Game 9 - Caps 5 Thrashers 4

OK - raise your hand if, after the end of two, you just KNEW that this would end up being a close game. This is not a team that knows how to close and I really doubt that's going to change anytime soon. It's become so formulaic its almost laughable.

Take a significant late game lead; add some penalties to shut down any momentum you might have; let in a bad goal  to energize the opponent (a shortie to make it even more interesting); start panicking and take more penalties disguised as hustle and aggressiveness; give up a PP goal or two; and there you have it - a game that should have ended 6-2 becomes a cliffhanger win - or a shootout loss.

Well it was good to get secondary scoring (it doesn't get any more secondary than Jeff Schultz) on a night when Atlanta had the big guns solved and Semin was absent. It was nice to see Schultz have a good game - his pass to Fehr was the Caps best goal of the  night.

I SO want to see Bradley-Steckel-Laich on a line together. How happy was Clarke to score? I'm just about to write him off as irrelevant.

The Fog let in his nightly softie. 

Where are you Mike Green?

Well its late and I have a road trip tomorrow for some college hockey in PA.