Caps 1, Sharks 1
UPDATE: Caps goalie Jose Theodore was injured in the first period and is out of the game. Rookie Semyon Varlamov is in net now. A team spokesman says Theodore will be re-evaluated after the game. No word on the nature of the injury – not even the old “upper body/lower body” ID. More later…Oh, and in the time it took to write this update, Alex Ovechkin has scored twice. Good times.
The Caps spent just about half the first period on the power play – 8 minutes, 52 seconds in all. That’s the good news. Unfortunately, Washington hit on just one of those five power plays. They even had :56 seconds of 5-on-3 play and that led directly to Alex Semin’s goal at 7:21. Semin was pretty darn good in that period. He drew three of those penalties himself and he and Alex Ovechkin combined for 10 of the Caps’ first 12 shots. You think they were jacked up for this one? The duo combined for 13 of their team’s 17 shots in all.
San Jose answered at even strength, though, when Benn Ferriero beat Caps goalie Jose Theodore at 14:07. Neither defenseman Brian Pothier or Jeff Schultz distinguished themselves on the play. You have to feel like the Sharks are going to get a couple of quick calls early in the second period. We’ll see how the Caps PK responds – especially without center Boyd Gordon, one of the team’s best in short-handed situations.
