All He Does Is Score Goals

The headline is my go-to tongue in cheek thing to say pretty much every time Donald Brashear touches the puck. (Except when I'm by myself. Because turning and saying that to a complete stranger would simply be innappropriate.) So the best moment of the Capitals 6-2 win over the Flyers had to be Brashear's goal in the second period. I also enjoyed it because I seemed to be the only person in my entire section who realized a goal had been scored, and there are few things I enjoy more than feeling superior to others.

Another fun thing about tonights game was that I was lucky enough to end up seated in Section 114 right next to Barra Brava. While I don't necessarily condone their style of cheering, I can't say I was annoyed by it either. There was certainly alot more energy in the building as a result of it (or at least my little corner of the building). What I definitely can't condone, however, is any cheer or chant that is taken from a Broadway musical. So if you are a member of the Bravas and you happen to be reading this, the "We Love You Capitals" song has got to go. It is bad enough that it is set to a song from the god-awful Bye, Bye, Birdie, but it is set to the most obscenely stupefyingly annoying song in the entire show.

Okay, sorry... my inner musical theatre geek got carried away there for a moment. Seriously though, much kudos to Barra Brava. Partly because of the enthusiasm, and also in part because of the increased Caps Blogger activity in and around my section. I saw Dan Steinberg of DC Sports Bog walking around and I'm pretty sure I saw Chanuck up towards the top of the section. I also happened to run into Caps Chick on the way out. So that was fun. (From the A.P. recap of the game: "A boisterous contingent from the D.C. United fan club decided to give hockey a try Monday night. The "Barra Brava" took over most of a section in the upper deck and behaved like soccer fans -- standing, singing and chanting for most of the game.")

Oh right, the actual game. To be honest, I wasn't especially impressed with the Caps tonight. Brashear's first of the year was certainly exciting, and Alex Ovechkin's goal was a thing of beauty, but overall, I thought they could have played much better. If you take away the three cheap goals that Esche allowed, the offensive production was not where it needed to be against a vastly inferior team like the Flyers. The power play was anemic for most of the game and the defense was just lucky that every player in a white sweater had a nasty case of Zubrusitis, because there were quite a few instances where a Flyers player had the puck in front of them on the doorstep to a wide open net.

Don't get me wrong, it was the most fun I've had at a hockey game since, well, actually since last week's shellacking of the Canadiens. Any time you can be there to watch the Caps finish off a season sweep of the Flyers for the first time ever is a night to remember. Also, if I've done my math right, Ovechkin is now alone atop the goal scoring leaderboard. So I'm going to go ahead and chalk it up to an off night that was lucky enough to come against the worst team in the NHL, and just count my lucky stars that I was there to see it in all it's glory.

Recaps From People That Matter:
-A View From the Cheap Seats
-Bleatings From a Caps Nut
-DCSportsChick
-Japers' Rink
-Off Wing Opinion (courtesy of On Frozen Blog)
-The Peerless Prognosticator

Pictures!:
If you'll take a moment to look back to October, when the Calder Trophy was on display at Verizon Center, you'll remember that I had a little too much fun with my then-new camera phone. This time, it's a Cup instead of a Trophy, but my attitude towards my camera phone hasn't changed.