Caps Buried By The Avalanche

Washington Capitals 1, Colorado Avalanche 2

The Washington Capitals were defeated by the Colorado Avalanche in Denver on Saturday night by a score of 2-1.  In a sloppy game that featured lots of poor stick handling and skaters falling down all over the place the Avs took the victory due to a struggling Caps offense.  The Caps will not see the Avs again this season except when they watch them on TV and hope for them to lose so they can get a high draft pick.

The Avs got the scoring started three minutes into the game when Cody McLeod took a "shot" from the blue line that went right past a Washington Monument looking Neuvirth who didn't even know the puck was coming until it was already in the goal. McLeod chopped at the puck which squirted towards the net and Michal was standing straight up and didn't even flinch as the puck found its way into the net.

The Caps had yet another scoreless period as a play by Alex Semin summed up the offense of the Caps. Alex Ovechkin went towards the net and layed back a pass to Semin. Semin proceeded to first swing and miss on the open shot, then lost the puck, then smashed into Alex Ovechkin and the two stood hugging each other behind the goal as the puck was headed the other way.

Matt Hendrix came back and as Matt Hendrix does, he got in a fight with the goal scorer McLeod. McLeod landed punch after punch to the side of Matt's head and after the two fell to the ice and the refs broke them up the victorious McLeod urged the crowd to cheer on his way to the penalty box.

In the 2nd peroid, just a minute after another Caps failed powerplay, Alex Semin came down the ice with a great ankle breaking move and got off a beauty of a shot that went soaring past Giguere.  Fifty Four seconds after the Semin goal, Eric Johnson fired a shot for the Avs from the blue line that went through a crowd of people and into the net.

The Caps still couldn't get the offense going in the 3rd period taking only 7 shots on goal..  They had a chance in the final 13 seconds.  With an empty net and a delay of game penalty on the Avalanche the Caps had a 6 on 4 for the final seconds but the buzzer sounded and the Avs were the victors.

The Caps had several power play chances but they played awfully (0-4).  The puck spent most of the time closer to Neuvirth than Giguere.  

26 shots and 1 goal isn't going to get it done unless you shut out the opposing team.  Next up Tuesday night 7pm at home against the Preds...

Game Notes & Questions:

• Apparently the Caps are good at Triangulation.
• Caught in the wash?
• Playing John Denver in Denver...ok I get it
• Is that supposed to be like the Abominable Snowman foot on the Avs jerseys?
• The offsides when it is a steal or a loose puck is stupid.
• What is the deal with Ovi, especially tonight he was just skating slowly around, not going near the puck
• Joel Ward, what happened?
• Puck played with a high stick...how does that work, why isn't it an immediate whistle?