The Sandwich Game

After losing a tough game to Atlanta in a shootout on Wednesday, the Caps headed to Florida to take on the Panthers tonight. The middle game of this critical three game road trip ended in a disappointment. The Caps fell to the Panthers tonight 4-2 after battling back from a 1-0 deficit to take a 2-1 lead just a minute into the third period.

The biggest reason for the Caps loss tonight was simply goaltending. I feel like I'm beating a dead horse but goaltending continues to be this team's Achilles heal. In the game against Atlanta, Kari Lehtonen was better than Olie Kolzig in the shootout. In tonight's game, Tomas Vokoun was better than Brent Johnson. The Caps outplayed the Panthers in nearly every other facet of the game. They out hit them. They out shot them. They won the special teams battle. They had the edge in face offs. Their goaltending let them down again.

On Florida's first goal, Johnson gave up a terrible rebound that he should have easily directed to the corner. Unfortunately, the rebound softly bounced back into the center of the ice. Rostislav Olesz scooped up the puck and put an easy backhander into the net. Despite the deflating goal, the Caps continued to battle the rest of the period but could not beat Vokoun.

In the second period, the Caps really came out strong. Stephen Weiss was called for a questionable hooking penalty and Alexander Semin scored quickly off the ensuing face off. Vokoun shined during the next 18 minutes of play and the penalty kill units for the Caps played exceptionally well after some more questionable calls.

To start the third period, the Caps had to finish killing off a penalty. Shortly after the penalty expired, Tomas Fleischmann let go a wrist shot after crossing the blue line that fooled Vokoun and ended up in the back of the net. I'm sure Vokoun would like to have that one back. It was a great way to start the period and with a 2-1 lead, you had to feel pretty good about the direction of the game at that point. However, three minutes later Nathan Horton scored a goal to knot the score at 2-2. Just five minutes later, Johnson let in a brutal goal that was scored from behind the goal line by Kamil Kreps. It's almost impossible to overcome two bad goals in a game and David Booth scored an empty net goal to seal the victory for Florida.

The Caps have only salvaged a single point in the first two games of this important road trip against Division foes. Atlanta came back and beat New Jersey in overtime tonight to jump into a tie with Carolina atop the Division. The Panthers and the Caps are now tied for third place just two points off the pace. It's worth noting that the Caps do have a game in hand on all three of these teams. It's also worth noting that tonight's loss marked the first back to back losses since Bruce Boudreau became coach.

It's a relief to know that despite the back to back losses the Caps still are right in the mix. However, they desperately need better goaltending and some more secondary scoring to realistically have a chance at making the playoffs. It would be very helpful for the team to see Chris Clark, Tom Poti and Brian Pothier get healthy and back into the lineup. It's a shame that Rod Brind'Amour was lost for the season by Carolina last night. However, the injury will certainly make the road more difficult down the stretch for Carolina.

The Caps have another chance to salvage something from this road trip tomorrow night against Tampa Bay. A third loss would be a terrible end to the trip.