Penalties Kill Caps

The Washington Capitals were penalized 10 times, including 8 consecutive penalties that resulted in three different 5 on 3 man advantages. The good news — the penalty killing unit only allowed 1 power play goal, despite all the penalty minutes. The bad news — it wasted a ton of time on penalty killing and the Capitals only managed 1 goal, falling in Calgary last night, 2-1.

The Capitals power play unit wasn’t much better, going 0-6, including blowing a 9 minute penalty on Rene Bourque, after he went after Caps D Tyler Sloan, after he completely and utterly pummeled a Calgary Flame.
Sergei Fedorov scored the Capitals only goal, striking first at a little over 4 minutes into the game, giving the Caps a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period. The Fedorov goal was assisted by Alexander Ovechkin and Jeff Schultz.
Despite allowing 2 goals, Jose Theodore actually played a pretty decent game for the Caps, stopping 26 of 28 shots. But, the story of the night was the outstanding goal tending at the other end of the ice Miikka Kiprusoff, who made some of the best saves I have seen this year. Kiprusoff robbed the Capitals on several maddening offensive spurts at the goal.
A few notes …
* I thought Tyler Sloan did a pretty decent job last night in his first NHL game. He is a big guy and absolutely made a devastating hit.
* Mike Green and Alexander Ovechkin were both pushing too much last night. Green because he was in front of his hometown crowd, Ovie because of his beginning season struggles. Both need to relax.
* Kudos to the Caps penalty killers. 10 penalties and only one power play goal allowed, despite three separate 5 on 3 advantages.
* What’s up with the Capitals power play? I though it looked pretty weak again last night and simply look more disorganized than last season. Time to shake things up Bruce?
* It is really a shame the offense could not rise last night. Jose Theodore, after allowing two initial goals, put on one of his best performances.
The Capitals fall to 3-2-1 and travel to Phoenix for a Thursday night showdown.
DCPSR Player of the Game: G Jose Theodore, despite the loss, Theodore did his job in goal, the caps simply didn’t help him out.