Hulu games 1/22: Caps/Pens '07-'08

Having just barely noticed that there are full NHL games on Hulu, I am now intent on watching ALL of them. Not as impressive as it sounds, there aren't that many of them--and they're seemingly sort of random, but a few go back three or four years, so I want to watch them from this kind of retrospective in order to go "whoa, weird!" a lot, because that is a thing that I enjoy saying.

The game: HERE

WEIRD THINGS: 

• Cristobal Huet in goal. Really drives home that we haven't had a strong franchise goaltender since Kolzig. 
• Kolzig was actually still playing! Not in this game but him and Huet were apparently trading off goaltending duties back and forth. Hope there's a game on here where we get to see him. 
• Matt Cooke as Cap. ....Weird. Oddly though the impression I came away with was that he used to be much better at his job than he is now, at least in terms of coming close to the line without crossing it. He drew two penalties in this game, and got away with a massive cross-check, started about three scrums. Only took one penalty and it was more incidental, and nobody got hurt. The announcers praised him for having control over his game. 
• Hal Gill as a Penguin. Glad he's off that team now so I can like him. WELL IF YOU'RE GOING TO ASK QUESTIONS LIKE THAT PLEASE COME MORE PREPARED. You tell 'em, Harold. 
• Marion Hossa still playing for the Pens, though the announcers were already talking about how it wasn't likely they'd be able to hang onto him. 

INTERESTING THINGS: 

• Alex Semin, godDAMN. Sometimes it's good to step back and remember what a brilliant pure offensive talent he's capable of being--watching that second goal where he deked Fleury out of his socks was beautiful. 
• Malkin also seemed more electric to me in this game than I remember him being recently. He's a real talent who seems like he's started to become more and more inconsistent. 
• Cristobal Huet was not all that great of a goalie. Some of those rebounds he gave up were terrifying. One or two great saves at the end though. 
• Sure miss Fedorov. Seems like no one's been able to have that kind of line chemistry with Semin since. 
• Brooks Laich, how did you manage to lose your helmet TWICE within five minutes. And why did you keep playing, you loon? 
• Ten shots from Ovechkin in this game. That guy <3 
• Awful positional mistake by Green allowing the second goal. 
• "Sounds of the Game" showing Crosby bitching about the faceoffs to the ref. Surprise surprise. 
• Really is fun to play the Pens when they're firing on all cylinders and we're firing on all cylinders. Great game.