Tough Weekend for Caps

My apologies for not keeping up with all the action this weekend but it was a crazy hockey weekend in HM's household. And as you all know by now, a tough weekend of back-to-back losses for the Capitals, who have been bitten hard by the injury bug and seemed to be experiencing a hangover from Friday's loss to the bleu, blanc and rouge Canadiens. (Sidebar: a ginormous Hockey Mom high five here to big bad John Erskine for dropping the mitts with one of the toughest fighters in the league, Georges Laraque). Laraque is the subject of rumblings from the Detroit Red Wings organization today over a controversial knee-on-knee hit on their own freight train in residence, Niklas Kronwall, yesterday.

I missed the majority of last night's loss to the low-ranked Toronto Maple Leafs as I was watching some of the best non-professional hockey in the D.C. area in a contest between the Washington Junior Nationals and the Binghamton Senators. Capitals' great Peter Bondra was in the house as well to watch his son, who is quite a player in his own right! I had the most wonderful chat with a mom who also has a son on the team, who is a twin. We had a blast talking hockey and swapping twin stories - hockey parents are some of the most fantastic people you'll ever run across! I got home just in time to catch OT in the Caps/Leafs game. I could not believe that the game had come to a tie against the bottom-dwelling Leafs, but as Coach Boudreau has said time and time again, there are no easy games in the NHL. Varly had a fantastic game, stopping 38 of 39 shots, but wasn't able to stop the Leaf's Niklas Hagman from netting the shootout winner.

Still a point is a point and we can only hope that the boys get plenty of rest today as they face a tough Ottawa Senators club tomorrow night. The Sens are coming off of a huge win against the Buffalo Sabres, led by their captain Daniel Afredsson with two goals and an assist. The Senators' captain has 23 points on the season, followed by Carrie Underwood's beau, the dashing Mike Fisher who's notched 20 of his own. Alexei Kovalev may be also back on the bench in time for their meeting with the Caps after suffering a death in his family, which would bolster the Sen's offensive threat even more. And don't forget about Jason Spezza, who's always one to watch with those kids from the Canadian capital!

Puck drops tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. in Scotiabank Place. Maybe we should start making our lists for Santa now, a healthy Caps bench would be certainly make for a bright holiday season!