As I mentioned yesterday, I did watch the game two days ago. I thought it was a pretty uneven effort, with OV's goal being a very lucky one (deflection behind the back just going under the crossbar? Ridiculous).
Once again, the Caps were outplayed pretty solidly, and only a great game by Holtby kept them in it long enough to get to overtime.
Fehr was out, as expected. Glencross was also scratched, which surprised me quite a bit. I was glad to see Bura on the ice. It wasn't one of his best games, but he looked good when he was there. He certainly was far from the worst forward on the ice for the Caps.
Wilson was on a mission to be a one-man wrecking crew. He got called for two penalties, but one of them seemed ludicrous, while the other seemed merely a bad call. I think he might have been the only Cap who was matching the hitting of the Islanders (it amazes me that the Islanders are both winning the possession battle, and winning the hitting battle. That's damned near impossible to do).
I did think OV got away with one with an early hit to the back of one of the Islanders, but given that I'd already seen the Isles do the same thing twice without a call left me feeling rather less than gracious about it.
Anyway, the Caps need to work on their breakout. It wasn't nearly as bad as in games one and three, but it wasn't good. Not nearly enough tape-to-tape passes, and way too many forced ones. I can't say that that was particularly on any one defender, either; it was all over the place. Some of that's on the Islanders excellent forecheck, of course, but the Caps need to improve. Maybe getting hit so much is making them tentative; I'm not sure.
Ward has continued to be quietly excellent at both ends of the ice. I'm still not sold on having him on the top line, but he's done very well there in a strictly complementary role.
MarJo hasn't really been rewarded for the effort, but he's also had an excellent series. I will say that I noticed him quite a bit less in this game than in the previous ones, though.
Anyway, the important part is that the Caps did get the deciding goal in overtime (nice shot, Backs) and can head back home with home ice advantage (such as it is). I hope they can just win the next two, though; I do not look forward to the possibility of another home game seven.
A big roadblock just got put in their way, though, as Grabovsky is healthy again. I can only hope that other players on their team decide that that's an excuse for them to take it easy, though, because otherwise the Caps are likely to lose the next two (which would still avoid game seven, I guess). Much as I love Grabbo, and wish him well, generally, I'm not keen on having him suiting up against the Caps.
Go Caps!
Showing posts with label islanders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label islanders. Show all posts
20150423
20150420
Poop sandwich
I did manage to catch yesterday's Caps game, and man, was it miserable. I was hoping that their domination in game two showed that they'd learned something that could carry over, but such was not to be.
They got off to a slow start, and never really turned it on until the third period. They just couldn't connect passes out of the defensive zone, so they were playing most of the game in their own end. And that's a recipe for getting your ass handed to you.
Holtby, however, was in full-on beast mode, and he kept them in the game (somehow). He only let one through, and even that one was deflection from in close that also tipped off the underside of his arm. Can't blame him for that one.
Still, they should have been down by several, but were only down one in the beginning of the third. It took them a few minutes to get going, then, after which they had an amazing ten minutes or so, where they were even more dominant than the Islanders had been up to that point. And he won't get much credit for it, but Ward was a particular thorn in the Islanders side, repeatedly outduelling Islanders defensemen on the forecheck or in keeping the cycle going.
That push finally led to a goal with six minutes and a few seconds left in the period, and things were looking pretty good. But the Islanders woke up, or the Caps just stopped trying, because there was basically zero momentum carry-over after that goal. They went almost back to where they'd been for the first two periods, leaving Holtby to save them again and again.
Which he did, at least into the overtime. But the overtime only lasted fifteen seconds, as New York won the opening face-off and shot the puck in on Holtby was past the red line. Holtby snagged it, then passed it off to the defender, who turned it over immediately. That led to a flurry, with the second rebound being tipped just over Braden's leg and into the net. Can't blame Holtby for that one either (other than that he should have just frozen the puck, obviously).
Anyway, it was a terrible game that the Caps in no way deserved to win, and which they were mighty lucky to get into overtime. The one bit of encouragement is that, despite being badly outplayed, they still had a chance to win.
