The Old Man and the "C"s

The Washington Capitals defeated a stubborn but worn-out Florida Panthers team tonight 3-1 to secure the Southeast Division championship and the accompanying playoff spot, but not before the sellout crowd at Verizon Center was obliged to endure some anxious moments. After a first-period goal by Tomas Fleischmann gave the home team a 1-0 lead, the Capitals failed to score on a pair of minute-long 5-on-3 advantages, and when Kamil Kreps tied the game for Florida you could almost see the mist of anxiety fall across the previously raucous Washington fans.

Then, with about five minutes left in the second, Alexander Semin found thirty-eight-year-old Sergei Fedorov--who was on the ice for the Detroit Red Wings at the end of the Sharks' famous 1994 playoff upset--in open ice with a Thorntonesque pass. Fedorov wound up and blasted an absolute bullet past Panthers goalie Craig Anderson and the Caps were ahead to stay.

Fedorov, acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets in a trade-deadline deal this February, will likely never approach even twenty goals in a season again, let alone the 56 he scored in 1993-94. But he still has an enormous amount to contribute. He has always been an excellent defensive player, his hockey IQ is probably unsurpassed amongst active players, and as he showed tonight he still has that intangible something that inspires the greatest athletes to play their best at the most critical times. And now he Semin and Alexander Ovechkin and Cristobal Huet and Mike Green and head coach Bruce Boudreau and all the rest of this motley bunch are headed for the playoffs. It's a feel-good, Cinderella story of a type the NHL has not seen for a long time.


A little love for the Panthers, please...

I think some kudos need to go out the Florida Panthers for a couple of gutsy performances over the last couple of nights. Without any postseason of their own to look forward to, the Panthers, in a position to play a major role in the final Eastern Conference playoff picture, provided difficult opposition for both the Canes and the Caps. Especially after an exhausting, skin-of-their-teeth win over Carolina last night, the Panthers had every excuse to collapse in the face of all of the energy and emotion that had built behind the Capitals. But they played hard...even after Alexander Semin scored early in the third to put Washington up 3-1, Florida never gave up. Laurels in particular to goalie Craig Anderson, who played courageously and well, facing 66 shots over five periods of work. It was an honorable performance the Panthers can be proud of.


Yes, I know this isn't supposed to be a Capitals blog!

But it's an exciting story! And an important one for the league! But, yes, Team Teal in the Twin Towns will now return to being a blog dedicated to the most awesomest team ever, the San Jose Sharks.

Go, Los Tiburones!