FanHouse Tom Poti

Just a few minutes ago as he sat at a podium following his team's 4-3 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, it was obvious that Washington Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau was more angry than heartbroken.

Who could blame him? Washington, a team that got two goals from the best player in the world, Alex Ovechkin, had played its most complete game of the series, yet still couldn't find a way to win.

In the end, this game turned on two sequences on either end of the ice in the overtime period. The first came early in the period when Washington center Dave Steckel, one of his team's more consistent performers, couldn't put the puck into an open net early. The second came just a few minutes later, as an Evgeni Malkin pass intended for Sidney Crosby deflected off the stick of sprawling Capitals defenseman Tom Poti and through the legs of a stunned Simeon Varlamov.

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There were plenty of distractions entering Sunday's Game 6 between the Capitals and Rangers. New York head coach John Tortorella was suspended and watching from a sky box; winger Sean Avery, who was a healthy scratch for Game 5, was back on the ice; and Rangers GM Glen Sather was doing his best to provide the press with another distraction, as he issued an open letter to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman chastising the Capitals organization for failing to provide adequate security behind the visiting bench during Game 5.

But with all the static in the air, the Washington Capitals stayed focused, jumping out to a 3-1 lead after the first period, never looking back on their way to a 5-3 win to force a Game 7 in Washington on Tuesday night. That early lead came thanks to offense from an unlikely source: a trio of defensemen who seemed to have figured something out about Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

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Ever since Bruce Boudreau took over as head coach of the Washington Capitals on the day after Thanksgiving 2007, the hockey news out of Washington, D.C. has been uniformly positive. There was the last year's late-season drive to make the playoffs, followed by an offseason filled with awards, a key to the city for Alex Ovechkin and elevated expectations going into the 2008-09 NHL season -- expectations that, thus far, have been fulfilled as the team surged to second place in the Eastern Conference.

But through it all there's been one minor, yet discordant note: the speedy attacking team was skating on one of the worst home ice surfaces in the NHL.

A quick recap of yesterday's action from around the National Hockey League.

1. Olaf Kolzig returns to Washington: Olaf Kolzig spent 15 years as a member of the Washington Capitals, and on Monday night he played his first game in the nation's capital while wearing a different sweater. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't exactly a happy homecoming for the 38-year old goaltender.

Sure, he received a nice welcome from the fans -- who witnessed Kolzig win 301 games as a member of the Capitals -- while his former teammates proceeded to score three goals on their first seven shots (including their first two shots) on their way to a 4-2 victory over Kolzig's new team, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Tom Poti and Mike Green opened the scoring with two goals in the first ten minutes, while Eric Fehr added a third tally in the opening period, which would be all the Capitals needed as they carried the play for much of the night over a sluggish Lightning squad.

Tampa Bay lost Ryan Malone to what is being called a "lower body injury" in the first period, while the recently acquired -- and former Capital -- Steve Eminger was a -3 in 20 minutes of action. Gary Roberts represented all of the offense for the Lightning, as he picked up his first two goals of the season.

NHL Refs are always an easy target. The media pounds on them, the coaches are always mad at them, the fans aren't fond of them, and the players certainly don't appreciate their efforts. Thus, few ever stick up for the Zebras when guys like Tom Poti make idiotic comments like this (in regards to his tripping call, which gave the Flyers the game-winning Power Play).

"To have the referee decide the series like that, with two teams battling like that, is tough to swallow. I definitely didn't think it was a penalty," Poti said.

Who really decided last night's game? Was it Tom Poti, who decided to break the rules and trip the guy? Was it Joffrey Lupul, who scored the winning goal, or was it the guy DOING HIS JOB?

Unless the ref seriously blows a call (See Mick McGeough), the striped man NEVER decides the game. It is the ref's job to call fouls and penalties, and it is up to the players not to get caught taking penalties and to play by the rules. The fact that the refs hadn't called a penalty in over a period is irrelevant, since the rules for hooking and holding are always in effect, and the players ought to know that by now.

Why can't Tom Poti simply stop spouting stupid clichés and admit that he SCREWED up and let his team down? Rather than blaming the ref for doing his job, maybe Poti should apologize to his team for taking a bad penalty at the worst time.

No, we know that won't happen, and we know Poti won't be the last moron to use the tired excuse of officials 'deciding' the game.

Hockey players are a tough species, so it's a bit odd that something as simple as a peanut butter sandwich could kill.

Welcome to the world of Tom Poti, who could be sent into a deadly anaphylactic shock if he were to eat peanuts, chocolate, fish or MSG.

Finding solace in the game of hockey, away from the grass allergy-inducing soccer fields, Poti has managed to overcome his adversity and carve out a successful NHL career, while educating his fellow players about the special needs of people with severe allergies.

Now, Poti is now using his profile as a professional athlete to try and save the lives of fellow allgery sufferers:

To stay safe, the NHLer always carries an EpiPen, in case of a reaction, to inject epinephrine to quickly treat a reaction.

It's a habit not all Canadians have picked up.

A recent Leger study shows four of five Canadians leave EpiPens at home, a number the life-long sufferer says is mind boggling.

"If it's something that small," he says of the 15-centimetre device, "why wouldn't people carry it around?"

Even Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis knows the value of the little device, and carries one around with him at all times. It's mind boggling that someone wouldn't carry around the EpiPen, knowing they could die or get very sick very easily. Let's hope Poti's little awareness campaign makes a difference.