Olie Given Nice Tribute...and a Loss

Image Courtesy of ESPN.com

Last night marked the return of everyone's favorite Cap, Olie the Goalie to Verizon Center. It was also my first game since last year's Boston Massacre in early March. Before I get to the breakdown of the game, I wanted to include a few thoughts on my experience in Verizon last night.

• It was nice going over to the game alone, since I was able to do what I wanted to, and was able to go down and watch warm-ups for the first time in years.
• Although I've seen them live, seeing Mike Green and Alex Ovechkin warm up from ice-level is breathtaking. I am really glad I'm not an NHL goalie that has to deal with those shooters on a nightly basis. Ovie put 5-6 pucks right at my face and I couldn't help but flinch every time. He also seemed to be able to place the puck WHEREVER he wanted to on every shot. I have every expectation that this offense has unlimited potential moving forward with that raw ability on the roster.
• Alex Semin seems to be skating much smoother than I remember him skating in March. He's got a nice swagger about him with the puck.
• I made sure to donate to our many military families by getting a new "courage cap," which are awesome. Classy philanthropy guys.
• "Unleash the Fury" NEVER gets old. I love Tom Green.
• I wish we could bring back the C-A-P-S CAPS CAPS CAPS chant more often. Seems to get lost in the shuffle a bit now.
• What's with the middle sections being completely empty? Verizon was full of energy, but I couldn't help but notice some COMPLETELY empty club-level (correct me if I'm wrong) sections.
• Classy tribute to Olie, it's just a shame it had to come after a 2-0 lead. Not that I wasn't happy about it, but it couldn't feel that good to Kolzig. Props to the crowd for the standing-O.

The game obviously started out pretty well, with Olie giving up two goals on the first two shots, but I have to say that I'm actually pretty disappointed with the effort for the last 2 periods. As Gabby pointed out with the post game media, it seemed as though Ovechkin and Semin were being way to cute with the puck after the first period. There were at least four cases where we made one-too-many passes and could have scored with some more selfish play. I liked the shorthanded efforts as well, but we could have easily put up 6+ goals last night.

Hustlers: Brooks Laich, Brent Johnson, Tom Poti
Boneheads: John Erskine

If the Caps can keep this run going, they can build a lead in the Southeast, but we'll learn a lot tomorrow night @Carolina. Hopefully Erskine won't have any stupid turnovers like last night, because the Canes will capitalize.I f we can put in a full 60 minutes, we should have no trouble coming out on top.

Kudos go to...

Brent Johnson for being the NHL's third star this week. He should continue to start over the underachieving Theodore, and his GAA would be even better without last night's garbage goal.