The Home Stand That Was: One Goat's Opinion Home Game 11 - November 17, 2010

Another weeknight tilt, but this time against an emotional, if not divisional rival in the Buffalo Sabres. I had a pretty bad feeling going into this one, but it looks like I was (mostly) off-base. I think the Redskins "game" on my birthday was still throwing me off a bit. (Once again, I want to say bravo to Chad Dukes for his epic rant on Tuesday.)

On The Ice

Oh, Caps, is there any lead you can't try and squander?

I keed (a little bit, at least), as there was progress made last night over the recent pattern of letting those big leads slip away. They never actually relinquished the lead, and found a way to clamp down on a Buffalo team that had a lot of momentum in the second period. Seeing the Caps come out and play a solid third period, withstand a late flurry, and have it all punctuated by one of the prettiest empty-net goals ever from Alexander Semin felt good.

Now, to work on those mid-game lulls…

In The Stands

Wednesday nights in the regular season will never be known for regular electricity in DC, but usually the Sabres bring out a decent amount of passion in the Caps fan community. This Wednesday night seemed to bring out a lot of Caps fans dressed as either blue seats or Sabres fans.

Not sure what was blowing in the wind that resulted in, as one of my friends noted on Facebook, "the most opposing team's fans I've seen since we've been rocking the red," but it wasn't pretty. The Buffalo rally in the second really highlighted it. Hopefully it's not the shape of regular season things to come.

Above Our Heads And Beyond

Thankfully, there was no appearance on the big screen by "Drunk Bills Fan," or Otis Day and the Knights serenading us with "Shout" (a noted staple in the songbook of Buffalo sports fans). Whatever the reason, I am thankful for that.

However, during the very first stoppage in play, the organist let go with the rhythmic chant that those in blue and yellow could sing along to, in the form of the five-beat/five-clap chant. I understand that it's a good idea to mix things up instead of doing the same thing over and over and over. However, there are some nights where some things can just stay on the shelf, of only for the one game.

From a more positive perspective, I like the very high-quality look of some of the new video packages, especially the new second period intro and the "extremely letterboxed" video that played later on. Nice work, gang!

And So…

The streak continues at home. There can be nitpicks about the way things are getting done, and there very well should be, but the fact remains that the points are piling up in the standings right now. Since I'm still holding to my mantra of "pre-season until January," I'm OK with nights like this for now.

Let's just hope, after seeing what they're capable of in a loss against Tampa, the Caps can hold the Flyers to less than seven on Saturday night.