Caps Win a comeback Thriller

Last night the Caps came back down 4-1 at one point to rally back & tie it up in the third at 4-4 to force an overtime frame & eventually a shootout.  Flash nabbed the victorious goal to complete the comeback last night 5-4, and the Caps stole 2 points from the Panthers.


Observations
I'm not generally one to question Bruce Boudreau's coaching, but I have to respectfully disagree with starting Neuvirth again on the back to back game when he clearly had a bad breakdown in the 7-4 rout by the Lightning the prior night.


I thought BB should have started Theo from the get go last night.  I have a feeling that Theo is ready to get back in the saddle & become more focused.  BB needed to give Neuvy a breather as he has been starting quite a bit lately.  Also he's been letting in those "soft" goals of late.


In the shootout, Brooks Laich finally potted a goal.  Hopefully this will help him get a few in regulation on Friday against the Maple Leafs.


Mike Knuble has been getting some of that good net presence to help screen the goalie & redirect some shots on goal.  There were a few missed opportunities last night, but they will start to pay off soon.

Epic Fail times two

Wow.  I suck at updating this thing.  Fail.

The Caps had an epic fail tonight in Tampa on the score sheet.  A 7-4 FAIL.  Just because I think it underscores the frustration and I remembered this from somewhere a long time ago, a small negative reaction from Mr. Leonsis :)

But where most people saw a fail, I saw a victory and a much needed victory that has been missing from this team since they have "come of age" from the 2007-08 season.

The victory was the toughness & team effort of grittiness.  The team fought for their captain tonight.  See Matt Bradley (video coming later).  Then Steckel started fighting a seasoned veteran.  They weren't pretty fights, but at least they weren't Matt Bradley bloody ugly.

I think this is a good thing for the team.  They need to learn how to be tough & stay tough.  This will come in handy in their playoff runs in the future.  I'm not suggesting that they need to goon it up ala Slapshot (NSFW: language), but it wouldn't hurt every once in a while.