The bad news is that they needed Holtby to basically be perfect. He's one hell of a goaltender, but that's a lot to ask. Also, Fehr was injured (probably right shoulder, which is particularly bad news for him, given his history of shoulder issues) and might not be back (no, I haven't heard anything). MarJo was also hurt, though he did return.
I must admit to feeling very pessimistic about the Caps' chances, going forward. They've now been manhandled twice, and if they hadn't returned the favor in Game 2, I'd think they had no chance of winning. As it is, I'm still skeptical. The breakout, in games one and three, has just been atrocious, and that's the building block of all offense.
I don't know.
I guess we can find out tomorrow on CSN. Go Caps!
They got off to a slow start, and never really turned it on until the third period. They just couldn't connect passes out of the defensive zone, so they were playing most of the game in their own end. And that's a recipe for getting your ass handed to you.
Holtby, however, was in full-on beast mode, and he kept them in the game (somehow). He only let one through, and even that one was deflection from in close that also tipped off the underside of his arm. Can't blame him for that one.
Still, they should have been down by several, but were only down one in the beginning of the third. It took them a few minutes to get going, then, after which they had an amazing ten minutes or so, where they were even more dominant than the Islanders had been up to that point. And he won't get much credit for it, but Ward was a particular thorn in the Islanders side, repeatedly outduelling Islanders defensemen on the forecheck or in keeping the cycle going.
That push finally led to a goal with six minutes and a few seconds left in the period, and things were looking pretty good. But the Islanders woke up, or the Caps just stopped trying, because there was basically zero momentum carry-over after that goal. They went almost back to where they'd been for the first two periods, leaving Holtby to save them again and again.
Which he did, at least into the overtime. But the overtime only lasted fifteen seconds, as New York won the opening face-off and shot the puck in on Holtby was past the red line. Holtby snagged it, then passed it off to the defender, who turned it over immediately. That led to a flurry, with the second rebound being tipped just over Braden's leg and into the net. Can't blame Holtby for that one either (other than that he should have just frozen the puck, obviously).
Anyway, it was a terrible game that the Caps in no way deserved to win, and which they were mighty lucky to get into overtime. The one bit of encouragement is that, despite being badly outplayed, they still had a chance to win.
The bad news is that they needed Holtby to basically be perfect. He's one hell of a goaltender, but that's a lot to ask. Also, Fehr was injured (probably right shoulder, which is particularly bad news for him, given his history of shoulder issues) and might not be back (no, I haven't heard anything). MarJo was also hurt, though he did return.
I must admit to feeling very pessimistic about the Caps' chances, going forward. They've now been manhandled twice, and if they hadn't returned the favor in Game 2, I'd think they had no chance of winning. As it is, I'm still skeptical. The breakout, in games one and three, has just been atrocious, and that's the building block of all offense.
I don't know.
I guess we can find out tomorrow on CSN. Go Caps!
20150417
Red-rockin'
I missed most of tonight's game; DVR didn't record, and I have no idea why. And we went out to dinner. Got them to put NHL Network on a TV there, so saw a tiny bit of coverage near beginning. But Caps were down 2-0 by the time we left, and I was definitely not feeling good about things.
Forgot to check on DVR upon arriving home, so when I finally turned it on (after getting kids in bed), there were only a few minutes left, and Caps were up 4-3. Spent a couple of shifts just playing defense (looked like a PK, except with five men on ice), then OV came on and jump-started offense. Had a nice shift-and-a-bit in the offensive zone before finally clearing in and missing the glass.
From there, they did a nice job killing off the remaining time.
The biggest news of the game was that Gru was in net; Holtby was apparently too sick to go. Hope he feels better by Sunday. But Gru's not bad, and held down the fort well enough, I guess.
The other thing that my twitter feed informed me of is that the Caps were completely dominant through two periods on shot attempts. No way the game should have been as close as it was, it seems. I'll need to watch highlights. Either Isles got some really lucky bounces, or Gru did much worse than I'd expect from him.
