Sunday, February 7, 2010

February 7 - Washington Capitals vs Pittsburgh Penguins

Wooooooo! The streak continues! The Capitals are 14-0 and they beat the Penguins today!

The win and the streak were in serious question after the first period in which Sidney Crosby scored on the Caps twice and the Caps couldn't seem to put anything together. Then Ovie got a goal, but it was followed by two goals from Penguins and at one point the score was 4-1. Ugh.

Fortunately, at some point in the second period, the Capitals woke up. Eric Fehr got a great goal when he followed his own rebound and crammed it between Fleury's legs. That goal was followed by two more from Ovie and the game ended in a tie. There were some seriously bad calls by the refs including a call within the last 4 minutes on Jeff Schultz for slashing that was completely fabricated. Somehow, the Caps pulled through. At one point in the game they lost Knuble for 10 minutes and later Backstrom got a 10 minute misconduct (both for sticking up for teammates when the Penguins started fighting). The team also got through a 5 on 3 without letting the Penguins score. Thanks to some kick-ass defense, some truly amazing saves by Theodore and Ovie's hat trick and Fehr's goal, the Caps got a shot at overtime and Knuble scored the game winner.

Neil and I were in our seats (or on the edge of them) up in 419 unable to relax the entire game. Neil did catch one of the Capitals parachutes with a T-Shirt attached during the second intermission. :) I am now the proud owner of a very large red shirt that says Rock The Red with the Caps logo - I will use it as a nightgown (not to mention the parachute... what does one do with a Capitals parachute? I want to tie things to it and drop it from my 6th floor balcony...)

There were way too many Penguins fans in attendance today. The theory we came up with is that many Caps fans couldn't get to the game because of the 24" of snow (more in some places) and sold their tickets last minute to Pens fans who lived closer to Verizon Center. Who knows. The good news is that in the third period, it was hard to remember that there were any Pens fans in attendance. The Caps fans got loud and stood up and made the presence of a few Penguins fans unimportant.

After Crosby got two goals early in the game, all I could think was that Ovie needed three. I am so thrilled he got them. There has never been any question in my mind as to who is a better player, but the media always makes a big deal of it. So there. Ovie ended the game with three goals and an assist.

It's so good to beat a hated rival. It's even better to win 14 games in a row. This was the last home game before the Olympic break. I sure am going to miss these Caps.

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