Theodore gets shutout in 3-0 win over Canadiens

Goalie Jose Theodore had a score to settle with his old team the Montreal Canadiens and he did it in style making some spectacularly athletic saves in the 2nd period that had the fans at the phone booth on their feet in a standing ovation.  He played his best game as a Capital and got the first star for the game.  I've never been a big Theodore fan, but I want him to be successful now because he plays for my team.  Hopefully this will be a big confidence boost for him that helps him find the consistency he needs to win games for the Caps in front of an injury plagued blue line that featured four Hershey Bears players last night.

The highlights:

• The call ups from the Hershey Bears continue to play well and are helping the Caps to still win games.  Rookie defender Karl Alzner continues to impress people by playing sound positional defense.  It's going to be hard to send him back down, but I don't know how the Caps will manage the salary cap issue.  Milan Jurcina plays better with Alzner than with John Erskine and his blocked shot late in the third helped preserve the shutout.  
• Alex Ovechkin, 2nd star of the game,  continued his 10 game scoring streak with the 2nd goal of the game from an unbelievable angle.  I thought he was too far past the net, but not Ovie. Nicklas Backtrom got the assist and both he and Viktor Kozlov played great for the top line again.
• Tomas Fleischmann got the first goal of the game, after stealing the puck, on a pretty pass back and forth play with Michael Nylander. 
• David Steckel netted the 3rd with a blind toss to the net that went in.  
• The Caps weren't expected to win this game against a Montreal Canadien team that just beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 on the road.  But, the Caps call ups did their job and, in fact, the defense was stellar last night.
• The organizational depth that this team has here and in the AHL and ECHL is a credit to GM George McPhee (I can't believe I said that as I don't give GMG too many props.), but to win a game against the 5th place team in the East with 1/3 of your players on injured reserve is quite an achievement.

The lowlights:

• None.  Okay, maybe too many Habs fans at the phone booth, but the place was still rocking the red.

Next up, the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight.  The Caps are not nearly as good on the road as they've been at home this year so it'll be a challenge, but maybe the Hershey Bears playing will bring good luck.

Let's go Caps!