Here’s the line of the night about the Caps wild 5-4 shootout victory against the Carolina Hurricanes:
* Alexander Semin and Mike Green were on the ice for more goals than Cam Ward (credit for that observation goes to Caps PR guru Nate Ewell). Semin and Green were out there for all eight goals in this game, but Ward was on the bench for an extra attacker for one of Carolina’s. Just crazy.
SEE RELATED:
Yes, the Caps collected two points to keep pace with New Jersey and Boston and boosted their lead in the division to 13 points, but they also blew a two-goal lead and needed Jose Theodore to rescue them. Here are a few other notes and quotes:
* Theodore gave up four goals on 32 shots — and was one of the best Washington players on the ice. He made about 10 saves on great chances, and turned aside six overtime shots and two shootout attempts.
“We left [Theodore] out to dry a few times,” Eric Fehr said. “He made some big saves for us. We just let up too many key opportunities for them, but he was great when we needed him.”
Bruce Boudreau said the Hurricanes should have scored “six or seven” goals in this game. This wasn’t a textbook defensive effort.
* Semin was fantastic … at the offensive end anyway. He now has 19 goals and 34 points in 23 games against the Hurricanes — by far the best numbers he has against any team.
“He’s good – he’s in real good shape right now,” Alex Ovechkin said. “He is tremendous player when he feels great. It is very hard to stop him.”
* Green had only one goal and eight points in the previous 13 games, but he was responsible for the first two goals for the Caps tonight. His catch and shoot on a pass from Semin that was a little behind was incredible, and on Ovechkin’s goal he kept the puck in the zone and had the slap-pass to get him the puck.
* The Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin line was broken up in the third period, presumably because they had been on the ice for all four Carolina goals — all even strength goals at that.
* The Tuomo Ruutu-Eric Staal-Erik Cole trio is a very nice line. Those two wings are nasty to play against, and they open up a lot of ice for Staal. They are also pretty skilled as well.
* Semin actually lost control of that puck for a brief second in the shootout … and he still popped the water bottle with it. Can’t teach that.
* The Caps snapped a four-game losing streak at home. Their last five-game skid here were the final five home games of the Glen Hanlon Era.
* This was BY FAR the most physical Alex Ovechkin has been in a game in quite some time. It wasn’t that he was credited with four hits, it was how hard he was hitting people.
* David Steckel didn’t take many draws against Philadelphia. He went 10-for-13 tonight.
* The Caps are off tomorrow, so they won’t be back on the ice until Monday in Atlanta.
