finally, something good.

First off, let me say that hockey in high definition makes me very happy.

Big scary toothless Russians make me happy too.

Last Saturday the Capitals lost to Philadelphia 7-1 on the road. They went to the Wachovia Center looking for payback for last year's playoff series that I don't like to think about. And left with...well, something less than that. Let's go ahead and stick Saturday night's game on the list of games I'd like to forget too. Tonight they went to Madison Square Garden to face the Rangers, who are sitting in second place just ahead of the Caps in the Eastern Conference, and when they went down 4 goals by the beginning of the second period, I was all ready to write a depressing entry moaning about how much my sports teams are ruining the holidays.

Cue an Ovie goal. Then Fleischmann, Kozlov, and of course Ovechkin again. Each time we scored one more, my dad was all "oh, it's only one goal, they're still behind, they won't catch up." And then, at 4-4 it was "I don't believe it! These guys are amazing!" My dad clearly doesn't watch enough hockey to know that this type of game is the norm. He also kept trying to change the channel to watch the Illini/Mizzou game. He didn't seem to realize that watching your college basketball team win by 30 points is not nearly as exciting as watching your hockey team pull off a great come-from-behind victory in New York. But I digress.

Morrisonn got the winning shot a mere 59 seconds into OT, which kind of made me think why couldn't he have just done that a minute ago at the end of regular time? But better to let the other team get a point than not to get any yourself. We're still way ahead of Carolina in the Southeast Division, so I'm happy with the result.

What I'm not happy about is Mike Green being on the injured list again. Without him and Poti our defense is shaky, and without Alex Semin our offense kind of turns into a one-man show. Gah, I'm plagued with injury woes, every which way I turn!

[Also, sorry if I jinxed RVP with my injury comment earlier. If it makes you all feel better, I did knock on wood after I typed it. And if he shows up to training with like a broken toenail that will keep him out for the rest of the season or something, then you all have my permission to send me hate mail.]