Caps Briefing: If The Stick Is Hot, Put It Down

Tonight, the Caps face the luckless Tampa Bay Lightning at Verizon Center. They will welcome Tampa coach Rick Tocchet, who suggested his team should have started fights with the Capitals in protest of Alex Ovechkin's three-second celebration of his 50th goal of the season, which he scored in Tampa last week. Ovechkin put his stick down after the goal and mimed trying to pick it up, but moving his hands away from its immense heat.

Tocchet will always be remembered in Washington as a player who, acquired late in the season, helped the Caps miss the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. He then left as a free agent, allowing the team to make its first ever appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998. His opinions are held in commensurate esteem.

The Caps will also welcome home native son Jeff Halpern, who centered Ovechkin's line in Ovechkin's first NHL game. Halpern weighed in mildly, saying, "I don't mind the spontaneous celebrations, but that kind of stuff is ... I don't even know the word for it." Apparently the former teammates haven't kept in touch.

This was nothing on Tampa winger Ryan Malone, who said he took the silly celebration as "an insult, personally," and said he wanted to "make him pay the right way."

Malone knows a thing or four million about making people pay. This year, he earned over $4 million on a free agent contract he signed last summer, and, with the season almost over, he is on a pace for less than 50 points. Under Tocchet's experienced guidance, he's also helping Tampa miss the playoffs by a tremendous margin. Still, we have to give it up for his negotiating prowess. We just hope Ovechkin is extremely careful about what he autographs tonight.