Best $35 I Ever Spent

I wasn't going to go to the Caps' game against Toronto Friday night. I went to work with no change of clothes and no ticket, and seeing as how I don't get off until six, those factors would generally preclude my attending any sort of event at Verizon Center. But as the day wore on and I spent more time discussing Wednesday's melee with my coworker, I decided that I pretty much had to, as a show of support for the team that I was so damn proud of.

That didn't last long.

To their credit, from my vantage point in Row Q of the 400 section (also known as "as far away from the ice as you can possibly be without actually leaving the building") it looked like at least one of the goals was sort of a fluke. And up until the fateful five on three I thought they were actually playing pretty well there in the second period. The guy sitting next to me (a Flyers fan visiting from Philly) remarked that the Caps were making the Leafs look "tired". So maybe it's not quite as bad as the 7-1 final score would indicate.

Or maybe this team isn't nearly as good as I'd like to think it is. Yet. Lost in the Capitals' (relatively) hot start has been the fact that this is still a team that is quite thin on the backline and lacks any real experience up front. It showed tonight, mostly in the form of costly defensive-zone turnovers. So perhaps I need to temper my expectations a little bit, and accept the fact that, for all the excitement that came with the home opening win over the Stanley Cup champions (remember that? It seems like such a long time ago now), this is still very much a team in the process of rebuilding, and they need a few more years before they get to where I can truly be angry about a game like last night.