I wasn't able to watch anywhere near all of either of the games last night, but did see chunks of both.
I must say, the Rangers did look like the better team, last night, but weren't able to get it past Fleury (though, admittedly, part of that was penalty differential). Who'd've thought that was going to be the case?
I watched most of the Ducks/Kings game, and that was a very good game. Both teams were definitely going all-out, in a way that the Caps never do (at least not visibly). I think part of that is coaching, though; Oates' system is just too passive. Both Western teams were very aggressively attacking the puck, wherever it was on the ice.
I think the only way to make a "collapse to the goal, play defense all game" work is to be very, very good on the breakout (and have an amazingly good/lucky goalie). Which is to say that I'm not at all sure it's feasible in hockey the way it is in soccer. There are just too many scoring opportunities in a hockey game. The defenders, no matter how good they are, just can't help out blocking shots as much as they can in soccer (just as a function of ball size, I think).
Anyway, getting back to the Ducks and Kings; I still stand by what I said about being comfortable that the Kings would be moving on. The Kings deserved the win they got (and they played Sarge, and he didn't look terribly out of place), though it should be pointed out that Quick also needed to be very good from time to time. The one goal he allowed was on a 4-on-3, where Doughty was one of the players in the box, and it still took a deflection off a defenseman to get past Quick.
At one point, Doughty took a slash to the back of the knee (from Beauchemin), and limped off. I was wondering if that was going to leave them at a point they hadn't reached all season, with three defencemen out, but Doughty came back a minute or two later.
Getting back to the Rangers loss, they were shut out in back-to-back games for the first time since Varly did it to them, and now need to win badly. I hope they can do it (though I'm getting more skeptical).
Showing posts with label anaheim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anaheim. Show all posts
20140506
20140428
Ducks swim on
I wasn't able to turn on the Ducks/Stars game before the second intermission, last night. The Stars were already up 4-2, had been dominant at home (so far), and it didn't seem likely to be an interesting game. But there were no other games on, and I'd already watched the Chelsea/Liverpool playoff game (and the Man City play-in game), so I watched it anyway.
As expected, it was mostly about the Ducks trying desperately to generate some offense.
To be honest, though, outside of one power play, they really didn't do much through the first seventeen and a half minutes or so. But then Colgliano and Chiasson traded a few punches, resulting in matching minors for roughing. I tweeted, at the time, that that wasn't to bright (of Cogliano), but man, did it work out well for them.
The rest of the game was all Ducks. It took them only sixteen seconds to bring the game within a goal (probably helped by pulling Hiller), and they were definitely smelling blood. They didn't get another in the four-on-four, but they were pressuring a lot, and did score two seconds after it ended (again, with Hiller pulled, of course).
That was just about it for the game, in fact. It went into overtime, of course, as that goal was scored with less than half a minute remaining. And overtime lasted a bit less than three minutes, with the first shot on goal (there were no shots that missed the goal, but too lazy to check if there were blocked shots) going in for the Ducks (Lehtinen was pretty far out of position on the goal), and securing the series win.
So congratulations, Bruce, on your second playoff series win (and second series that didn't go to seven games, I believe); good luck the rest of the way.
As expected, it was mostly about the Ducks trying desperately to generate some offense.
To be honest, though, outside of one power play, they really didn't do much through the first seventeen and a half minutes or so. But then Colgliano and Chiasson traded a few punches, resulting in matching minors for roughing. I tweeted, at the time, that that wasn't to bright (of Cogliano), but man, did it work out well for them.
The rest of the game was all Ducks. It took them only sixteen seconds to bring the game within a goal (probably helped by pulling Hiller), and they were definitely smelling blood. They didn't get another in the four-on-four, but they were pressuring a lot, and did score two seconds after it ended (again, with Hiller pulled, of course).
That was just about it for the game, in fact. It went into overtime, of course, as that goal was scored with less than half a minute remaining. And overtime lasted a bit less than three minutes, with the first shot on goal (there were no shots that missed the goal, but too lazy to check if there were blocked shots) going in for the Ducks (Lehtinen was pretty far out of position on the goal), and securing the series win.
So congratulations, Bruce, on your second playoff series win (and second series that didn't go to seven games, I believe); good luck the rest of the way.
20140422
Riding high
I also watched a bit (the whole first period, I think) of the Dallas/Anaheim game last night. And it was pretty near all Dallas; the Stars were really flying, and keeping a lot of pressure on the Ducks.
