The Washington Capitals suffered yet another rare loss on home ice this season, falling 5 - 4 in overtime to the Ottawa Senators. A capacity crowd at the Verizon Center saw their beloved Caps relinquish another disturbing flurry of goals in the 1st Period.
Two days after allowing the Calgary Flames to net 4 in the first frame, the Capitals surrendered an early 3 to Ottawa. However, the opening stanza did have one gem of a moment in store for the home team. Alexander Semin continued his push for 40 goals on the season, scoring on another brilliant individual effort, going five hole on Elliott.
Down 3 - 1 heading into the second period, the league's top ranked offense came to life, scoring twice.
First up in the boxscore, Alexander Semin. The talented Russian winger netted his second of the evening, putting him at 37 on the year. Semin collected a brilliant pass from the right flank by Alexander Ovechkin, then avoided a poke check by Elliot, before finally curling around the outstreched goalie stick and putting the puck in the roof of the net.
Mike Green levelled the score at 3 apiece with one period to go. Recently called up Mathieu Perreault scored his second goal since joing the team just 24 seconds into the third period, Erih Fehr was on the assist.
However, Ottawa didn't wait long before finding their own equalizer, as Jason Spezza scored his second of the match.
Mike Knuble missed high and wide on a golden opportunity to take the lead late in the third. Ovechkin blazed down the ice and fed in another beautiful pass towards center, this time from the left side. Knuble had and open net gaping right before him but just missed the top corner.
The Capitals would pay for missed chances such as this, as overtime would eventually bring a late Ottawa goal. Alexei Kovalev netted from an extremely accute angle with just 18 seconds seperating the teams from a penalty shootout.
A couple of keys to take away from the match ...
- The Caps continued a disturbing trend of slow starts in matches. Yes, the offense is top notch and deserves to be ranked first and the team has shown an amazing propensity for coming back from large deficits. Still, it would behoove the team to start coming out with a bit more inensity early.
- A point was still salvaged from this match, which should help in the quest for the President's Trophy. It seems that the history of winners of the regular season title shows that they have not fared overly well in the Stanley Cup Finals. The bottom line is, the Caps just need to focus on winning as many games as possible and not think about these things. Just continue with the winning mentality that has been on display throught the season and keep going with it.
- Despite giving up 5 goals by the time all was said and done, Jose Theodore continues to be impressive between the pipes. Let's face it, he was left hung out to dry a bit on a couple of goals. He still, however, made some real big saves to keep his team in the game.
- With 6 matches to go, it looks like Alexander Semin has a good chance to reach the 40 goal mark. Let's hope his current form continues.
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