MCI Center - Washington Capitals

Trip Notes: Had a layover in Minneapolis before arriving at Reagan Intl in the afternoon. Once I made it to my hotel, I quickly unpacked and headed out to see the sites. I only had 3 hours of daylight to catch all the attractions. My hotel was only located about 4 blocks from the Mall area. I was a bit closer to the Capital so I headed that direction first. Took a few quick pictures then headed the other direction towards the rest of the sites. First was the Washington Memorial. It was sold out for the day so I was unable to go to the top today. Therefore I continued down to the World War II memorial, Korean War, Lincoln, and finally the Vietnam Memorial. My uncle’s best friend died in Vietnam, so I looked up his name and found him on the wall. An employee saw me taking a picture of his name so he offered to make a sketch of it. While he was doing that, I had a hard time holding back the tears. Even though I had never met him it was an emotional experience. The last stop of the day was the White House. Three hours later, I was in a lot of pain from walking so much. After taking pictures of all the protestors in front of the White House I headed back to the hotel where I stayed for the evening. I was beat. The next morning I headed out again to check out a couple more sites. Spent a couple hours touring through the Holocaust Museum then went to the top of the Washington Monument. Walked a couple blocks to get to the MCI center for an afternoon game. Jumped on the subway after the game to meet Eileen a few stops away for dinner. Got up at 4am the next morning to catch a 6am flight home.

Arena Notes: A short walk from my hotel...this arena is located in a decent area. There were a lot of bums begging for cash just like I expected there would be. Ordered my ticket just a few days before the game and still somehow ended up in the 3rd row behind the net. The Caps allow you to purchase tickets through them so I got to avoid going through TicketMaster. YAY! I figured since I was saving on all their crappy convenience charges I might as well put that money towards a better seat. What a great choice. :) So I splurged and sat on the lower level. Had a great seat! Arena was a little over half full. Food was very expensive. $8 for nachos...yikes! The highlight of the game....I made it on the jumbo tron for the first time ever. :)

Game Notes: Alexander Ovechkin made the Tampa Bay Lightning pay dearly for a defensive decision to double-team him.
Dainius Zubrus scored with 2:20 left in regulation and the Washington Capitals edged the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 Sunday for their third home win in four games against the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Ovechkin started the decisive push by skating down the left boards and drawing two defenders to him. Ovechkin slipped a rink-wide pass through traffic to Chris Clark on the right wing, and Clark tapped the puck to Zubrus, who scored after splitting two defenders in the slot.
The pass was a daring but beautiful assist, showing that the rookie sensation is keenly aware of where his teammates are and what the defense is trying to do to slow him down.
Doubling down on Ovechkin created extra ice that made possible an otherwise risky long pass.
"If two guys are going to go to (Ovechkin), right away as soon as he's into the zone, it means there's always going to be someone open. ... After 40 games, people are starting to realize that this is the guy they have to go to," Clark said.
Ovechkin said the game-winner helped to balance out a frustrating offensive afternoon for the Capitals, who had only four first-period shots, gave the Lightning seven power plays and were outshot 35-24.
"We played not good for two periods," Ovechkin said. "The third period, I think we played pretty well."
Jeff Halpern also scored for the Capitals, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Vincent Lacavalier had the lone goal for the Lightning, who had gone 5-0-1 in their previous six games.
"We had a chance to win," Lightning coach John Tortorella said. "We doubled them in scoring chances and we don't score. We lose a couple of battles in the neutral zone at the end there. They were bad coverages and it was in the net, game over."
The latest loss to the Capitals was Tampa Bay's final visit to Washington this season. The previous three games went to a shootout, with the Capitals winning two.
"We didn't play last year, but they're still the Stanley Cup champions," Washington defenseman Brendan Witt said. "It's a good test every time we play them."
Tampa Bay's Evegny Artyukhin almost forced overtime. With 0.5 seconds left, his shot glanced off the right post and through the crease behind goalie Olie Kolzig.
Eleven seconds after Tampa Bay's fifth power play expired, Lacavalier gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead. Lacavalier swept Vaclav Prospal's centering pass past Kolzig at 9:24 of the second for his 21st goal.
Halpern tied it with 4:40 left in the period, snapping the Lightning's shutout streak of 158 minutes, 42 seconds spread over three games. Halpern pursued his own rebound after Tampa Bay's John Grahame failed to glove the puck, poking it in after it squirted behind the goalie.
Game notesWashington won for the first time when scoring fewer than three goals. ... Forbes was recalled from AHL Hershey before the game. ... Tampa Bay D Darryl Sydor (facial lacerations) and C Martin Cibak (upper body injury) were scratched. Lightning RW Rob DiMaio played despite a broken nose sustained Saturday. ... Capitals D Jamie Heward returned after missing five games with a groin injury.
(*Game notes taken from espn.com*)