Caps got busted!

We didn't quite see enough of this... and I hope my saying that didn't totally jinx us for November 28th.

So, a team weakened by injuries that's been doing okay played a team weakened by injuries that is the Washington Capitals.

Oh, and also Scott Gomez disappeared at some point in the third period, and if this is another injury I'm going to scream, even though without Brian Gionta he's kind of like a sandwich without meat. (He's bread... and don't get me wrong, bread is awesome, but fans cannot live on bread alone.)

A few highlights:

• Even though he's just back from injury, Ryan O'Byrne looks like he's back on track, and played pretty well, especially considering that the last time he played his linemate, Marc-Andre Bergeron, wasn't even a Hab yet.
• Georges Laraque's first game in, oh, centuries saw him getting into fisticuffs with John Erskine, and how.
• Alexander Ovechkin appeared to almost be playing it safe; it only makes sense since he came back from injury this week, but Ovie is not one to play it safe.
• Our second line. That seems to be one of the constants on our team: a second line that produces when they play well. Mike Green's attempted punch to Tomas Plekanec's head, I think, proved that. However, I sincerely hope that Green doesn't try that again, for his own good.
• Birthday boy Max Pacioretty is definitely continuing his return to form (despite that unfortunate miss). His skill and speed are going to be very useful if the injury fairy keeps kidnapping his teammates. (By the way, Max shares his birthday with Super Dave Osborne and a Beastie Boy. 
• Tom Pyatt's first-period breakaway and almost-goal*. I would have loved to see that puck go in, but I say that about every breakaway that doesn't light that lamp.
• We did, however, draw a few penalties that shouldn't have happened. I don't quite understand what happened with Gorges pushing David Steckel, causing a domino effect and toppling Carey Price, so let's not go into that. I would have thought that Guillaume Latendresse wouldn't try to stupidly hook someone two games after very nearly getting benched, but I'm the first person to admit that Latendresse (presumably) knows a whole lot more about hockey than I do. Maxim Lapierre's penalty at the end of the third could have ended badly, but instead caused nothing more than an impromptu Canadiens garage sale with sticks and helmets falling all over the place during the PK.

Now while a wicked 21st birthday for Patches and a postgame celebration are in order, let's hope that this postgame high and traveling back home don't tire our Habs out too much because the Red Wings might be desperate tomorrow. At least we'll have home ice advantage and the announcing talents of Michel Lacroix, who doesn't sound like my laptop when he speaks. (They couldn't find a better orator in all of Washington, D.C., capital of the United States? Seriously?)

*Almost-Goal: abbreviated "ALG," a term that is not yet officially in NHL lexicon, whose success rate lies somewhere between a regular shot on goal and a goal. It's almost a goal. For further examples, see Christopher Higgins near the end of last season.