New Coach, Same Team

In their fist game under new head coach Dale Hunter the Washington Capitals lost to the St. Louis Blues in Chinatown on Tuesday night by a score of 2-1. The Caps continue to head the wrong way to .500 and are now 12-11. The Blues won their 4th straight and pulled in their 8th win under their new head coach out of only 11 contests. Can the Caps look forward to similar success under Hunter?

The Caps started the game off with a Nicky B goal off of a great pass by Alex Ovechkin pumping up Caps fans about the Hutner era. However a few minutes later the Blues tied the game up and Caps fans realized it may just be the same old team.

The Blues finished off the Caps in the 2nd period. After being down 5 men to 3, including one of those being a 4 minute double minor, the Caps killed the penalty (with a little help from a Blues penalty in between) just to see the Blues score less than 30 seconds later. Ovi showed flashes of his old self throughout the game, but also was frustrated 4-5 times after mishandling the puck or falling down.

For those keeping track of the Caps offense, that is 5 games with only 1 goal out of the last 8 games...On the injury front Marjo was hit in the hand with the puck but came back at the end.

5 more games, every other night after tonight, so let's see where Hunter has the team on their 3 day break 2 Saturdays from now...

Notes & Questions:

• What is the difference between shots on goal and scoring chances?
• Four Voko got an assist, but really Alex Ovechkin should have gotten 2 assists.
• Why is Wideman shooting from the blue line better than Backstrom shooting closer to net?
• Locker said that the Blues power play was so bad they were going to decline the penalty. I believed him for about 10 seconds...NOOB
• The guy fighting Hendrix got in 2 good shots then fell down...that's my exact fighting strategy...
• Dale Hunter reminds me of Brian Doyle Murray...we'll see how he looks next game cuz he may have a new nickname.