Anderson looked very good in net for Anaheim, though, and kept the Ducks in it. Despite a number of very good chances, Benn (Jamie edition) was the only one to find the net in that period.
Koivu had an outstanding chance at one point, alone in the slot with Lehtonen down, but was unable to get it past Keri.
In general, I was impressed with the Stars, with their speed and forechecking ability (jealous might be a better word; the Caps only have one line that approaches that). The hitting was very hard, on both sides of the puck, and I have to wonder how the 40-year-olds in the series are going to do. We'll have to see on that.
Anyway, I needed to go to bed, so I missed the Stars maintaining their steady attack, and scoring two more goals while allowing none.
So we're still waiting for this series to start, I guess, given that the home team has won all three.
Anderson looked very good in net for Anaheim, though, and kept the Ducks in it. Despite a number of very good chances, Benn (Jamie edition) was the only one to find the net in that period.
Koivu had an outstanding chance at one point, alone in the slot with Lehtonen down, but was unable to get it past Keri.
In general, I was impressed with the Stars, with their speed and forechecking ability (jealous might be a better word; the Caps only have one line that approaches that). The hitting was very hard, on both sides of the puck, and I have to wonder how the 40-year-olds in the series are going to do. We'll have to see on that.
Anyway, I needed to go to bed, so I missed the Stars maintaining their steady attack, and scoring two more goals while allowing none.
So we're still waiting for this series to start, I guess, given that the home team has won all three.
20140319
Halak survives shellacking
Last night's Caps/Ducks game was a bit painful to watch. It started out well, with the Ward/Chimmer/Fehr line working their way to a tough goal in their second shift. The advantage didn't hold long, though, as Lovejoy beat Halak only a minute later (after a very questionable non-call on too many men on the ice a few seconds prior).
The rest of the period largely went Anaheim's way, but the Caps did get a power play with half a minute left, and it took only twenty-one seconds for Brouwer to clean up the trash around the goal to restore the Caps lead. I should also point out that OV caused the commotion with a great pass across the ice to Backstrom that got Hiller scrambling.
The second period had a very rocky start with Washington taking a too many men penalty two minutes in, and a delay of game penalty only ten seconds later. But the Caps packed in around the net, which frustrated the Ducks power play. So despite a huge amount of zone time, the Caps only gave up four shots on the double advantage, and Halak saved all four of those.
The rest of the period mostly went in Washington's favor (though not heavily), despite the two later penalties both going against the Caps.
In the third, the Ducks came out with a great deal of desperation, leading to an early goal by Matty P (one of these days I'll get used to him wearing 22 instead of 85). That didn't much slow down the Ducks, though, as they searched for a go ahead goal.
But Winnik tripped Green, a minute later, as he attempted to corral the puck, and very aggressive D pursuit combined with fast, on-target passes got an OV goal from the OV spot after only seven seconds.
Basically the rest of the game was a long barrage of shots on Halak, though only a few of those required amazing saves. And those amazing saves were provided, as the Capitals held on to take the 3-2 win.
According to one of the interstitial graphics in the telecast, that last goal tied OV with one of the Ducks (Perry, I think) for GWGs this season. Not that that's a terribly meaningful stat, but it's still good to see. Of course, with OV almost lapping the field on overall goals scored, it's hardly a great surprise.
That goal left OV only four short of fifty, which would be pretty amazing, given how low league scoring is (2.77 G/gm, per team). I guess that cap hit continues to look ok for a couple more years.
But, in reference to OV, that Beagle experiment has got to end. The best they've looked over the last several games together, has been to play keep-away in the offensive zone in one shift last night. The cycling was pretty good (was especially impressed by MarJo, there), but it didn't lead to any shots. Part of that is that OV is not a cycling player, generally. He wants to throw the puck over to a teammate and head to a good shooting spot. Not that that's a bad strategy, overall, but it isn't complemented by cycling.
Halak, as mentioned, looked very good, although he better get a break. I get the feeling that Oates wants him retained, probably long term. I think keeping him for one more year, to get Gru more work in Hershey, would be useful, but I can't see any reason to hold onto him beyond that. And, of course, he'd never sign for one year, so it's kind of silly to pursue him. One of the reasons the Caps have done well over the last couple years is that they've gotten good (rarely spectacular, but certainly consistently above average) goaltending for a very good cap hit. Signing Halak would be abandoning that strategy, as I can't see him signing for less than $5M (and $7M wouldn't surprise me, given how much other goalies have signed for, lately).
