Philly Hearing Footsteps

It's been a long while since we could legitimately say that our goalie stole a game for us...but today our goalie stole a game for us.

Huet turned aside 39 shots on goal and another two in the shootout to give the Caps a much needed 2-1 victory over the Bruins. It's a nice bit of payback for last Saturday's heartbreaker, snatching away a win after being outplayed for most of the game and even scoring a 5-on-3 goal.

This one was not pretty, though. It was hideous. Boring. Downright soul-killing.

The Chara-less Bruins, already far from the most thrilling team in the league, set about playing a slow methodical trap to keep the Caps from repeating their 10 goal outburst from two weeks ago. Everything was precise, plodding, designed to take away space and capitalize on turnovers. And it seemed to do the trick, lulling the Caps into an early afternoon nap while allowing the Bruins to simply run all over the place unchecked.

This game could have been much uglier had Huet not been his sparkling self against the team he has owned in his career, and that number one star moniker is only fitting for his performance today. There were other good performances - Laich, Bradley, Semin - but Huet was the reason for the two points today, without question.

Congrats to Sergei Fedorov on his very smiley first goal as a Cap - chalk that one up as another great game for Sergei, who has not disappointed since coming to DC despite being less than visible on the scoresheet. And I like his toque.

Matt Cooke rounded out the trio of newbies who continues to have solid game after solid game, and he came close to adding another goal or two to his resume including another stunning shorthanded chance.

As for those players having a less than stellar outing...sadly there were many. Lepisto had a roller coaster of an afternoon, following up a good play with a bad one time after time; ditto for Mike Green, whose ability to move the puck with jaw-dropping skill was only matched by his ability to turn the puck over unharassed. Fleischmann continues to make his case to be the odd man out when Clark returns.

So good news bad news time. The good news? Pittsburgh demolished the Flyers earlier today (although 7-1 was a bit of overkill...no one wants to see Pens fans that happy), bringing the Caps to within 2 points of 8th place. Bad news? Both Florida and Carolina won.

Thanks, Thrashers. Thanks, Sens. Big help.

And now we take to the road for the big circus-induced extravaganza: six games, five states, two time zones, two divisions and two weeks of fun fun fun! Nashville's up next as the Caps look to extend their winning streak to four in the land of country music.

But for now - two points, kids! I'll take it.