Caps Smashed in Carolina

The Caps played an ugly hockey game from every perspective imaginable last night except goal tending. Brent Johnson made some stunning saves out of his 34 total saves and the Caps would have lost by a far worse score than 5-0 had he not been so solid in net.

The only other bright spot was John Erskine's performance on defense, particularly, in the first period. He had a great hit to get Carolina off the puck in the Cap's zone and he threw his body in front of the net to block a shot. Erskine is a 7th year pro and signed as free agent with the Caps in September of this year, but he's been playing in Hershey. So, does he have the skills to play full-time defense in the NHL? I don't know the answer to that question and I don't know how long he'll be playing for the Caps since Jamie Heward will get back into the lineup. Watching Mike Green's awful performance last night, Heward's veteran leadership is desperately needed.

The offense was just as terrible as the defense although they didn't play as much since the Caps spent 14 minutes on the PK. The Caps had to score on the extended 5-3 man advantage in the 2nd period and they didn't. Cam Ward, the Carolina net minder, played an unbelievable game as much as it pains me to say that, and the Caps must figure out how to score on him.

Caps fans don't seem to be too despondent this morning on the message boards which is unusual after a loss like that. Everyone wants to see the Caps kill the Rangers & Jagr tomorrow. Let's hope last night's loss will bring motivation to the Caps. I'll be there rooting.

Let's go Caps!