I wasn't able to watch last night's Caps game until the kids were in bed, which probably means I started it in the first half of the third period. But the important part is that I was able to watch the entire game without interruption (and mostly without commercials, yay).
And it started out looking pretty good, with the Caps generating some good pressure, until Grabo got called for a high sticking penalty. It was a bit of a weird call, though, as his stick came up and hit Tavares as he was going down from being tripped by Tavares.
In any event, the PK unit went to work, but not very well. Five shots were allowed on the ensuing power play, and a goal was scored less than a second after the penalty had expired. The one good part was that Holtby looked very good on the power play; he made several routine stops and one or two very good ones.
Anyway, the Caps showed no signs of a letdown after that, working hard for the rest of the period, even though they weren't able to solve Nabokov.
Going into the second, both teams had close to half their total goals on the season in the second period (the Isles were at half, and the Caps weren't far off), so it was expected that scoring would pick up a bit. And it did not disappoint; the first goal came only three minutes in, with Carlson succeeding on a risky keep-in at the blue line. He pushed it past the forward trying to get by him with the puck, then fired a laser of a shot into the far side of the net.
The Caps pressure continued, and they were rewarded with a power play a minute and a half later. OV potted one on a fairly weak wrister (odd, for him; he rarely shoots at less than full power) off the ensuing faceoff, and things were looking great. But the team had another letdown, as they allowed Okposo to score only seventeen seconds later (the Okposo/Tavares/Vanek line was buzzing all night, even if this was their only score; they caused a lot of problems for the Caps, and had nineteen shot attempts between them).
It was pretty much all Caps from there on out, though. The Caps scored again (MarJo, on a rebound in the crease) two minutes later, and again a minute and a half after that (Urbom on a top-corner snipe from the point off a nice pass from Wilson, who was on his ass a few feet from the goal). And they didn't let up; they kept pressuring, although it took a penalty on newly-acquired Tomas Vanek for the Caps to get on the board again.
Vanek was called for interference with about three minutes left in the period, and it took all of nineteen seconds for the power play to strike again, with OV potting a really nice feed from next to the goal, by MarJo. (Credit that one partially to the Islanders defenseman who failed to cut off that passing lane, although it was a good job by MarJo to see it.)
That finished out the scoring for the period, although not for the game. The other thing that made me happy about this game was that the Caps didn't collapse back into a shell, even with a three-goal lead. Not even when the Islanders tried to make things quite chippy (there were a lot of penalties handed out in the last two minutes of the game). And in Washington's one power play in the third, they managed to get another score, as OV fed Wilson for a tip-in about fifteen seconds into the power play.
It really wasn't much of a goal, but it was a nice reward to Wilson for a very strong game (even discounting the goal and assist, he looked very dangerous all game), although his playing time was still only ten minutes. Congrats to Wilson for converting, and getting his first points of the season; we're looking for more of that. :)
For the rest of the team... Well, OV had a great game (the two goals and an assist were merely the punctuation marks); he was mostly playing with Backstrom and Erat, and those two gave him several one-on-one chances over the course of the game. I really liked watching that line.
MarJo had a good game, and not just on that goal. His line had quite a bit of zone time, and a few good chances. His line was still the weakest, but it wasn't a sinkhole. As long as they can maintain that status, this is looking like a really good lineup.
Grabo's line looked very good again, with a number of good chances, and very good possession.
And the fourth line looked pretty good too. As I said, Wilson looked very good, and the others weren't stopping him from doing things.
On the defensive side, the top defenders looked like top defenders. Schmidt continued his excellent play, although he did make two small mistakes (one was an ill-advised point-to-point pass, and I forget the other). And the third pairing looked pretty good as well.
What I couldn't figure out was why Fehr was a healthy scratch. That is, if they weren't lying about him being healthy. Because if he was healthy, I can't figure it; he's been playing well.
Dima was also a healthy scratch. Hard to fault that one, though; no obvious pick of whom he would replace. Urbom, I guess, would be most likely, but he looked decent enough all night. But I'd like to see more of Dima; he was certainly exciting (in a good way) two seasons ago.
The one thing that didn't thrill me, and that I should mention is that there was some serious line-shuffling going on, primarily in the top two lines, over the course of the game (especially in the second period). I'm not sure I understand that, but it's hard to argue with results.
As I said, I liked the top line, and hope it continues. The second line seems decent, although I'd move Fehr to MarJo's left (since he seems to be the only player Oates will play on his off-hand wing) and send Laich down to the fourth.
I wouldn't mess with the third, and would be left with a fourth of Laich, Latta, and Wilson, which would make a heck of a checking line. And could be trusted for more than seven minutes a game.
The power play was, again, very good. In fact, four of the goals were PPGs. On the six opportunities, the Caps got eight shots in only three minutes and forty seconds. No way to argue with that.
In fact, even though the Caps had one more power play opportunity, they had six minutes and twenty seconds less power play time. Pretty good.
The penalty kill was five for five, but allowed another thirteen shots (not counting the shot that scored right at the end of the first power play). They actually looked really, really good on one penalty (the "holding the stick" penalty that Chimmer took, early in the third), but generally allowed way too much zone time for the Islanders. I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but expecting a .980 save percentage to continue when down a man is highly unrealistic.
The one goal in forty opportunities is certainly nice, but they're there mostly due to luck, not skill. Something has to be done to improve the PK. I'm not sure what needs to be done (getting better at holding the blue line, maybe?), but something certainly does. I hope someone on the coaching staff is thinking about that.
Getting away from that, one last thing to talk about, which is possession. Despite being way down in power play time, and despite being way ahead for about half the game, the Caps still came out of the game with good possession numbers. All-situation Fenwick, they were up one. 5-on-5 close Fenwick (twenty-one and a half minutes, roughly, and it was Corsi and shots, as well) was over 60% in the Caps favor. Really, there was nothing not to like in last night's game.
Minnesota is coming to town Thursday, though, and they're a very strong possession team. That'll be a good test of whether last night was really a sign of significant improvement, or just a mirage. Also, look out for that first period. Minnesota has a hair over a third of their goals in the first, while Washington has less than a fifth of theirs. Also, if it goes to overtime, neither team has an overtime goal on the season. Go Caps!
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