NHL Image of the Night- December 16th

The Flames' Cory Sarich and the Blues' Cam Janssen get into a tussle during the third period of Calgary's 6-3 victory. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

NHL Image of the Night- December 7th

Dan Girardi of the New York Rangers pushes Adam Pardy of the Calgary Flames into the boards. Calgary won the game 3-0. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

NHL Image of the Night- November 9th

Dion Phaneuf of the Calgary Flames cringes after catching a high stick from Martin Havlat of the Chicago Blackhawks. The Flames failed to score on all seven of their power play opportunities, losing to Chicago 6-1. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

NHL Image of the Night- November 1st

The Calgary Flames celebrate their sixth straight victory beating the Los Angeles Kings by the score of 3-2. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.

Post-Game: Capitals @ Flames

Caps take the loss on the road against the Flames, 2-1.

Well at least Jose Theodore did not allow a goal on the opponent's first shot.

Frankly coming from a Capitals fan, that was torture to watch. The Capitals went on a 9:00 minute powerplay (does that even exist??). Unable to capitalize on what ended up as 7:05, with the extra man, the Capitals were lackluster with the man advantage. Gabby opted to put the energy line out on the powerplay that included the likes of Bradley and Brashear...

Fed got on the board in the first with a nice deflection off Shultz's shot/pass, but that was one of few bright moments from the Capitals end.

Calgary scored two quick goals in 1:42 to start the second period and had a lead that they would not relinquish.

In the third, the PP looked out of sync once more. The passing lanes just were not open tonight as the Caps went 0-5 on the night. Although it wasn't as dismal as the Flames' 1-10 Power Play, zero goals on five attempts is unacceptable.

Other quick hits:

Boudreau sported his glasses, which haven't been seen since November of last year

Mike Green looked like he had something to prove as he was doing way too much.

Sergei Federov is now tied for most goals by Russian players with Alexander Mogilny

Tyler Sloan had the hit of the night that induced a 9 minute power play in the first period. Sloan, along with Shultz and Green all grew up in Calgary.

Predictions Revisited

Washington

Alex Ovechkin- 1 Assist, off by two goals. On another night the puck could have bounced his way as he had his chances.

Mike Green- +/- of -1, no goals or assists as predicted. Missed a few opportunities by sending multiple shots wide

Flash-Nyles-Brads Line- Not together the whole game and did not live up to my lofty expectations, but did combine for 1/3 of the Capitals shots.

Calgary

Dion Phaneuf- If it wasn't for a great save by JT60 in the opening minute, Dion would have got a tally. No goals, but 4 shots in 30 minutes of ice time.

Jarome Iginla- One goal (as predicted), a soft one at that...but then again Theodore stops the hard ones, and lets in the easy ones.

Miikka Kiprusoff- 31 saves. Good game, challenged a few times, but with the amount of Washington PPs and the lackluster attempt on those Power Plays, Kippy got off easy tonight.

Pre-Game: Capitals @ Flames

The Capitals start the first of their three game road trip against the Flames tonight. The last time these two played, Olaf Kolzig picked up his 300th win. This win came three days after a crushing defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins (with help from Nicklas Backstrom).

With the win against Calgary, the Caps finished the season with an 11-1 record.

The Capitals are going to go with Jose Theodore in net. Jose looks like he is feeling a little more comfortable in net after a shaky start. As Japer's Rink points out, Brent Johnson has played more minutes than JT60 so far.

This game will showcase some of the most exciting talent in the league as Ovechkin, Green, Semin, Iginla, Phaneuf, and Kiprusoff are all household names.

Now would be a good time for AO to play like the AO we all know. He is on track for under 50 points which is a half (maybe a third) of what he is capable of. Theodore will most likely play the next three out of four games, either resting in Dallas, or the first game home against the Preds.

Each game, I will offer up three predictions for players from both sides and compare my forecast with actual stats in my post-game blog.

Predictions:

Washington

Alex Ovechkin- 2 Goals, 1 Assist. Comments- He'll give fans their loonie's worth.

Mike Green- 0 Goals, 1 Assist. Comments- No goals in his homecoming, but watch for bone-rattling hits from Mike "Game Over" Green.

Fleischmann-Nylander-Bradley Line- 2 Goals, 4 Assists. Comments- This line will click instantly. Nyles will love feeding the puck to the rejuvenated Flash, and Bradley is the prefect compliment for those two with his fore checking and grind-it-out style.

Calgary

Dion Phaneuf- 1 Goal, 0 Assists. Comments- He'll pick up his first goal of the season and double Mike Green's hit total.

Jarome Iginla- 1 Goal, 2 Assists. Comments- With all of his points coming on the power play, Washington will continue to be a victim of delaying the game and laying the lumber.

Miikka Kiprusoff- 34 Saves. Comments- Calgary would be blown out if it wasn't for this game changer. With Kippy in net, Calgary has a chance to contend in every game.

Final Score

Washington 4 Calgary 3

Comments- Goals aplenty as shaky defense and bad penalties plague both teams. Capitals play catch-up again and score twice in the third period to pull out another close victory.