The Caps turned out another good showing Tuesday night winning 6-1 against the Colorado Avalanche. While the win was a perfect way to start their western conference trip, the Caps definitely had a lot of defensive challenges along the way to that win.
The Caps defense had a rough night which started with Shaone Morrisonn sustaining an injury on a hit from David Koci. Morrisonn spent most of the evening on the bench.
Mike Green was the second defenseman to leave the game after being boarded by Koci in the second.
John Erskine incurred 17 penalty minutes for fighting Koci for the hit on Green.
With Morrisonn and Green injured, and Erskine’s penalty the Caps defense was severely depleted as only Schultz, Poti and Alzner were available for play.
Coach Boudreau was left in a difficult position, leaving him to turn to some of his forwards for assistance. Brooks Laich and Brendan Morrison were readied by Boudreau to switch to defense. In a rather unique situation the Caps only had two blueliners skating at one point in the third period.
Even with their dwindling defense, the team had a game that was eventful and they even had a couple of firsts.
Tomas Fleischmann had a two goal night and was assisted both times by Kyle Wilson who was making his NHL debut. Wilson was also ironically making his debut on his birthday and tallied his first NHL point during his first shift. After the game Wilson said that it’s his job as a call-up to make it very hard for him to be sent back down. I think he made a good case for himself during the game. Then again the Capitals have had a good effort from all their Hershey Bear call-ups this season and that is a testament to the system that they have in place. This foreshadowing should be a welcome sight to Washington Caps fans who haven’t had the smoothest ride until recently.
Only three games back from finger surgery, Mike Knuble made his presence known by netting a goal in first period. David Steckel and Matt Bradley joined Tomas Fleischmann in scoring during the second and Nicklas Backstrom scored a power play goal in the third.
This was the first time that Jose Theodore faced his former team since signing with the Capitals. Theodore acknowledged the defensive support from his teammates after the game saying that he knew they wanted to help him win the game.
The Caps played together and only allowed Colorado to score one goal against them in the first game of this road trip. They persevered through incredible adversity and have set a good tone for the remainder of the week.
Look for the Washington Capitals to take on the Vancouver Canucks at 10 PM EST on Friday.
(This should have posted on 12/16/2009 on www.crashthecrease.com however there was some technical difficulty on the posting. I apologize.)
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