Comcast keeps taking us behind the scenes before each Caps game for a closer look at some of the Capitals player warm up. Looks like aside from hockey players we've got racquetball jugglers, baseball pitchers, and soccer players. Take a look at some of these different sport cross-training warmups:
In Thursday night's loss to the New Jersey Devils the Caps committed 6 penalties in the 3rd period, 5 of them in 9 minutes of play! Plus add a 7th (see below).
The fans were angry at the refs chiming in with a very audible "Ref You Suck!" chant brought to the attention of the home viewers by Joe B.
After the game Troy Brouwer stayed on the ice to jaw at the officials before angrily leaving the rink by smashing his stick against the boards. Brouwer was hit with a 10 minute misconduct penalty for the outburst below. My lipreading deciphered "F**KING TERRIBLE".
Check out Brouwer's awesome move early in the game after the jump.
Down 5-3 with half the 3rd period behind them, Washington Capitals fans began to push the panic button. Fans were firing the GM, cursing the team, and getting internally angry. Read some of the tweets below.
But the Caps didn't care about those fans or what they thought. Instead they just played hockey, tying up the game and winning it in OT.
In OT Backstrom slapped a perfect pass to Troy Brouwer setting him up on the breakaway. Brouwer couldn't get the puck past the Florida goaltender but he followed his shot and stuffed the puck into the net for the Caps 2nd straight win.
The Caps scored first on a Mike Ribiero powerplay goal but the Panthers came back and notched 2 to go into the 2nd period leading 2-1. One of the "highlights" of the opening session was the "fight" that took place between Alexander Ovechkin and Kris Versteeg (watch it here).
Alzner and Hendricks each scored in the 2nd period, but the Panthers got 2 goals of their own putting the Caps in a 4-3 situation going into the final frame.
After the Panthers scored almost 7 minutes in, right when the fans began to give up, the Caps came back with a Eric Fehr deflection goal and then an Ovechkin PPG off of the initial faceoff in a matter of seconds.
Just 32 seconds into the OT, Brouwer scored the game winner.
Ribeiro continues to be the Caps best player scoring a goal and picking up 2 assists. Backstrom and Ward also had 2 assists. Ovi also had an assist to go with his goal. HOCKEY! ASSISTS FOR EVERYONE!!!
The Caps won 2 in a row for the first time this season. Next up, the Lighting on Valentines Day. Be mine!
That was one of the several conversations I creepily overheard Thursday night at the Washington Capitals fan appreciation night. The free event at Verizon Center featured a ton of free food, a Caps practice, face painting, cheerleaders, and of course overpriced beer.
The event had about 10,000 fans attend, which is insane and possibly more than actual attendance at a Washington Wizards game.
One of the first thing fans noticed if they spent any time walking around the concourse was that many people spent a majority of the night waiting in lines. The fans arrived early and lined up outside of Verizon Center before the event began. Herding up like cattle awaiting the farmer to open the fence. And when the gates were open fans raced to another line, where they stood and awaited free food.
And why wouldn't the fans line up, the food choices were great. They had chili nachos, buffalo wings, hot dogs, Dippin' Dots, cotton candy, popcorn, soda, and more. And it was all free with just one catch. You couldn't grab a second item for your friends.
Concession Lady Letting The 10,000th Person Know The Limit Was 1 Item Per Person
You should have seen the number of sob stories at the front of lines. Fans complaining that they could only take 1 FREE food item were coming up with all sorts of stories to try to convince the men and women at the register to break the rule for them.
My favorite instance of this was a 8 year old (ish) boy in the Dippin' Dots line. He was sent there to pick up some ice cream of the future for him and his brother, who was waiting back at his seat. When the guy in charge gave him the answer "no" the kid was not happy.
In a very loud and authoritative voice the little person stated his credentials as a season ticket holder. Obviously, he was not like the other rubes in the line. He was special. Didn't the ice cream guy understand?
The server still refused and the child was stunned. He just stared at the guy speechless with a Tony Kornheiser like "Do you know who I am" look on his face before heading back towards his seat dejected and angry. In my head I heard him exclaim, "Why I neeehhhvaaaa!" in a southern woman's accent.
Other highlights of the night included Elliot in the morning being awkward, Ovechkin saying his favorite NHL player was Dale Hunter, and Troy Brouwer dancing the Gangnam Style.
