Monday, February 26, 2007

Somebody order the banana split?

The Capitals posted a very respectable split against the Devils this weekend. On the bright side, the Caps did put up a 4 spot on Martin Brodeur, and any time a team can say that they've done well offensively. They took advantage of multiple breakdowns in coverage by the Devils, which happens about as often as snowstorms in June.

They got goals from one of their stars (Semin), one from their role-players (Pettinger), one from the defense (Jurcina) and one from a new arrival (Fleischmann). Their balanced attack along with a splendid (if not spectacular) game from Johnson gave the Caps the victory. In addition, Alex Ovechkin seemed reinvigorated by the Jurcina goal, which he inially seemed to think deflected off him, and attacked the goal with much more vigor after the score. His strong play continued on to the second game, and while the Capitals were not able to take away a victory against Broduer's backup Scott Clemmensen, their overall play was miles above what we've seen from them recently.

The next couple days should be very interesting from a roster standpoint. I leave you with the words of George McPhee, when asked about movement on the roster at the deadline:

"Yes," McPhee said, nodding, "there will be something."

Whether it's something substantial or not remains to be seen. Will Zubrus and/or Zednik be moved? Will Eminger be a Cap after the deadline? Or will there be another, less expected move?

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