Caps fall to Sabres, 3-1

The Caps defeat at the hands of the Sabres last night was an interesting game. I thought the Caps played three pretty different periods, and as we have seen with them this year, they looked less then vigorous in the third period. I have two thoughts coming out of last nights game: I think how the Caps respond to this defeat is going to go a long way to deciding how they respond to defeat the rest of the year (especially, under Boudreau). Second, the Capitals need to find a way to bounce back into the game after giving up the first goal. Time and again, they seem to regress after allowing a first goal. Last night, they bounced back pretty quickly from their 1-0 deficit with a phenomenal goal from Ovie...and then they turned over the puck twice to the Sabres. Its the same problem Glen Hanlon faced, and I hope Bruce Boudreau has the solution.

Other thoughts from last night's game:

- Steve Eminger is not making a case for himself. He supposedly had an assist on Ovie's goal, but there is no doubt that goal was all Ovie and little Eminger.
- What happened to the Brashear, Backstrom and Bradley line later in the game? They played heavy minutes at first, and then faded. They were causing turnovers and throwing hard hits. Boudreau might have pulled them for lines with more offensive punch, but I thought they were putting some healthy fear into the Sabres
- I will never say a bad word about John Erskine. I am too scared of him
-Jeff Schultz, Matt Pettinger and Milan Jurcina were scratches. Is this Boudreau's sign to Pettinger to start scoring some goals?
- The Caps dont seem to have a problem shooting on goal, just a problem getting the puck in. They ended last night with 28 shots on goal, compared to the Sabres 31. This is pretty consistent with other games this year
- Official attendance was 11,204. About 10,000 of those were Sabres fans. This is better then last year, when about 11,000 of them were Sabres bandwagoners.