entire third, it seemed, in the defensive end. That is not a recipe for winning games, even if it worked out tonight. The power play was also a mixed bag; looking pretty good for the first couple, and pretty bad for the last couple.

We'll take the victory, of course, but it was certainly not a pretty one.