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Cardiac Caps, indeed

Well, the Caps have finally managed to make me regret turning a game off. The Caps weren't looking too good, and when they allowed an amazingly fluky goal nine minutes in, it really wasn't looking like their night. This goal deflected off a defender (or forward, it was tough to tell) to the side of, and above, the goal, bounced off the glass, and hit Neuvy in the stomach as he turned around to look for it. Next stop? In the goal. Ugh.

The Caps then allowed two more goals (both on the power play; one with twenty seconds left in the first, the second nine minutes into the second), and I thought about turning it off then. But the Caps cut the lead back to two twenty-eight seconds later (and now that I looked, they changed the scoring; they called this as a Wideman goal initially, but I guess Knuble did touch it for the deflection), so I left it on a bit longer. But when Tavares scored his second of the game two minutes later, I gave up.

And it appears I shouldn't have, now. OV got a tip-in from Laich with a minute left in the second to show a little life. And in the third, Dima scored two minutes in to make it close again. Eight minutes later, OV got another tip-in, this time from Coiner, to tie it up. And that was all the scoring.

I might need to queue up the rest of the video, though. It appears that Hendricks scored on the fourth Washington shoot-out attempt to win the game; I wonder if he used the same move as usual. Regardless, it's the first time Hunter has used Hendricks in the shoot-out; I wonder what happened. Semin, OV, and Dima took the first three, with only OV scoring.

In any event, Washington desperately needed this game, and I'm proud of them for not packing it in, and taking the game. And since the Islanders are out of the playoff picture, I don't even mind that we gave them a point in the process.

Underscoring how much the Caps needed it, Florida crushed Toronto to maintain their lead on the Caps.

Next up is Winnipeg on Friday, and again, the Caps need a win desperately, because after that come Chicago, Detroit, and Philly, all away. If they can win Friday, and come out of the other three games with two more points, I'll feel pretty good about their chances of getting into the playoffs. If not, they're toast.

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