I blame this loss on.......Gary Bettman!

No, I didn't mean Kovalev or Guy Carbonneau or Price. I meant Gary Bettman because he was the turnip head that brought in the shootout. I hate shootouts. I disagree completely with the idea of the shootout. It's a cheap way to end a game that didn't need to see a winner tonight (and yes, I'd probably be saying the same thing if the Habs won. Once I got over jumping around like an idiot first that is).

Tonight the Habs extended Ovie and the Caps to shootouts. And when you consider just WHO is on this Caps team and consider just how BADLY the Habs have been playing, you have to say either the Caps didn't show tonight or the Habs played the first good game in a very long time. It was definitely the latter. Tonight, I felt the Habs were good enough for a win and if not a win, then at least a tie (which you can't have anymore!). They had so many chances to bury the puck but either they missed, hit the bar or Theodore stopped them. They played hard. They had three powerplay goals - say what? Surely my eyes deceived me! THREE goals on the powerplay? They didn't create too many turnovers. I can't think of too many oddman rushes for the Caps. The Habs looked like a team who bloody well cared. They wanted this win and they came very close to having it. After the first period they pretty much shut down Ovechkin and stopped some very close calls by Mike Green and just about every other Caps player. They could have - dare I say should have? - taken this game if not in regulation time, then in OT.

But because of Mr. Turnip head, the Caps will walk away with a win tonight.

Do they deserve it? Well....My whole point is I think both teams deserved to win tonight. The Caps could have easily won this one regulation or OT too. They battled just as hard as the Habs did. The Caps always battle hard. Well, every time I see them anyway so I can say those things. Ovechkin had a goal that you'll be seeing all over youtube in half an hour. Forgot who else scored but they weren't cheap goals. They worked for them.

I've never been so happy at a loss before and I think the Habs could be happy with themselves too. They do get to walk away with a point which is something they haven't been able to do lately. They raised their game and took it to Ovechkin. It's stupid that the game gets to be decided by one guy going in alone on the goalie when both teams put up a huge TEAM effort to make it 3-3 after 65 minutes of playing. Oh and get this: at the end of regulation time, the Habs and Caps both had 31 shots on goal. Yes, yes, my habbies, losers of 8 out of their 10 games in which they were outshot and outscored by a looong country mile, were tied with shots with Ovechkin and Co. Now that's a good sign, yes?

Now do it again. And come away with a win this time.

Random notes

• I still can't believe that they scored on the powerplay three times......
• And I'm totally shocked that they didn't score once while 5 on 5 or 4 on 4... there were SO many chances.....
  
• Price looks to be back. He was the focused and came up with some huge saves. Poor Halak.
• Kostopoulos got Kovy's "A".
  
• Oddly enough, I didn't miss Kovalev too much.... only when the game was over did I go "Man... he's really not there....." and then I got all sad.
  
• I still love Ovechkin. He's just so fun to watch. Gotta love guys who play with intensity and plenty of emotion. And just what the heck was he doing back on the ice after got hit by the puck when he decided to try to be a penguin and slide all over the place? Jeez... I want to kidnap him and force him to be a Hab. Please? Please? Please? I want Ovie!
• Ovie wasn't happen when Pleky stole the puck from him.... he really wanted to score. Poor Ovie! Wait a second.......
  
• Carbo really should have picked someone else to shoot in the shootouts. Pleky can't score to save his life in the shootouts, Lapierre shouldn't be as good as he is and Markov, by his own admission only has one move. Hello Carbo?! Put someone who in theory can score in the shootout!
  
• NEED TO WORK ON FACEOFFS! Winning faceoffs = leads to a goal. Losing faceoffs = leads to other team scoring. As Benoit Brunet likes to say "ce n'est pas complique!". I've always wanted to quote Benoit...
  
• The peeps who come up with the headlines at TSN are funny. The headline for this game was "The Misery Deepens". Evidently they weren't watching the game...... No one is miserable except for Ovie who only got one highlight reel goal tonight!