Domestic disagreement - 1-0 to Hubs

It happens four times a year for our household. When the Caps and the Habs cross paths, a hockey war ensues during each individual game and a truce is not called until the final horn sounds after 60 minutes of hockey. With my passion for Caps hockey, and wifey's patriotism to the Habs, we both sat at the Verizon Center on Friday evening in opposing jerseys and with different views on who was the stronger team and who would prevail.

With the Caps sending out their half and half mix of Caps and Bears, I was excited at the thought of getting to see Bourque et al from Hershey having a chance to mix it up with a Canadiens team stacked with talent. But for this night, while the talent made it to DC, another vital necessity called chemistry must have been officially declared to US customs and not admitted into the country. The Habs are a strong team, but while they continue to ride a fine line between team play and individual effort, they are not going to turn things around against a potent scoring machine like the Caps.

It was a bittersweet evening for Jose Theodore, who was clearly motivated to take it to a team whose jersey he donned for many seasons. Posting his first career shutout in a Caps jersey, Jose earned both the first star and the hard hat, and showed a sell-out crowd at the Verizon Center a flash of brilliance that the fans have been longing to see all season. If this version of Theodore can come out to play more often, the Capitals could be almost unstoppable. And once again, with the infusion of Hershey talent on the roster, it was a pleasure to see two Bears alumni light the lamp behind Halak. Fleischmann and Steckel both played well, and deserved their goals. Ovie rounded out the scoring with the second goal of the contest, and added to his points streak through November. The Caps may be in dire straits on the injury front right now, but can remain confident that with the depth of the talent pool in their farm system, they do not have to be overly worried for the short term while the big guns are nursing their injuries.