Oh My Caps!

I am such a nervous fan, especially when my boys play those guys from Pittsburgh. I peek through my fingers during penalty kills; I grit my teeth every time the puck comes close to our goalie.

I have been known to change the channel for a brief second if I sense a spike in my blood pressure.

Such was the game tonight. It was a close contest; scoreless after the first thanks to stellar goaltending by Jose Shutthedoor. We traded goals in the early going in the second and then... arg! We fell behind!

But we came back and scored twice in short order to take the lead!

But then -- OH NO! -- they tied it up with three minutes to play! Would it be the death knell for my beloved boys in red? We pulled it out in OT during the Blizzard Bowl, how could we possibly do it again?

GAH! Still tied at the end of overtime! We go to the shootout. I am in despair, as we are generally not that great at the shootout.

Sure enough, the Caps fall behind 2-0 during the shootout, and it would be up to the Great Eight to keep us alive.

Alas, Ovie is not that great at the shootout.

Except tonight! He roofs it!

And then Jose stopped the next shooter, and then Sasha Semin netted his shot to tie it up, and then Jose stoned the next shooter, and then!

Mike Knuble scored the first shootout goal of his career!

Thank you, boys. Thank you.