Caps finally beat Luongo

After 10 tries, the Capitals put on an offensive display last night at the phone booth and beat Roberto Luongo and the Vancouver Canucks, 5-1. Luongo has been a nemesis in goal for the Caps dating back to the days he played with the Florida Panthers.

Alexander Semin, playing with more fire than I've ever seen out of him, started the scoring with a beauty and added his 2nd goal in the second period. Mike Green scored his 3rd goal on the power play. He's becoming the Caps offensive threat on the power play and since the power play still isn't producing, 1 for 4 tries last night, it's good to have Greenie scoring. In fact, the Caps struggled to get settled in their first power play and the puck was done in their own end for almost 3/4s of that power play.

Milan Jurcina played well last night, too (did I just say that?) and scored a even strength goal in the 2nd period off a rocket of a shot. Michael Nylander had a 3 point night, 2 assists and his 1 goal coming on a penalty shot after a Canuck threw a stick that was laying on the ice into Nyls when he had the puck.

Coach Boudreau mixed up the lines for last night's match, put Sergei Fedorov on defense and Brent Johnson in net against the Canucks and it worked really well. The Brooks Laich-Nylander-Semin line was money in the bank. Boyd Gordon won the key faceoffs in his first appearance this season and made a sweet pass to Semin that resulted in Semin knocking over Luongo with his shot. That one didn't go in, but it will still fun to watch.

The one person I haven't mentioned is Alex Ovechkin. He was held scoreless last night, but boy did he make the Canucks pay for hanging all over him with some awesome hits. This also shows that the Caps finally have more offensive weapons and that's what they need to get deeper in the playoffs. Teams will always focus their defense on Ovie and if the Caps can make them pay for that with scoring from other areas, they'll win.

The most amazing statistic of the night. The Caps had 35 shots and the Canucks had 10. One of the Versus announcers called the Caps play last night "Red Wing esque" and I have to agree with him. They played the puck possession game and dominated.

Finally, congratulations to Brent Johnson who got his 100th NHL career win. He didn't have to work too hard for it, but I doubt he minded that at all.

Up Thursday night with Jose Theodore in net....the Pittsburgh Penguins. I always felt like the Penguins were in Olie Kolzig's head so maybe Theo can break that. Caps you just need to "Play your game." -Herb Brooks

Let's go Caps!