The Caps managed to pull out a 3-2 win down in Raleigh, but they might have lost the war in this contest. They were able to hang on without their leader and best player, but no one knows if they'll have to finish the season without the Great Eight.

No matter the outcome this evening, the big story was Alex Ovechkin's knee-on-knee hit with Tim Gleason. Gleason returned to the ice shortly after the hit, while Ovechkin failed to leave the ice under his own power, while also being serenaded with a chorus of boos from the Carolina faithful. Whether he will be suspended or not will be up to the NHL's disciplinarian Colin Campbell. Ovechkin did not technically draw an automatic suspension because his two game misconducts were caused by two types of penalties (one boarding, one kneeing), but there will be a ton of people calling for his head before the night is over.

The unfortunate thing about the hit is that Ovechkin is a guy that plays on the edge, and not in such a way where he's being malicious (although other people think otherwise). I've seen malicious, and Sean Avery is malicious. Ovechkin is no saint, but he also doesn't take the ice with the intention of hurting other players. He just plays with a ton of intensity, and that unfortunately translates to some huge hits. Some of those hits have been borderline, and that's bound to happen, as it has with other power forwards in the past. We're a DC-based blog, so if you have a problem with my opinion, you're more than welcome to express it, but you might be better served spending your time over at the Pensblog or FGSB.

Anyway, Ovi spent the evening icing his knee and is expected to have an MRI in DC on Tuesday morning. My guess is that it's not going to be good news, but let's just hope he's not out for the season. Here are my non-Ovechkin thoughts on the evening:

• Tim Gleason has every reason to be upset for his knee-knock, but he got away with basically wrapping his arm around Backstrom's stick during a third-period penalty kill that sent Nicky to the box for interference. He also had a nasty play of his own when he sent Mathieu Perreault's face into the boards. Guy didn't endear himself for the rest of the game to say the least.
• Milan Jurcina wasn't great on Carolina's first power play, and he got a little too high as the Canes put a lot of pressure directly in the slot. Karl Alzner can't be two people at the same time, Juice.
• Speaking of the King, I'm not a fan of the fact that John Erskine saw one more minute on the ice than #27. He's just not been good enough lately.
• Alex Giroux had the quietest +3 I've ever seen. Didn't even notice him. Must be nice to ride some coat tails. I know he had an assist, but where the heck was he the rest of the time?
• The refs certainly didn't swallow the whistle in this one. It was pretty excessive for both sides. Wallin obviously charged Eric Fehr in the third, and they gave the power play to the wrong team. Not a great night for the Zebras overall.
  
• Jeff Schultz with five blocks. That's a nice stat to see.
• Tomas Fleischmann looks almost as snake-bitten as Dave Steckel right now. Almost.
• Am I the only person that thinks Boudreau looks like he's been crying in the ASC commercials? I wouldn't be heartbroken to see them go out of business just so I never have to see Gabby flex his "acting muscles" again.
• Eric Fehr...two point night. He just keeps going and going...
• Nicklas Backstrom was unreal tonight. A three point night would normally get a little more notoriety from me for this. But..

Kudos Go To:

Jose Theodore. A .949 save percentage and several acrobatic stops to keep the Caps ahead were all huge. The glove save late on Eric Staal third might have been the biggest of all.

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