Senators 5, Capitals 4

by J.P. on Sep 20, 2007 9:41 PM EDT

[Scoresheet - Super Stats - AP Recap]

First their dollar catches up to ours, then their capital beats ours on the ice.

There was some good and some bad coming from Thursday night's affair between the Caps and Sens, so let's dive right in:

First things first - the penalty kill needs a lot of work.
Michael Nylander and Nicklas Backstrom gave a glimpse of the awesome offensive-zone puck control of which they're capable. Throw a finisher (read: Alex Semin) on with those two and watch the goals come.
Mike Green should not have stepped up at his on Antoine Vermette at his (Green's) own blueline - Vermette got the puck to Nick Foligno (who doesn't wear a goofy helmet like his old man) for a breakaway that he buried on a niftily-roofed backhander. But it was a mixed bag from Green tonight, with the young blueliner adding a couple of power play helpers.

As the French might say, Jakub Klepis est histoire. He played on a line with the Swedes, took five shots on goal, had three hits... and still really did nothing.
Tom Poti and Nylander are so much better in their roles than the players they're succeeding it's laughable.
Speaking of Brian Pothier, I didn't notice him all that often tonight. Maybe that's a good thing.
The Caps were slaughtered in the faceoff circle (only 41% won), but their success rate was still better than that of the Rogers Sportsnet announcers' in pronuncing the Capitals' names.
Olie Kolzig looked sharp at times, but needs to do a better job containing rebounds (either that or the defensemen in front of him need to clear every offensive player within a 15-foot radius of the crease - which do you think is more likely?).
Tomas Fleischmann may have earned himself a contract.
I don't know if it's the travel, the time of year, conditioning or what, but the Caps seemed to be a flat for most of the third.
If you're not watching these games online, you need to be.
With Donald Brashear (and Ben Clymer) out of the lineup, Brian McGrattan took a few liberties (and while we're on the topic of fighting, Brian Sutherby could have done some serious damage to Larry Nycholat at the end of their kerfuffle, had he wanted to).
I think Jeff Schultz starts the season in Hershey.
Boyd Gordon was minus-three. Ouch.
The Caps road uniforms are definitely sweet.