Hurricanes Downgraded In Shoot Out Loss to Caps

Last night Hockey Mom and her hockey boys were in the house to witness the Caps' victory (albeit a bit sloppy defensively at times, guys) shoot out victory over the Carolina Hurricanes - who are still clawing for a playoff spot. It was actually a historic moment for my boys as they saw their first live shoot out. And what a shoot out it was as Alex the Great netted a SO goal in our end!

Speaking of Alexs, what about Alex Semin? The Caps' own young gun had a goal, three assists plus a shoot out tally! So maybe we can forgive him for that silly hooking penalty in the second period. All four of the "young guns" got on the scoreboard last night with goals from Ovie, Semin, Backstrom and Green. But Carolina's own young guns weren't going to make this one an easy win on the boys in red and saw two goals from Eric Staal (of the fabulously talented Staal brothers) - one of those assisted by his old pal Erik Cole. Cole recently returned to his former Hurricanes team in a trade from the Edmonton Oilers. Those two are a dynamic duo indeed and the Caps will be making a visit to their house next Saturday.

Jose Theodore had another magnificent game as well. The French-speaking couple next to me were cheering for opposing teams (he for the Canes and she for the Caps) and the lovely young lady cheered on Theo in Jose's native language. Her cheering sounded much more sophisticated than HM's as she yelled out "allez" at every puck drop or hit!

So even though the Caps got the "v", looks like they still need to do some tightening up on the defensive front. And the other teams on the hunt in the Eastern Conference race keep rolling as well. Most specifically the New Jersey Devils, whose superman goaltender Martin Brodeur made history last night by matching Patrick Roy's record for most wins with his 551st regular season victory. With Roy in attendance, Marty won the historic game against his hometown team, the Montreal Canadiens. Even though I am a die-hard Caps fan, HM has to propose a toast to Brodeur for his accomplishment - the guy is still amazing to watch, especially after returning to prime form after being out months following elbow surgery!

Up next for the Caps, a St. Patrick's Day meeting with the blue Atlanta Thrashers and Ovi's pal Ilya Kovalchuk. Stay tuned....