Capitals 3, Rangers 1

If there was a theme from last night’s game for the Capitals it would probably be “you’ve got to be good to be lucky” as, for the first period at least, everything seemed to be going the Capitals way: Alexander Semin’s wrister gets stopped by Henrik Lundqvist but bounces off the glass behind the net and back out for Brooks Laich to tip in. Boyd Gordon loses the puck driving to the net but Tom Poti’s in the perfect position to tip it in as the net just barely stays on its pegs. And, of course, Alexander Semin scores a 190-foot goal off a spin move to seal the deal with six seconds left.

Caps Blue Line 3 Stars
(1) Brent Johnson
(2) Brooks Laich - 1 goal, 4 shots, 2 hits, +1
(3) Alexander Semin - 1 goal, 1 assist, +1

Quick Hits

• As soon as Tomas Fleischmann finds some measure of consistency, he could be a poor man’s Alexander Semin - and that ain’t bad for the second line.
• Speaking of Fleischmann, he was last night the focal point of one of the rarest moments in Capitals history.  At 9:10 of the second period Fleischmann hit an opposition player and the opposition player fell down.
• If John Erskine’s is worth $1.25 million a season, Tyler Sloan has to be worth at least $2 million.
• Brent Johnson’s pokecheck on Chris Drury’s penalty shot was impressive not only for the reflexes it took, but for the poise Johnson showed.
• Nicklas Backstrom continues to look better and better as he (presumably) gets into better shape.  In the first half dozen games of this season, there’s no way Backstrom catches the Rangers player on that shorthanded breakaway.
• The more I see him play, the more I’m convinced Aaron Voros is going to be the next Tomas Holmstrom.
• Sure, the Capitals won, they looked good, both goalies played great games, Semin scored a 190-foot goal.  That’s all well and good, but for me the highlight of the game was not having to hear “saved by zero” a single time.