Possessionally, the team did not look great. Thankfully, much of the discrepancy happened during special teams and after scoring the last goal. So 5v5 close Fenwick wasn't bad (47.5; not a goal, and not good, but not terrible), compared to overall Fenwick (sub-40%). One thing to note is that the third line was the only one with a positive Corsi For. The first line was a bit underwater, and the second was a lot (and the fourth was just buried).
The power play looked very good, scoring on the first two shots and generating eight shot attempts (five on net) in only two and a half minutes. Gotta love that.
The PK was not great, with twenty-two shot attempts against (twelve on net) in just over eight minutes. I don't have a breakdown on how much of that was the 5-on-3, though, so it might not be nearly as bad as it seems. In any event, it was definitely a lot of luck that they didn't allow any goals.
I want to give kudos to Lovejoy, Cogliano, and Matty P, who all looked very good for the Ducks. In Perreault's case, I was especially impressed with his tenacity around the net. He didn't back off, even after having OV clear him out at the end of one scrum. I wonder what Oates and McPhee think, when they see him play. I hope they feel rather stupid for letting him get away for (practically) nothing.
Next up is a very tough Kings team on Thursday; let's hope they can wrangle another win. Look for the Caps to go in the second period, especially, as the teams' scoring is equal in each of the first and third periods. But the Caps are close to doubling the Kings in the second (78-44). Go Caps!
The rest of the period largely went Anaheim's way, but the Caps did get a power play with half a minute left, and it took only twenty-one seconds for Brouwer to clean up the trash around the goal to restore the Caps lead. I should also point out that OV caused the commotion with a great pass across the ice to Backstrom that got Hiller scrambling.
The second period had a very rocky start with Washington taking a too many men penalty two minutes in, and a delay of game penalty only ten seconds later. But the Caps packed in around the net, which frustrated the Ducks power play. So despite a huge amount of zone time, the Caps only gave up four shots on the double advantage, and Halak saved all four of those.
The rest of the period mostly went in Washington's favor (though not heavily), despite the two later penalties both going against the Caps.
In the third, the Ducks came out with a great deal of desperation, leading to an early goal by Matty P (one of these days I'll get used to him wearing 22 instead of 85). That didn't much slow down the Ducks, though, as they searched for a go ahead goal.
But Winnik tripped Green, a minute later, as he attempted to corral the puck, and very aggressive D pursuit combined with fast, on-target passes got an OV goal from the OV spot after only seven seconds.
Basically the rest of the game was a long barrage of shots on Halak, though only a few of those required amazing saves. And those amazing saves were provided, as the Capitals held on to take the 3-2 win.
According to one of the interstitial graphics in the telecast, that last goal tied OV with one of the Ducks (Perry, I think) for GWGs this season. Not that that's a terribly meaningful stat, but it's still good to see. Of course, with OV almost lapping the field on overall goals scored, it's hardly a great surprise.
That goal left OV only four short of fifty, which would be pretty amazing, given how low league scoring is (2.77 G/gm, per team). I guess that cap hit continues to look ok for a couple more years.
But, in reference to OV, that Beagle experiment has got to end. The best they've looked over the last several games together, has been to play keep-away in the offensive zone in one shift last night. The cycling was pretty good (was especially impressed by MarJo, there), but it didn't lead to any shots. Part of that is that OV is not a cycling player, generally. He wants to throw the puck over to a teammate and head to a good shooting spot. Not that that's a bad strategy, overall, but it isn't complemented by cycling.
Halak, as mentioned, looked very good, although he better get a break. I get the feeling that Oates wants him retained, probably long term. I think keeping him for one more year, to get Gru more work in Hershey, would be useful, but I can't see any reason to hold onto him beyond that. And, of course, he'd never sign for one year, so it's kind of silly to pursue him. One of the reasons the Caps have done well over the last couple years is that they've gotten good (rarely spectacular, but certainly consistently above average) goaltending for a very good cap hit. Signing Halak would be abandoning that strategy, as I can't see him signing for less than $5M (and $7M wouldn't surprise me, given how much other goalies have signed for, lately).
Possessionally, the team did not look great. Thankfully, much of the discrepancy happened during special teams and after scoring the last goal. So 5v5 close Fenwick wasn't bad (47.5; not a goal, and not good, but not terrible), compared to overall Fenwick (sub-40%). One thing to note is that the third line was the only one with a positive Corsi For. The first line was a bit underwater, and the second was a lot (and the fourth was just buried).
The power play looked very good, scoring on the first two shots and generating eight shot attempts (five on net) in only two and a half minutes. Gotta love that.
