A coach's night to remember

Bruce Boudreau certainly won't forget last night, will he? First he gets the interim label removed from his title by the organization then his team goes out and puts together a gritty performance in securing two points in regulation and a 4 point swing in the Southeast Division by beating the Tampa Bay Lecavaliers 3 to 2.

Coach B saw his team survive a shaky start by Olie Kolzig and yet another amazing performance by Vinnie Lecavalier, who right now is delivering on the promise that lead most scouts to label him the heir apparent to Gretzky and Lemiux while Sid the Kid was still in grade school. And when Tampa's new goaltender Karri Ramo did his best Nikolai Khabibulin impersonation, robbing the Russian Machine and Tomas Fleischmann (twice) from point blank range, the Caps finally got the offense they were hoping to see out of their checking line.

Quinten Laing, David Steckel, and Matt Bradley were by far the Capitals best line on the night. Aside from scoring two of the Caps three goals, they logged major ice time against Tampa's top line, playing strong in the defensive end while holding the puck well and making a wonderful mess in front of Ramo's crease. It seems unfair that Laing will sit tonight against the Pens after such a strong performance (thanks to the return of Boyd Gordon), but if he can string together a couple more performances like last night's he'll get more of his fair share of games in before season's end.

One oddity from the organization... even though the "interim" label has been removed from Coach Boudreau's title, he's still up for review (and possible replacement) at season's end. I suppose the Caps just wanted to let him know he wouldn't be replaced this season. Whatever.

Tonight, the Caps look for another pair of points in Pennsylvania against the Flightless Devilbirds and Sid the Submarine (diving puns are harder to come by than you think after a couple seasons). Game time is 7:30.