Life can be good, even in the middle of an unending, paralyzing blizzard.

Pens beat the Isles, 3-1 at the appropriately-named Igloo. Empty Netters gameblog for the details. Two points earned. Philly beat the Devils although it took OT to do it, so the Great Satans get a point. That's a +1 net for us. NJ now has 75, we have 74. They have one less GP. They have the Preds and Canes before the break, we have the Rags and Preds.

Habs let the Caps come back to tie 5-5 at the very end of regulation (nearly a rerun of our Sunday game, minus the 4.5-hour overnight dogsled bus ride), but then Tomas Plekanec prevented the need for a shootout, scoring with 7.5 seconds remaining in the OT.  The Caps' winning streak is thereby stopped at 14, three games short of the Pens' still-NHL-best-ever 17-game streak in 92-93.

After the loss in Montreal, copious amounts of Vintage Red Whine flowed in the snowbound streets of the nation's capital. (Alcohol has a lower freezing point than water. I'm just reminding you.) Here's some from a real premier-cru whinery. The fumes will make you woozy, but this rockin' sommelier has two varietals of gripe whine rouge to pour for us tonight. The first bottle, its cork dessicated and its bouquet long gone to vinegar, concerns a missed offsides call, offered with many many diagrammatic photos. Jay's Telestrator, it ain't. Then please cleanse your palates with a nice OTL Whine Cracker, as the Reserve Cry Cru comes to the table:

Wowzer, that's some mighty fine whine! Don't forget, because Teddy said it was so, that the Capitals have arrived! Savor it. Enjoy it. Roll it around on your tongue. Suck some air in to release the volatile esters, the sublime flavor of everything it means to be a Red Rocker, a Capital.