The PK was not great, with twenty-two shot attempts against (twelve on net) in just over eight minutes. I don't have a breakdown on how much of that was the 5-on-3, though, so it might not be nearly as bad as it seems. In any event, it was definitely a lot of luck that they didn't allow any goals.
I want to give kudos to Lovejoy, Cogliano, and Matty P, who all looked very good for the Ducks. In Perreault's case, I was especially impressed with his tenacity around the net. He didn't back off, even after having OV clear him out at the end of one scrum. I wonder what Oates and McPhee think, when they see him play. I hope they feel rather stupid for letting him get away for (practically) nothing.
Next up is a very tough Kings team on Thursday; let's hope they can wrangle another win. Look for the Caps to go in the second period, especially, as the teams' scoring is equal in each of the first and third periods. But the Caps are close to doubling the Kings in the second (78-44). Go Caps!
20131226
Ducking into a short vacation
I watched the Caps game against the Ducks the other night, but really should not have waited so long to write about it.
I heard that the Caps didn't do any kind of tribute video for Boudreau, it being his first trip back since going to Anaheim, and (despite agreeing with his firing) that was a missed opportunity. Things might have gone a bit south (or south-east, I guess) at the end, but Bruce did improve the team a lot. And I think the team (especially when things went pear-shaped) improved Bruce as well.
One thing I will say about the game is that the Caps did do quite a bit better than I expected. Not only were shot totals much closer than I expected (49% FF 5v5, 48% close), but the Caps scored first (twice, even) and led for much of the game.
A bit surprisingly, they did very poorly on the power play; they scored once, but only managed two shots on five opportunities. Which says to me that Bruce's PK does a much better job preventing controlled entries than Oates' (I'm beginning to think that ~75% of killing penalties is keeping the other team from getting set up).
Washington's PK, meanwhile, allowed eight shots in four opportunities (and I believe that's even after one of the penalties was stopped without a shot. More and more, I think the Washington PK is really terrible, but that's getting masked by some really terrific goaltending.
I'm pretty much just waiting for the other shoe to drop, and for Washington's record to take the kind of turn that the Maple Leafs' has recently. The Caps have two terrific lines, one not-very-good one, and one terrible one. On the defensive side, I think Carlson and Alzner need to be together, playing the top lines. And Green and Orlov should probably play together as well, and Oleksy and Schmidt should take the remainder.
I've been giving it a bit of thought, and I think what the Caps need to do is stop passing D-to-D behind the net. It just seems to consistently bite them in the butt when they do (Oates' insistence on handedness probably exacerbates this).
Anyway, despite the game being better than most of the recent ones, it still wasn't good, and still doesn't give a lot of hope for the future. Let's hope things start improving tomorrow when the Rangers come to visit. Go Caps!
I heard that the Caps didn't do any kind of tribute video for Boudreau, it being his first trip back since going to Anaheim, and (despite agreeing with his firing) that was a missed opportunity. Things might have gone a bit south (or south-east, I guess) at the end, but Bruce did improve the team a lot. And I think the team (especially when things went pear-shaped) improved Bruce as well.
One thing I will say about the game is that the Caps did do quite a bit better than I expected. Not only were shot totals much closer than I expected (49% FF 5v5, 48% close), but the Caps scored first (twice, even) and led for much of the game.
A bit surprisingly, they did very poorly on the power play; they scored once, but only managed two shots on five opportunities. Which says to me that Bruce's PK does a much better job preventing controlled entries than Oates' (I'm beginning to think that ~75% of killing penalties is keeping the other team from getting set up).
Washington's PK, meanwhile, allowed eight shots in four opportunities (and I believe that's even after one of the penalties was stopped without a shot. More and more, I think the Washington PK is really terrible, but that's getting masked by some really terrific goaltending.
I'm pretty much just waiting for the other shoe to drop, and for Washington's record to take the kind of turn that the Maple Leafs' has recently. The Caps have two terrific lines, one not-very-good one, and one terrible one. On the defensive side, I think Carlson and Alzner need to be together, playing the top lines. And Green and Orlov should probably play together as well, and Oleksy and Schmidt should take the remainder.
I've been giving it a bit of thought, and I think what the Caps need to do is stop passing D-to-D behind the net. It just seems to consistently bite them in the butt when they do (Oates' insistence on handedness probably exacerbates this).
Anyway, despite the game being better than most of the recent ones, it still wasn't good, and still doesn't give a lot of hope for the future. Let's hope things start improving tomorrow when the Rangers come to visit. Go Caps!
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