I’m Told The Caps Played Better

By Rodger M. WoodThe Caps were playing better, but when the Coyotes executed a perfect two on one goal to go ahead 3-1 at the 4:24 mark of the third period, I turned the television off and went off to bed.With stars, Alexander Semin, Niklaus Backstrom, and yes, Alex O. not earning their mega millions with goals nowadays, I’ve lost confidence in the Caps coming back. I couldn’t bear to see the fourteen other hard working, lower paid players take the gas again.Doesn’t it always seem that when an athlete signs a big contract, they lose their incentive to play hard and suffer a performance let down right afterwards (e.g. Backstrom $67 million, Semin $6.2 million).The Caps had given me false hope going ahead 1-0 on Marcus Johanssen’s fluke goal off opposing defenseman Martin Hanzal midway through the first period. I thought they’d start to get some good breaks and penalties again, but less than a minute later, my hopes were dashed when Hanzal returned the favor, scoring the tying goal.And then the Coyotes went ahead 2-1 on Caps old nemesis, former Carolina Hurricane forward, Ray Whitney’s power play goal at the 17:43 mark of the second period.Less than a minute after the Coyotes breakaway goal in the third, Matt Bradley put the Caps within one with his 4th goal of the season, assisted by Dave Steckel and Jeff Schultz.As Bruce Boudreau told the local media, “you can’t win, if your stars are not scoring goals.”Ovie, Backstrom, and Semin were shutout again last night in regular play as well as on the power play. They had plenty of opportunities to score but could not put the puck past Phoenix goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov.George McPhee has to consider getting a top 6 center to shake this team out of its doldrums. As was proven last night, you can’t win games scoring two goals and having your power play shutout in five attempts.I have a suggestion. Maybe you can include defensemen Jeff Schultz and Tom Poti in a deal to Dallas for Brad Richards. If you can pull that deal off, maybe you’ll get this team some much needed goals and spark them on in the playoffs.

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