Caps Wrap Up Road Swing, Clark Finally Gets Recognition

The Washington Capitals ended their road swing last night in Calgary, and what a finish that was. First off let me start by I was never apart any Zednik bashing that some fans took part in. I think Richard Zednik is a great player and a great fit on this team. He's been snake-bit in the goal scoring department since the start of the season, but all it usually takes for a player like him is that first goal. I firmly believe he will get close to 30 goals this year, and definately 50 points. In addition, he never let his defense falter, worked hard, and created opportunities from the start of the season. So back to the final game of the road trip in Calgary, Zednik tallied two goals and an assist to help lead the Caps to a 4-2 victory over the struggling Flames team who only have 3 wins on the season. This win, along with the shootout loss in Vancouver and regulation win in Colorado, has put the Caps record to 4-3-4.

Calling this road trip anything less than a success would be completely pessimistic. Five points out of four games in six days out west is astonishing, especially considering how the Caps have been predicted to end at the basement of the standings by the end of the season by these "experts". I wonder what they think of the Caps now. They probably will stake claim that it was a fluke, however this was no fluke. Their improvement is as clear as day. Semin returning from Russia, Kolzig back in his groove, better D, and I did like Jeff Halpern, but this season we have a better captain. I see this season only getting better. Not to say there won't be any problems that they will need to overcome, but I've been saying since the offseason, I will be sitting in my usual seat at the Verizon center beyond April 7th.

Also, on NHL.com today, I finally saw what I've been waiting for since the second half of last season. A spotlight article fantastically written by Tom Worgo has the spotlight shining on Caps captain Chris Clark. Alot of people around the NHL last season, fans and teams, didn't recognize or couldn't see how great of a player Chris Clark is. I don't really blame them for not recognizing it seeing as if the Caps were mentioned at all, the talk was about Ovechkin. Also because Clark had his best year last year and had the opportunity to prove how good of a player he truly is with more minutes. But I was suprised that towards the end of the season nobody was really talking about him. He does it all, and this article finally gives recognition to, in my opinion, the best choice for a captain in this franchise since Dale Hunter.