20111214

Beware low-flying objects

I was pretty apprehensive about last night's Caps-Flyers tilt, because the Caps are still in transition and because the Flyers would certainly want revenge for the game a few weeks ago. I felt a little better shortly before the game, after finding out that Giroux and Pronger were out (not that I wish ill on them, but it certainly improves the Caps odds for them to be out).

Things started out fairly well; kind of like the game the other night, where the Caps weren't generating a lot of offense (though better than the other night; shots were about the same, but six scoring chances as opposed to one), but were looking very solid, defensively. Perhaps more importantly, they weren't getting penned in their own zone for long periods of time. But they did allow a fairly bad goal sixteen minutes in to put the Flyers in the lead.

The second period didn't go nearly as well, and the 3-0 score differential gave a pretty decent indication of the Flyers' dominance. They got penned in a couple of times, and let in a couple more bad goals (it was a terrible night for Vokoun; I wasn't surprised to hear that he had been replaced after the end of the period. I believe Simmonds' goal was the only one that Vokoun shouldn't have stopped).

I managed to keep the game on until the end of the second period (I thought I might as well turn if off when the fourth goal went in), and did see one good shift because of that. There were some signs of life in the third period. Halpern did get a goal, which was good, and the seventeen shots was also a good sign. But they didn't get any closer to winning the game.

So, it seemed like this game was going to be a good gauge of where the Caps are in their recovery, and that gauge indicates a tank half-full, at best. Hopefully Thursday's game against the Jets will go a bit better.

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