Mike Gartner #11 jersey retired by the Capitals.

After the "Hershey Screw Job" on Saturday night, we headed down to DC on Sunday hoping that the Capitals could take the bitter taste of an awful defeat out of our mouths (see previous post for recap). Sunday night would be a special evening at the Verizon Center, with many Caps alumni in the building to help celebrate Mike Gartner's jersey retirement.

As the teams took to the ice for the warm-ups, it seemed odd seeing the visiting Maple Leafs wearing their dark blue jerseys. A quick glance across at the Capitals though, and all was revealed. The Caps were donned in their retro white jerseys and all skaters on the ice wore the number 11 in respect of Gartner's celebration.

The jersey retirement was done in good taste, and Gartner was joined by both Rod Langway and Yvon Labre at center ice. Current Capitals captain Chris Clark would also honor Gartner before the banner raising ceremony took place. And as nicely designed banner rose to the ceiling, Mike Gartner became the fourth Washington Capitals to be enshrined forever in the rafters of the Verizon Center.

The contest between the Capitals and Maple Leafs would remain pretty tight until the final minute of the second period. Tied at one goal a piece, Milan Jurcina would feed the puck to a well positioned Alexander Ovechkin, who promptly sent the puck home to record his 24th goal of the season. If Toronto had held defensively, going into the locker room with a tied game would have given them much more confidence. But to exit the ice down by one after a defensive breakdown, the Leafs knew that the uphill climb was not going to be easy.


The Leafs did stay in the game for the first three quarters of the final period, but were deflated once Brooks Laich found the net for his second score of the night. It was nice to see Laich playing the kind of hockey at which he excels - one where he goes to the net and cleans up the mess. Ovechkin would bag an empty-netter to secure the game, and the Caps would once again remain almost untouchable on home ice. With one more game at Buffalo to close out 2008, the Capitals start 2009 on New Years Day in DC against the Lightning. Should be a blast!