Ovechkin dumps Pens

Before I say anything about the game, I have a few things to say first.

1. I think I'm liking the Caps a bit more these days. Well, okay, not the Caps exactly. Just Ovechkin.... If Rafa wants to turn into a Federer clone then I'm going to need to find another guy that's got some emotion to watch.... And Ovechkin had plenty of emotion tonight *g*
   
2. Everyone's favorite guy was refereeing tonight. Oh yes, Chris Lee gets around a lot. And yes, he was absolutely pathetic again tonight, assessing penalties where there weren't any, stopping play when the wrong team touched the puck, etc.
3. I hate the announcers on whatever station I was watching. I think it was a channel from Pittsburgh and they were just driving me up the wall.... Oh RDS, why can't you show more of the Pens and/or Caps games? Why?!
   

Alright. The game. I thought the Penguins started off really well (quite honestly I'm getting tired of saying that I think my teams start the game off well and dont' finish well.... but I digress). They looked good up until Petr Sykora took a penalty for high sticking at 7:07 of the third period and then it went downhill. Up until that point the Pens were very much in the game. The first period was about equal with some nice chances but nothing really happening too much. Malkin got a powerplay goal at 5;45 with two Caps in the box - might I add that Brashear hadn't actually done anything to get a double minor for highsticking? the Penguin had gotten hit by his own player - but other than that goal, nothing happened. Yes, yes, it was a nice goal though. Yay for Malkin! If you thought that the Caps were taking that lying down then forget it. While I was off doing something else (what? This ain't the Habs playing the Caps) Kozlov scored for the Caps with Satan answering about 7 minutes later. Semin would also get a goal but I'm completely blanking on how he got it. So it was 2-2 going into the third period.

Things looked to be quite even going into the third but then the Pens began to drop like flies. Well, they were dropping before, but it was hurting them now. Scuderi went out after taking a puck to the face, Talbot went out with... I'm not sure... They lost Crosby for a bit after he took a lower body injury in the first period. He would come back only to leave again as he got tangled up along the boards in the third period. Kris Latang went out briefly after blocking a shot but he returned soon after. So no proper defense, no Crosby to get some moral going and it was byebye Pens.

The Caps took over when Sykora was sent off for high sticking off the faceoff, and Fleischmann put the puck in when Fleury couldn't control the rebound.... Up until that point it was 3-3 actually with Ovechkin finally getting a goal on his own rebound - might I add that he let out a yell of joy on finally getting a goal? (at least he didn't almost cry like Prospal did in the Habs/Lightning game) - and Whitney getting a superb goal when he hammered the puck from the blueline and past Theodore who had no clue what had just happened. Anyway, after the Fleishmann goal, Ovechkin would get credit for another one three minutes later when the puck went off... I think it was Whitney's skate and past Fleury. Schultz would be credited for the final goal which got put into an empty net all the way from the Pens' zone.

So it was a sad day for the Pens who should have been able to take more momentum from their win against the Flyers. For a lot of the third period they were just unable to get the puck to the other zone and the Caps were able to seize on Fleury's bad rebound control. There were a lot more chances to score from both teams. The Pens had a lot of high quality chances when they got the powerplay at the end of the game but it wasn't enough and it was much too late. Hopefully there's not any serious injuries on the Pens lineup and they can recover. I mean, I liked the effort. It was good but there wasn't too much to say for the last half of the third period. It wasn't good. Excellent effort from the Caps who have now ended their three game losing skid...

Unfortunately now the Habbies are going to really have to work to get back up there in the standings but we knew that.....*wails and kicks the stupid Bruins*