Big Night For Capitals Ovechkin and Detroit’s Lidstrom!

First off, the Washington Capitals wore down the San Jose Sharks.  Then the Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin finished them off.  Ovie netted two goals in a 28 second span early in the 3rd period to put the Caps in control as they cruised to the 4-1 victory.  Ovechkin’s two scores gave him an NHL-high seven goals in seven games.  San Jose was the only NHL team left in the league that he had never scored a goal against.  He took care of that and then some.  So far it seems to me like he is playing like a man possessed by the fact that he was shown an earlier exit from last years playoffs earlier than he had expected.  This year it looks like things are going to be different.  Ovechkin is making it his business to make sure the Caps get a shot at the Stanley Cup trophy.  Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov was 8-0 with a 1.98 goals-against average lifetime versus Washington before taking the loss in this one.  Capitals goalie Jose Theodore left after the first period with back spasms and was replaced by last years playoff sensation Semyon Varlamov, who stopped all 15 shots he faced over the final 40 minutes.  San Jose went 0 for 3 on the power play and is 1 for 15 in its last four games.  After a hot start to the season Sharks forward Dany Heatley was held scoreless.

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Niklas Lidstrom became the first European defenseman and eighth overall to reach 1,000 points, assisting on two goals in his teams 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.  Lidstrom is a six-time Norris Trophy winner as the NHL’s best defenseman.  Last nights game also showed that forward Pavel Datsyuk is beginning the year the same way he closed out last season, on the injury list.  He is showing that even though he is considered one of the best two way players in the league, you have to be healthy to be effective.  Detroit desperately needs Datsyuk to get on track to make their offense as potent as it can be.  With the tough competition in the western conference this year the aging Wings will need all the help they can get.

Well it seems like the possibility of the NHL playing again in Quebec City is not that far off.  They have announced their  intention to build a new arena in the hopes of bringing back an NHL team and one day hosting the Winter Olympics.  The City’s mayor has hired an engineering firm SNC Lavalin to conduct a feasibility study.  He hopes to see the arena built from 2010 to 2012.  The Mayor expects the arena to cost $400 million, with the city contributing $50 million to the project. He wants the federal and provincial governments to each pony up $175 million under infrastructure programs.  Quebec lost the Nordiques in 1995, when they left to become the Colorado Avalanche who went on to win the Stanley cup in 1996.  The aging Colisee arena has been cited as the main reason for the city’s inability to attract another NHL team.  I hope that the city can get this deal done because it would be awesome for hockey and its fans to have another Canadian team in the league, not to mention the rivalries that would be rekindled.