Caps vs Isles - In game

First Period:

- Looking sharp. Good forecheck, good control, good cycling, good pressure, and taking lots of shots. Seven shots on DiPietro in the first seven minutes.

- Smokin' Al needs to back his face away from the mic a few inches...

- Magnificent work by Pettinger (how often do I ever get to say that?) single-handedly grinding the puck around the boards in the Islanders' zone while killing a penalty. Killed a good 30 seconds all by himself.

- Fleischmann, who is playing on the Nylander/Backstrom line, has been more visible in the first 13 minutes of this game than he has been all season. It's early yet, but I smell chemistry.

- Gah... Bergenheim scores on a defensive breakdown in front of the net.

- Brendan Witt gets slammed in the jaw with a booming slapshot. Can you say karma?

...And that's it for the first. I think it's safe to say that the Caps don't deserve the score they have at the moment. Fine work by DiPietro in keeping them off the board.

Islanders 1, Capitals 0

Second Period

- Penalty on Berard. Let's see what the PP is looking like these days.

- 0 shots on the PP... Didn't even get close. *sigh*

- The "trip" by Kozlov looked a wee bit embellished. Another penalty coming...

- You pay for stupid penalties every time. Islanders 2, Caps 0

- They put a lot more on the net during the second Caps PP of the game... in fact, they've been doing just that all game so far, but they're still not generating traffic in front of the net. You're not going to score on rebounds if there's nobody but Islanders there to collect them. 3rd Caps PP of the game is forthcoming.

- 3rd PP over, and nothing to show for it.

- Well, they still don't deserve to be scoreless, but not quite to the same extent as in the first. Damnation.

Islanders 2, Capitals 0

Third Period

- One of the odder questioned goals I've seen...

- AO SCORES!!! Good setup by Motzko. Lovely, now do it again and we'll be good to go.

- Beautiful pressure leads to another goal. The Caps are running circles around the Isles in the third and it's a beautiful sight. Fleischmann from Backstrom. Did I mention he's been having a good game?

- Well that was short lived... The Caps have been dominant, but when they aren't in control they give the Islanders far too much room to maneuver, and the PK is just not clicking at all without Gordon.

- In case you're wondering what the difference tonight has been, here it is:


Islanders 5, Capitals 2