Caps take sole possession of 1st in Eastern Conf.

The Washington Capitals survived a wild first period deficit of 3-2 and a late third period goal to send the game to overtime to defeat the New York Islanders in the 11th round of a shootout.  With the win in the books, the Capitals officially sit atop the Eastern Conference with 26 points, 2 ahead of struggling Pittsburgh.

I have come to look forward to Caps games with the Islanders.  They turn into slug fests with good, solid hitting and tons of goals.  Last night was no different and took only 8 seconds for the game’s first goal, a wicked slap shot off the stick of Alexander Semin from a face off win and pass from Brendan Morrison.  It was Semin’s 8th of the season and gave the Caps a quick 1-0 lead.   The celebration and lead at Verizon Center lasted less than one minute when Islanders Matt Moulsen took a centering pass from Mark Streit to put the puck past Jose Theodore and tie the game at 1-1.

Streit and Sean Bergenheim then each scored less than 2 minutes part around the 5 minute mark to silence the Verizon Center giving the Islanders a 3-1 lead.  HC Bruce Boudreau had seen enough and pulled goalie Jose Theodore after the 3rd Islander goal at the 6:54 second mark of the first period. In came Semyon Varlamov, which was bad news for the Isles.

Tomas Fleischmann scored near the end of the first period to send the game into the first intermission at a 3-2 lead for Isles.  It was Flash’s 6th goal since returning from injury 7 games ago.  It was also a power play score for the Caps, assited by Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Knuble.  In Alex Ovechkin’s absence, Flash has more than filled Ovie’s scoring role, netting 6 goals and 2 assist in 7 games.  Not a bad looksy for fantasy hockey owners.  In a wild 5 goal, 25 shot first period, Washington barely outshot New York 13-12.

After the wild first period, 2 goals were scored in the second period, both from Washington.   Alex Semin barried a nasty slap shot on the power play to give the Caps a 3-3 tie a little over 5 minutes into the second period.  Semin was fed by Mike Green, who got his first of two helpers on the night.  It was Semin’s 9th of the year and 2nd of the game.    Near the end of the second period, Eric Fehr scored his second goal in front of the net to give the Caps a 4-3 lead at the end of the second period.  I am not 100% sure that Fehr was trying to score or whether he was passing to a charging Mathieu Perreault.  The Fehr goal was assisted by Green and Chris Clark.  [Read more →]

Read it all at

http://dcprosportsreport.com/2009/11/12/caps-take-sole-possession-of-1st-in-eastern-conf.html