Still, the important thing is that they won. They're still not in a good position, as NY still has home ice advantage for the series, but if the dominant play came as a result of strategic changes, then they're in great shape. If not, well, at least it doesn't look hopeless.
And remember, Sunday's game is at 1230, and is on NBC (not a fan of Doc, so not thrilled with that, but we're stuck with it).
Oh, and if you're tracking such things, Riley Barber left Miami and signed his ELC. Looking forward to seeing him in red next year, although he'll be spending most of the year in Hershey, I imagine.
Go Caps! (and if you're not on a ketogenic diet, remember Papa John's code CAPS50 for tomorrow.)
Forgot to check on DVR upon arriving home, so when I finally turned it on (after getting kids in bed), there were only a few minutes left, and Caps were up 4-3. Spent a couple of shifts just playing defense (looked like a PK, except with five men on ice), then OV came on and jump-started offense. Had a nice shift-and-a-bit in the offensive zone before finally clearing in and missing the glass.
From there, they did a nice job killing off the remaining time.
The biggest news of the game was that Gru was in net; Holtby was apparently too sick to go. Hope he feels better by Sunday. But Gru's not bad, and held down the fort well enough, I guess.
The other thing that my twitter feed informed me of is that the Caps were completely dominant through two periods on shot attempts. No way the game should have been as close as it was, it seems. I'll need to watch highlights. Either Isles got some really lucky bounces, or Gru did much worse than I'd expect from him.
Still, the important thing is that they won. They're still not in a good position, as NY still has home ice advantage for the series, but if the dominant play came as a result of strategic changes, then they're in great shape. If not, well, at least it doesn't look hopeless.
And remember, Sunday's game is at 1230, and is on NBC (not a fan of Doc, so not thrilled with that, but we're stuck with it).
Oh, and if you're tracking such things, Riley Barber left Miami and signed his ELC. Looking forward to seeing him in red next year, although he'll be spending most of the year in Hershey, I imagine.
Go Caps! (and if you're not on a ketogenic diet, remember Papa John's code CAPS50 for tomorrow.)
20150416
Not a good start
I don't have a lot to say about last night's Caps game, but I do have a few thoughts.
One, the shot totals would seem to indicate that the game was much more even than it felt like.
Two, I think the shot totals are misleading; now looking, and the Isles had many more missed shots.
Three, the power play needs to adapt a bit to NY's aggressiveness.
Four, tape-to-tape passes are critical. It did get better as the game went on, but there were way too many giveaways. The Isles are too good to be giving them the puck for free.
Five, there is no world in which Beagle should be playing over Bura. No excuse for that. Heck, I'd rather have Galiev up there over Beagle. Possibly over Chimmer, too.
Six, the Caps miss Wilson's ability to draw (even matching) penalties.
Seven, MarJo had a hell of a game.
Eight, OV didn't seem like he was accomplishing much (outside of hitting), but his Corsi and Fenwick numbers were very good. And his 11 shot attempts were also quite good. Not sure what was going on, there.
Nine, the young Islanders having very little playoff experience didn't seem to hurt them in any way. They got a little bit lucky, but they still solidly outplayed the Caps.
This is well short of the time to panic, but things definitely do not look good. Hopefully, Barry can come up with some effective counters to the Islanders' tactics (Bruce never managing that was the biggest reason for the Caps not doing well in the playoffs under him. And why I don't expect him to make it out of the second round (maybe not even first) this year).
One, the shot totals would seem to indicate that the game was much more even than it felt like.
Two, I think the shot totals are misleading; now looking, and the Isles had many more missed shots.
Three, the power play needs to adapt a bit to NY's aggressiveness.
Four, tape-to-tape passes are critical. It did get better as the game went on, but there were way too many giveaways. The Isles are too good to be giving them the puck for free.
Five, there is no world in which Beagle should be playing over Bura. No excuse for that. Heck, I'd rather have Galiev up there over Beagle. Possibly over Chimmer, too.
Six, the Caps miss Wilson's ability to draw (even matching) penalties.
Seven, MarJo had a hell of a game.
