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Tonight's game would have been extremely frustrating if it resulted in a loss. Fortunately for the Caps, Tomas Fleischmann decided to build onto his newfound reputation as a clutch performer, and the escaped with a win.

It's still a little frustrating anyway.

While many Caps fans love to argue with opposing fans about the value of Mike Green, there are some nights that just make his detractors look smart. Tonight was definitely one of those nights. While Greener potted two goals on the power play and looked confident in the offensive zone, he made some extremely questionable decisions in his own end (one that led directly to a Carolina goal). Either way, it wasn't exactly the type of defense that you'd love to see from your first place team heading towards the playoffs. By no means is this reason to slam the panic button, but it certainly leaves the Red Army a bit uneasy.

It takes quite a bit to top a town like Pittsburgh when it comes to the ire of D.C. faithful. Luckily, we've got two towns you should really love to hate. There's been a bit of disagreement with some of our choices to this point, and since this is a pretty subjective list, it's open to criticism. However, it's certainly hard to argue with our runner-up and geographic rival, New York. The Big Apple has five teams that are conference rivals, and four that have been division rivals at some point or another. Not only do they have a lot of teams, but they have historically good teams, and teams that have met ours in the playoffs. That breeds some contempt between the two cities, no matter which way you look at it. Let's get into it.

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The Caps started out tonight's game with so much promise. Through two periods, they had gone over 100 minutes without surrendering a single goal. Their superstar lit the lamp for the first time in six-plus games and they hadn't taken a single penalty on the evening. Then the Achilles' Heel decided to rear its ugly head. Mike Green and Matt Bradley took successive minors in the first five minutes, allowing the Stars to get back into the game. Whether or not the calls were bad is irrelevant. What is relevant is how bad the Caps' penalty kill was, allowing the Stars to get screens in front of Semyon Varlamov to create goals on both third period opportunities.

Then it got worse.

I've been hesitant to sound off about the cuts that the Redskins made late last week, considering the beginning of free agency. After hearing that Bruce Allen had shed several players over the age of thirty, my initial reaction was that of excitement.

"They're finally doing things the right way," I thought.

But my enthusiasm turned to nervousness as the start of free agency approached. Did Allen shed the salary to go on a spending spree or was he willing to do the right thing and start to develop some in-house talent? As I drove home from the Caps game that night, I wondered whether or not I would wake up to news of shiny new contracts for Julius Peppers, Karlos Dansby or Antrel Rolle. Not this time...THANK GOD.

I'll get into critiquing the free agency period once it settles down, but I feel like we should say goodbye to the guys on their way out of town. There was some good, some bad, and some downright ugly out of the group, so let's give out some superlatives to honor their time in the district and make some predictions about the things to come for the new free agents.

Most Likely to Succeed- Cornelius Griffin, DT

Griff was a guy that always seemed to be banged up throughout his tenure in the district, but he always played well when he made it on the field.  He was one of the most underrated guys on Greg Blache's stout unit last season, and he didn't really show many signs of slowing down. He played in fourteen games and was a reliable block-eater in the middle of the defense. He turns 34 in December, but some team will pick him up for a reasonable price in the coming weeks. Expect him to continue to contribute for at least the next 2+ years. Pray that he doesn't end up in Philly or back in New York as a depth lineman.

(Garrett Anderson and Nate McLouth via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Next in line for our NL East Seven Question Sessions is the Atlanta Braves. The Braves took 3rd place in the East last year, ending up with an 86-76 record. They have been relatively busy this offseason, adding relievers such as Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito and hitters such as Troy Glaus and Eric Hinske while moving starter Javier Vazquez to the Yankees. Today's answers are brought to you by Alex from Chop-n-Change.

(Brian Bruney via Flickr user Keith Allison)

If you look around, most blogs do some sort of "offseason in review" entry. These reviews are good and all, but are nowhere near complete, because they don't need to be. But here at FFODC, we try to be as complete and comprehensive as possible, so we'll go over every single addition and subtraction in the entire 2009-'10 offseason, starting at the trade deadline. I know this is not the usual start of offseasons, but that is when the beginning of personnel changes for the following season do begin, whether we admit it or not.

Let me clarify that my definition of "addition" is loose. This is for players who were signed, traded for, re-signed, had options exercised or were added in the Rule 5 draft. As you will see, there are a few little surprises thrown in there. This list is in alphabetical order and goes from A-L. M and on will be available at some point during the next week.

Image Courtesy of ESPN.com

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Since returning from the Olympic break, somethat has seemed just a step off with the Caps' young guns. Nick Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin haven't had their usual goal scoring impact, but the Caps continue to find ways to win. Tonight, the story was another new guy jumping into the fray and a hot goaltender doing his best to secure the top spot heading into the playoffs. It's a winning formula, and Bruce Boudreau will like that just fine.

Ovi and Backstrom will come around eventually, but it's extremely encouraging to see the Caps getting production from their second and third lines. Their talent and depth are going to make them very difficult to beat in the postseason, especially if everyone contributes like they have since the start of 2010. Here are some thoughts on tonights (third straight) win:

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Virginia Tech used a barrage of three-pointers in the first half to gain a six-point lead, which ballooned to 17 points in the second half before Georgia Tech used a late run to get back in it. However, the Hokies hit their free throws down the stretch in an 88-82 win that secured the fourth seed in the upcoming ACC tournament for Virginia Tech (23-7, 10-6) and the seventh seed for Georgia Tech (19-11, 7-9 ACC).

The Hokies were on fire from long range in the first half at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, nailing eight of their 10 attempts from beyond the arc. As a team in the first half, Tech shot 59.3% to gain a 45-39 lead on top of the Jackets, despite their 36% shooting.

Fight For Old D.C. is proud to announce its first annual Bracket Challenge presented by HokieJerseys.com! This has been in the works for a while now, and we really hope you all participate. Hit the jump to see how it works:

Disclaimer: none of these comments refer to my brother-in-law or his family. They're still a little obnoxious, but I don't need a Civil War on my hands.

Now we get to the fun part. Oh Lordy do we HATE Pittsburgh...I mean absolutely HATE. The average outsider might ask "why the heck does D.C. get so pissed off over Pittsburgh? They don't even have any teams in your divisions?" So what? There are thousands of reasons to hate Pittsburgh, from the winning, to the bragging, to the mullets and the "superior people from an inferior city" attitude. It all sucks. Let's do this thing.