Election Day: Capitals Battle Senators

How ironic that on one of the biggest election days in American history, Washington D.C.'s red, white and blue Capitals take on the Ottawa Senators who reside in Canada's capital! So far, the return of Alex Ovechkin seems to have energized his team mates and at the completion of the first period, goalie Brent Johnson has made some tremendous saves for the Caps (including a "not in my net" against a Daniel Alfredsson breakaway.

Alas, about 2 minutes into the second period, the Senator's Dany Heatley snuck one in on Brent Johnson but the men in red got on the board as a result of a sweet pass from the NHL's October star Alex Semin to Tomas Fleischmann to put in net. Nice goal, Flash!

While we're on Alex Semin, Hockey Mom raises her glass to Semin, Mike Green and Alex Ovechkin for their nominations on the NHL All-Star ballot. So Caps fans, be sure to log on to NHL.com from Nov. 12 to Jan. 2 to make sure the Caps are represented at the 2009 All-Star game in Montreal. Congrats guys!

Hockey Mom must have voted about a thousand times (for Ovie of course) last year - I was certain I was going to win the all-expenses paid trip for 2 to the 2008 All-Star game in Atlanta. Guess it's a good thing I didn't win; how do you tell one twin he can't go because you only won 2 tickets?

Late in the third period, Ovechkin goes to the sin bin for decking Ottawa youngster Jesse Winchester. That was the second time in the game that Ovie's laid the kid out; those two have been exchanging words all night and I have a hunch they weren't talking politics!

The Cap's penalty kill unit did a great job of staving off the Sens when Sergei Fedorov went into the penalty box towards the end of the second.

Things got a bit more exciting when Michael Nylander had a breakaway on a Senators turnover but didn't score. Minutes later, the entire goal came down on Brent Johnson. So, with seven minutes left in the third, this is still a tie contest. "Johnny" has looked very comfortable in net throughout the game and has made several key saves.

So after three periods this race is tied and "too close to call" and we go into sudden death overtime. A quick goal by Mike Fisher (who had been having a rough go of it before tonight in scoring) ends it abruptly for the Caps on the road.

I guess it's back to watching the election results come in - darn, another loss stings and I'm not talking about the elections. Caps are back home on Thursday to face conference rivals Carolina Hurricanes.

Hockey Mom is signing off - it's gonna be a late night!