Game On - Caps Take on the Devils

First off, a huge Hockey Mom fist bump to all the Comcast SportsNet reporting crew including Lisa Hillary, Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin for sporting the Hockey Fights Cancer neckties and lady's scarf - you all looked fabulous! The Cap's coaching staff also looked quite dapper in the stylish lavender ties that the league is promoting to raise money for a most worthy cause. And a big Hockey Mom hug to the Capital's Matt Bradley and Shaone Morrison who lost their hockey moms to this dreaded disease.

The Caps started the night out with a bang with a nice goal from Alex Semin courtesy of a Sergei Fedorov pass. The Devils then answered with a goal to tie the game 1-1 at the end of the first period. Speaking of the Devils, I have to smile whenever they mention Devil's player, David Oduya's name: Oh-du-ya, that's just a heck of a hockey name!

HM was thrilled to see a short Q&A with NHL Hall of Famer Ray Bourque, father of Chris Bourque. I am really rooting for this kid to move up to the big dance very soon - he is an incredibly hard-working player and understands from an insider's view the hard work and perseverance it takes to earn a permanent spot at the top! Meanwhile, Brent Johnson has looked pretty confident in the crease stopping 21 shots by the middle of the second period.

Middle of the second period, Mike Green scored against a sprawling Martin Brodeur to pull ahead 2-1. Brodeur has had some spectacular saves so far but with 9:30 left in the third, Caps were still ahead.

Moments later Devil's Zach Parise scored against Johnson to tie it up. A few seconds later as Johnny was screened, the Devils scored again to take the lead 3-2 (with an assist by former Capital Danius Zubrus. Now it's time to start the nail-biting but we all know it's never a picnic against Brodeur. Until Alexander Semin netted his second (a fab five-hole yet) of the evening to tie it up yet again!

The Caps were unable to score on a late third period power play and the Devils buzzed the net for a few nerve-wracking seconds and then the game went into sudden death overtime. I swear these close games are bad for a lady's nerves!

Brent Johnson saved the first shot of the overtime which went right into his chest. Oh-du-ya took a slapshot shortly after which Johnson glove-saved. Brooks Laich took a nice shot which Brodeur saved with almost 30 seconds left and we go into the nerve-wracking shoot out. Hockey Mom is not a fan of the shoot out as I'm not really sure that it's a true indicator of the best team in the contest. Michael Nylander's first attempt got stuffed. The Devil's Zach Parise followed up with a sick top shelf goal. Alex Semin missed his shot at a hat trick and was stopped by Marty. OV's deke attempt fell short and the Devils won the game by the one shoot out goal.

So overall, a fabulous effort by the Caps, especially Brent Johnson. Next up, the Calgary Flames. They have some thugalicious players including Jerome Iginla, Dion Phaneuf and the thug of all thugs Todd Bertuzzi. The "Donald" better be ready to go with that cast of characters!

So HM is off to Vegas in the early a.m. - until we meet again, keep rocking the red and spreading the puck love gals and guys!