Capitals-Thrashers. In-game analysis.

Caps trail at end of period 1-0. (Kovalchuk, PP)

No one else will probably say it, but Caps whipping boy Steve Eminger had a great period. There, I said it. As far a the rest of the game, the officials need to open their eyes. When you stick check a guy and he goes down, that should be a dive or a no-call. I don't understand why you can call holding the stick one way, and then let the Thrashers slash the stick out of our hands, so a series of bad breaks led to the goal with the shaky penalty, andMorrisonn losing his stick which gave Ilya Kovulchuk
a lane to work with and get that shot off. Of course, the Caps did get a break on the whistle that negated a call, so it all evens out, I guess.

Semin is just too slippery out there, as he trips himself down with his own footsteps.

As for the shoving match at the end of the period, ummm . . . the Thrashers had 6 guys on the ice for that. Where's the call for that one? That's supposed to be a game misconduct, but the zebras looked pretty busy breaking everything up.missed it.

The Refs finally decide to give the Caps a PP at the end of the period and we'll see how that goes. Atlanta played in OT last night, so the Caps should look better, and so far they've played just as well as the Thrashers. We'll see how the rest of the game goes.

Caps Trail at the end of period 2, 2-1 (Kovalchuk, Metropolit; Semin)

Well, the period got off on the right foot, but as it went on, the ice slanted more and more towards Atlanta. That's not good considering the Caps played last night and the Thrashers didn't.

Semin's PP goal was sweet, and Olie got a gift Assist. Ovechkin needs to get back on the scoring sheet, especially with these rumours that he's got a lower body injury.

Zubie has turnover-itis, as he twice gave the puck away on the Power Play. Where is Nycholat on the PP? I'd rather have him out there than Clymer.

The biggest problem I saw that period lies entirely with the Caps press people. The Caps had "Walking On Sunshine" playing during a break. Now I adore junk 80s pop as much as the next guy, and I've sung that particular song at Karaoke before, but there is a time and place for it, and a hockey game is not it. Accordingly, the Hockey Gods gave Atlanta on the ensuing shift. For the love of god, no more Katrina and the Waves.

On the Penalty shot, I thought it was the right call. Heward definitely denied Vijay a scoring opportunity on a breakaway. What I noticed that impressed me was the way Vijay immediately checked on Olie after their opinion. Very classy, and I'm impressed. The Caps are lucky that Vijay didn't knock it home, as he had Olie beat 5 hole, but the puck trickled wide. Come back here at the end of the game for a post-game wrap-up

Final Score: 3 Washington Atlanta 2 (overtime) (Kovalchuk, Metropolit; 2 Semin, Ovechkin)

The Caps really seemed to lack intensity in the fist half of the period, but you could tell as the period went on that the Thrashers were wearing out. The play was more and more focused in the Atlanta end, and while the Caps had trouble finishing, it was leading to penalties.

The Caps finally get the 5 on 3 going, and after a couple of attempts Ovy was able to rip it past Lehtonen. And after the Caps killed the penalty that everyone knew was coming, we were headed to overtime.

Caps got a Power Play in OT, but Atlanta did a yeoman's job of killing it. But then a cute little tic tac toe play with a BEAUTIFUL pass from Steve Eminger set up Semin down low all alone with the goalie, and the game was done.