Recap 2/13 vs San Jose: No Way

There....that wasn't so good, now was it?

                     --Dan Aykroyd as Leonard Pinth Garnell

I have to admit, I was not even going to bother to post after the abomination that was last night's game. The jackasses were skating in mud last night with the possible exception of Alex Ovechkin.  One of my favorite podcasts, the Puck Podcast has a feature every week called "Did you see...?"  Well I have a "Did you hear?" as in did you hear the boos come a-raining down at the Verizon Center?  Yeah so did I and they deserved it.

Let me blow a theory I've been hearing a lot lately out of the water. While there may have been scouts at the game last night, they couldn't have been there to see the Capitals.  They were all so awful, who the hell would want any of them even for the bargains typically offered at the trade deadline?  I jest, but only partially.

Can someone please tell me what in the hell Dennis Wideman was doing just standing at the blueline?  Was he there to open an imaginary door to let Marcus Johansson in the Sharks' zone?  Maybe he was doing his impression of the Washington Monument? In any case it had to be he silliest thing I've ever seen in a hockey game, Johansson knocked down by his own man.  Not that he was very strong on his skates anyway.

Troy Brouwer was useless last night.  His offensive output is nowhere near consistent enough whether on the power play or 5 on 5 to justify his still being on either one of the top two lines.  Not to mention whatever disease Wideman had he spread to Brouwer as he too was doing his best to be a statue.

Joel Rechlicz' stats for the evening: Ninety seconds of ice time in two shifts and 10 PIM. Apparently he got the penalty for complaining too loudly due his hemorrhoids from sitting a lot. This guy gets a sweater and Mike Knuble sits?  Can we end this joke of an experiment?  Please?

Further evidence that one cannot trust plus-minus on its own:  Eight Capitals finished to the good.  Don't forget that three of the Shark goals were scored on the power play and you don't get a minus one for allowing a power play goal.

Speaking of the power play, well....you can say that the Caps tried.  Or that they at least got their chances.  Unfortunately those are the only good things you can say about the continually abysmal power play.

The Caps have been plagued by a rash of strange (some would say soft) goals.  This game happened to be chock full of them.  For the Caps, there was Roman Hamrlik's wrong-side-of-the-net backhander, Dmitry Orlov's squirter from the point, and Jeff Schultz' goal complete with Ovechkin doing his Teddy Roosevelt impression in front of the net.  Unfortunately, the Sharks countered with that stupid long shot from center ice and Patrick Marleau's second tally that rolled up Braden Holtby's shoulder and into the net.

Let's see, I've mentioned Teddy Roosevelt, and George Washington....I need one more to complete my Presidential trifecta.  Well I believe it was Abraham Lincoln that mentioned four scores and seven beers ago....no?  Okay, well I tried.  But if I had seven beers they would have all been gone by the middle of the second period with how bad the game was.  And four scores with two less by the opposition would have been nice.  Pizza anyone?  But I don't think they could have gotten any more past Sharks' goalie Thomas Greiss (rhymes with "rice").  OK now I'm hungry.

Blah.  Now they get three days off and another shot at the division leading Panthers on Friday.  A regulation win would be a nice birthday present.  Not Abe's or George's, but mine.