Caps 1, Columbus 0
Entertaining first period. A sick display of passing – Fleischmann to Backstrom, between the legs to Semin, back to Fleischmann and then to Backstrom to finish it off – gave Washington a 1-0 lead. Not a power-play goal – it came just after the PP expired – but just as good. Scary moment when defenseman Milan Jurcina fell/was tripped awkardly into the boards. Appeared to hurt both his right leg and right shoulder. Was clearly in pain and doubled over in the tunnel. But returned to the ice a few minutes later so seems to be okay.
Jose Theodore made some nice saves, 11 overall. Columbus F Rick Nash haunts almost every PK his team is on. Few in the league are tougher to stop in those situations and God knows he’s killed the Caps over the years. Look out for that the rest of the night. Semin is all over the place so far. He had five shots in the first period. Only three penalties called in the first by the referees – a period filled with big hits on both sides.
