Photo credit: Scott Levy

Sunday afternoon’s date between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers was a mixed bag. There were some tasty kibbles of Good Sasha and Chimdog, but also some rancid defensive morsels  in there as well. And not nearly enough Ovi snacks, which is supposed to be the best part.

Ryan Callahan stopped the puck with his skate and scored while Neuvy was out of the  paint. In the second period, Jason Chimera dropped a pass to Alex Semin, who slapped home the tying goal. Ryan McDonagh put the Rangers up and then promptly injured himself on a bad patch of ice (he came back a few shifts later). Brandon Prust got a 2-on-1 breakaway and scored the shorthanded dagger. John Carlson took a slapper that bobbled under Henrik’s five hole. The Caps valiantly attempted the comeback but ran out of time. Rangers beat Caps 3-2.

• So Roman Hamrlik duffed a pass from Alex Semin. It led to an odd-man rush by the Rangers, but don’t worry ’cause Alex Semin dove in front of the shot and blocked it with his wrist to diffuse it. Stupifying. This is the world we live in now. Semin is averaging just about a point per game lately, so you should just ignore whatever nonsense Mike Milbury is spewing. As if you’re not doing that already.
• Tomas Vokoun reportedly led the Caps out for warm-ups, but Michal Neuvirth got the start instead. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that happening before– where the goalie who led the team out didn’t get the start. Neuvy didn’t have a good outing, but the goal support wasn’t enough.
• Karl Alzner and John Carlson got hemmed up in the defensive zone for a long stretch in the second period. Dale Hunter didn’t call timeout during the icing whistle, and the Caps couldn’t clear the zone cleanly. The result? A monster 3:06 shift for Karl.
• Alex Ovechkin was just plain awful on the ice today. He didn’t fire a shot on net until a power play deep into the second period. He was hopeless trying to shut down Prust’s shorthanded breakaway. He was credited with only one hit (insert MSG stat keeping conspiracy theory here). This was a nationally televised game, and Ovi just didn’t show up.
• Also a bad Russian, Dmitry Orlov had a stinker of a game. Minus-10 Corsi score and two goals against. Kind of a bad time to revert to rookie talent level. Maybe it was the cage? Or maybe he’s just really sad about Whitney Houston and it affected his play.
• Madison Square Garden is a pit. In addition to the pervasive gloom of the arena, the ice looked rough. Troy Brouwer fell several times without a blueshirt anywhere near him, and Ryan McDonagh almost hurt himself badly with that tweaked knee. John Carlson’s got caught in a jag and led to Brandon Prust’s shorthanded dagger. It’s weird for the Caps to leave Verizon Center only to skate on worse ice on the road.
• Goalposts have an obvious anti-Washington bias. It is known.

This game sucked, but we don’t have time to dwell on it. The Sharks are coming to town on Monday (I’ll be there!) and then we’re off to Florida and some pretty nasty road games. Plus there’s that whole trade deadline thing too.

Ish is about to get real.