Hurricanes Vs Capitals 11/06/2008 Review

Alexander Semin tries to gain control of the puck.
November 6, 2008 Photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

Hurricanes 2 - Capitals 3

It was the Carolina Hurricanes's turn to be disappointed last night. Until the final few minutes of the game, it looked like they might eek out a victory over the Washington Capitals. Thankfully for Caps fans, Alexander Semin and his mates had a couple surprises in store for the Canes.

Things were looking good for Carolina after Scott Walker tipped in the first goal, on the very first shot of the game. First shot goals have now happened to the Capitals in four of their first 12 starts. After that though, Washington relied on another solid performance by goalie Brent Johnson, and their recently recovered forechecking skills to get them safely through the first period.

The goaltending of Cam Ward had been giving the Caps fits through the first, but at 3:05 in the second period, Sergei Fedorov's wrist shot found the back of the net. Even though Washington seemed to have lost their edge somewhat, it took until 12:13 for Tuomo Ruutu to score and put Carolina back ahead. Some respect was definitely earned by forward Brooks Laich in the second. He blocked a hard shot with a leg at one point, which took him down to the ice for a minute. After a couple attempts, he was able to get up and slowly make his way to the bench. Along the way, he blocked a Carolina defender's pass. Brooks spent a few minutes in the dressing room, before returning to play.

The Capitals' regained their edge, and came out full of energy in the third period. At 17:17, Alexander Semin tied the game. Alex Ovechkin passed the puck to Semin, who brought it around to the front of the net and sent it in through a good bit of traffic. It started looking like we were headed to overtime. Then Ovechkin skated the puck up the ice. He probably should have shot the puck, but he elected to pass it to Semin instead. Semin barely got a hold of it, and with about 11 seconds left on the clock, snapped in the game winner. Caps fans, including yours truly, shot up from their seats and cheered their fannies off. No matter what you might have thought about the rest of the game, that was a great way to end it.

No power play goals yet again. However, the penalty killing keeps on rolling. Brent Johnson was great in net. Alexander Semin had another multiple goal game, and Alex Ovechkin had the primary assist on all three Washington goals scored.

I experienced this game from high up in section 406, along with my hockey buddy and daughter, Chelsea. We also brought a friend of hers, who didn't know anything about hockey. She thought the pounding that Donald Brashear handed out to Wade Brookbank was "hilarious". Even though you can see everything from up in the 400 level, as you would expect, it's just not quite as good an experience as our normal 100 level seats. I usually opt for the good seats because we don't make it down from Harford County, MD very often. One of the worst things about the evening was the sound system. We couldn't make out what was being announced most of the time. But, we still enjoyed the game. Since I got the tickets for free, I guess I shouldn't complain very much. We hope to make it back again, real soon.