Photo: Peter Hassett

Filling in for Joe B. has to be tough. It’s even harder when you have to do it on short notice, which Al Koken was forced to do on Sunday after Beninati fell ill. There are, after all, a lot of names to memorize in play-by-play. It seems Smokin’ Al, who flew into Nashville last night after doing yesterday’s game, remembered one name a little too well: Calle Johansson.

Three times during Sunday’s broadcast, Koken referred to people who are not named Calle Johansson by the name of Washington’s defense coach. He first did it during a scrum along the wall during regulation, when intending to talk about Nicklas Backstrom. In the shootout, things got wild. After the Zamboni (and it was a Zamboni) got stuck at the blueline, Koken named them Calle Johansson’s shootout picks, misplacing Adam Oates’s name.

A few minutes later, when Backstrom came in for his attempt, Koken talked about Capitals closer Calle Johansson. (At least they are both Swedish.)