Ovimania Is Running Wild In NYC

In the 3rd period of a tie ballpuckgame, the 8 minute mark approached and the Rangers fans counted it down.  5...4...3...2...1...OVI SUCKS! OVI SUCKS! OVI SUCKS!  Well in just a little over thirty seconds later Alexander Ovechkin was skating down the ice giving the fans the old Hulk Hogan Can Ya Hear Me move as the goal siren flashed and the scoreboard changed from a 2 to a 3 next to the Capitals name.

That goal from Ovi turned out to be the game winner, and the New York Rangers finally got to meet one of the Caps arch enemies, the posts.  In the closing minutes the "DING!" sounded out and Caps fans fell to the floor trying to breathe, but the Rangers shot flew over the goal and not inside it.

The Caps had a 2-0 lead late into the first period and I wrote the following notes down.  'Roman Hamrlik is old and slow, how does that help the Caps'.  And then a minute later I wrote, 'Mike Green needs to get less ice time.'  Green had a pretty awful game.

The Rangers looked a little bit flat, the way the Caps looked in game 1 and the posts were once again the difference in the game.  At one point a puck was sitting inches from the goal behind Holtby and nobody was moving it until a Caps player tipped it out.

The first Caps goal in the first was a nice three man passing move, Aucoin to Ward to Knuble.  1-0 Caps.  Five minutes later Ludqvist decided to go behind the net and Chimera rushed to the puck to beat him, then centered the puck in front of the empty net.  After a Hendricks (I think) attempted backwards between the legs shot, Chimera came back into the play and put it off a Rangers skate for the 2-0 lead.

But just as it looks like the Caps are in control, Brooks Laich made the worst line change I have ever seen (in my 90 something games watched).  It was 4 on 4 and the puck was in a Ranger's stick in the neutral zone and he made the switch.  A 4 on 3 ensued and the Rangers got a goal in the final minute of the first.

The Rangers tied it up in the 3rd and I was ready to start smashing things, but Alex Ovechkin unleased Ovimania all over Madison Square Garden and scored the game winner.

This was a huge win for the Caps.  They now control the series with the home field ice advantage.  Yeah I know, home doesn't seem to matter...but WHATEVZ!  Game 3 is back home on Wednesday.