Olé, Olé Olé Oh Crap...

You know, if the Habs were playing any other team tonight the outcome would make me dance around like a moron.

But they weren't and I'm not - instead I was forced to watch the Habs fans rejoice from every corner of the Phone Booth while my boys dropped the ball.

What's frustrating is that they weren't even completely abysmal tonight. Don't get me wrong, they didn't play well, either. It just felt like everything was a little off - every pass was in the skates or just out of reach of the stick (or if it connected, it was with a Montreal stick); every hit took out the Hab but left the puck trickling to another white jersey; every shot seemed to go just wide or right smack into Huet's crest. And don't even get me started on the faceoffs tonight - I think by the end people were cheering sarcastically whenever they managed to win one.

I don't know, maybe they caught some weird virus in Buffalo...wouldn't completely surprise me.

Whatever the reason, it seemed like everyone was skating a tad slower or hitting with less energy, and that's never a good way to come out against a well-rested team. Montreal was ready to go when the game started, and the Caps were clearly not. The bigger problem is that they failed to come out with any jump in the second period, either. Apparently they need to be down by 6 to attempt a rally of any kind.

That's not to put down the play of the Habs, who are a pretty good team in their own right, or Huet, who did make some great saves on the few scoring chances the Caps mustered. The Caps just didn't bring it tonight.

Despite the overall sluggishness of the team, however, there were some good individual performances that made the game worth watching...if only momentarily.

Brooks Laich - every shift he was hitting, boxing the Habs into their own zone, intercepting passes, drawing penalties and getting scoring chances. Another great all-around game for Brooksie, who is again becoming one of the more consistent players on the roster.

Boyd Gordon - very similar game to Laich; he was the Caps best penalty killer as always and just made some great plays.

Chris Clark - Clarkie almost always brings it, and tonight was no exception. The puck may not always have bounced his way, but he was certainly scrappy in trying to get control of it. Extra points for drawing a penalty on Rivet after he threw a punch at Craig (although if one more person grabs the faceshield I'm going to lose it...)

Donald Brashear - he had some jump tonight and got a couple of good shots on goal. Oh, yeah, and he had that little scuffle at center ice. I don't think Downey thought that one through completely until they started circling one another. Brash just wiped the floor with the poor guy.

Steve Eminger - not a bad night for Steve tonight, with some decent defensive plays and even a scoring chance. I know, I'm as surprised as you are.

The Cheap Seats Doghouse:
1) Brian Pothier - a slightly better game tonight for Potsie (that's setting the bar low), but he is having quite a rough stretch.
2) Mike Green - Green is showing his youth lately, taking dumb penalties and jumping up into the play when he really needs to stay back and play defense...what a concept.
3) Dainius Zubrus - I don't know if it's just me, but over the past few games Zubie seems to be trying to do too much by himself. And his aim could use a little work, too.

Honorable Mention - Shaone Morrisonn, for clearly giving his flu to the entire team and forcing them to drop four of five.

Yeah, the flu. That's the problem. *Sigh*

Friday night, kids - matchup with the Devils in Hell, er, New Jersey.