Wizards Close in on Playoffs with Point

So I did a fairly good job of predicting last night. Not only did I predict the lineup pretty much exactly correct, I also predicted the draw and DC's goal scorer Gomez. Go me.

As for the game itself, it wasn't the greatest performance from the Wizards, but it was enough to get part of the job done. The Wizards came out slow early, and DC almost made them pay a few times, but El Gato, Kevin Hartman, proved tonight why he was brought in to take Bo's place. Bo doesn't make all the saves that Hartman made tonight, and the Wizards likely lose this match if Bo is in net.

Just before half time, the Wizards grabbed the lead. Kerry Zavagnin played in Eddie Johnson over the top, who drew 2 defenders and then laid the ball off to an on rushing Scott Sealy who blasted it into the net from about 19 yards out. The Wizards were able to hold on to the lead until the 56th minute, when Christian Gomez took advantage of the amount of space that Tyson Wahl gave him, turning at the top of the box, and beating Hartman to knot the game at 1-1.

Overall, while the point won't put the Wizards into the playoffs this weekend, it does make things very hard on the chasing pack that have hopes of making the playoffs. The Wizards are now 6 points clear of 9th place Columbus. It means Columbus has to go on a 3 game unbeaten run here at the end of the season to possibly knock the Wizards out of the playoffs, as KC owns the tie breaker on Columbus. For LA to catch the Wizards, they need to continue their 3 game unbeaten run to close the 10 point gap between them and KC. Colorado has the hardest path of the 3, they'd have to win their 3 remaining games to have a chance at catching KC.

3 Stars of the Game
1. Kevin Hartman - KC - Without him, this is another loss for the Wizards, his big saves are what got the Wizards the point tonight.
2. Christian Gomez - DC - With Nick Garcia having to cover Emilio, Gomez got to have his way with Wahl for most of the night, and he finally made the Wizards pay when Wahl gave him too much space.
3. Scott Sealy - KC - A great finish from Sealy, his 5th of an injury shortened season. Sealy has been the guy keeping the Wizards in the playoffs right now, and was very deserving of the September Man of the Month.