NHL '08- '09 Thread

[Mr.Maduro]

Anyone else watching the Devils / rangers game? What a game!!

[acruce]

My Dallas Stars come threw with a big win against the mighty Red Wings. I am hopeful the Stars can pull it together and make a run at the playoffs.........

[icehog3]

Nice win for the Hawks tonight, Khabby comes back and the Hawks score two in the 3rd for a come from behind win.

Cool story out of Washington too!

Johnson not shaken by rotating backups as Capitals rout Senators

WASHINGTON -- The tall guy holding the camera in the Washington Capitals' locker room works for the team's Web site.

Two and a half hours earlier, the same guy was sitting on the Capitals' bench serving as an emergency backup goalie.

Keeping the camera focused, Brett Leonhardt shook his head in disbelief as he watched Brent Johnson answer questions about -- who else? -- Brett Leonhardt. Johnson might have been the top performer in Friday night's 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators, but the true star was the 6-foot-7 former college hockey goalie who had to suit up during the first 10 minutes of the game because of an injury.

"Every dream come true," Leonhardt said. "Growing up in Canada, playing since I was 4. It was just very surreal. It was a blur, went by real quick."

Leonhardt's moment in the spotlight overshadowed the return of Sergei Fedorov and Mike Green to the lineup in a dominating performance by the Capitals. Alexander Semin, Brooks Laich and Green all scored for the first time this month, Alex Ovechkin got his 16th and 17th goals, and Johnson made 32 saves to win his fourth straight decision.

But no injury scenario was stranger than the series of events that led to the lanky Leonhardt dressing for the game. A Division III goalie in college and a Capitals employee for about a year, the 26-year-old Leonhardt signed an amateur tryout contract after backup Jose Theodore injured a hip flexor during the morning skate.

If Leonhardt had actually played, he would have tied Ben Bishop of the St. Louis Blues as the tallest goalie ever to see action in an NHL game. Instead, he simply became an instant celebrity.

"We had a little chat about what happens during warmup, and he was like, 'What? What am I going to do?" Johnson said. "It was pretty funny."

Leonhardt's brief career -- for which he will receive no money -- ended when Simeon Varlamov, recalled from AHL affiliate Hershey, arrived midway through the first period