Eight, OV didn't seem like he was accomplishing much (outside of hitting), but his Corsi and Fenwick numbers were very good. And his 11 shot attempts were also quite good. Not sure what was going on, there.
Nine, the young Islanders having very little playoff experience didn't seem to hurt them in any way. They got a little bit lucky, but they still solidly outplayed the Caps.
This is well short of the time to panic, but things definitely do not look good. Hopefully, Barry can come up with some effective counters to the Islanders' tactics (Bruce never managing that was the biggest reason for the Caps not doing well in the playoffs under him. And why I don't expect him to make it out of the second round (maybe not even first) this year).
20140407
End of an era
Well, I didn't watch the last two Caps games. The first, against the Devils, I missed because I was sick. The second I'd forgotten about until I heard the result (twenty or thirty minutes after it finished).
It looks like the Caps played respectably against the Devils; 5v5 close Fenwick was slightly in their favor. And OV scored at evens, which was a nice change from the previous month (it's almost like having Beagle centering OV wasn't a good idea, or something).
They did spend too much time killing penalties (almost ten minutes), as usual allowing too many shots against (15 attempted, 10 on net; it should be noted that that those are slightly better numbers than usual, though. Still too many, but a slight improvement).
The power play seems to've done merely ok, with ten attempted shots (five on net) over nearly five minutes.
Neither power play scored, however.
The 2-1 loss certainly can't be pinned on Halak, however. His .935 save percentage is certainly all you can ask of him (realistically, at least).
Going into that game, the Caps were down to only an 84% chance of making the playoffs, even winning out. So that loss eliminated their realistic chance of making the playoffs. Which is probably just as well, given how bad the team looks.
As for the Islanders game... They won, in the shootout, but there wasn't much to like there. Kuzya across net to MarJo back across to Kuzya was a nice goal. And OV did a nice job setting up Backstrom's goal. And Holtby did a nice job (stopping a short-handed breakaway, as well as one of the goals being one that looked stopped but trickled through). But possessionally, it was pretty bad (against a so-so team, possessionally). Basically, they got lucky to win, especially when you factor in the shootout (to be clear, however, they were lucky even to get to the shootout).
I've gotta admit, at this point I'd be just as happy if they lose the rest of them, just for the minor improvement in draft position (even though it's not expected to be a deep draft; but they could move up as many as five spots). If they could do it while playing hard, so much the better.
Anyway, next game is Tuesday in St Louis, where we will probably be put out of our misery of a season (after that, a Detroit overtime loss and a Columbus win would be enough to make it a mathematical certainty).
It looks like the Caps played respectably against the Devils; 5v5 close Fenwick was slightly in their favor. And OV scored at evens, which was a nice change from the previous month (it's almost like having Beagle centering OV wasn't a good idea, or something).
They did spend too much time killing penalties (almost ten minutes), as usual allowing too many shots against (15 attempted, 10 on net; it should be noted that that those are slightly better numbers than usual, though. Still too many, but a slight improvement).
The power play seems to've done merely ok, with ten attempted shots (five on net) over nearly five minutes.
Neither power play scored, however.
The 2-1 loss certainly can't be pinned on Halak, however. His .935 save percentage is certainly all you can ask of him (realistically, at least).
Going into that game, the Caps were down to only an 84% chance of making the playoffs, even winning out. So that loss eliminated their realistic chance of making the playoffs. Which is probably just as well, given how bad the team looks.
As for the Islanders game... They won, in the shootout, but there wasn't much to like there. Kuzya across net to MarJo back across to Kuzya was a nice goal. And OV did a nice job setting up Backstrom's goal. And Holtby did a nice job (stopping a short-handed breakaway, as well as one of the goals being one that looked stopped but trickled through). But possessionally, it was pretty bad (against a so-so team, possessionally). Basically, they got lucky to win, especially when you factor in the shootout (to be clear, however, they were lucky even to get to the shootout).
I've gotta admit, at this point I'd be just as happy if they lose the rest of them, just for the minor improvement in draft position (even though it's not expected to be a deep draft; but they could move up as many as five spots). If they could do it while playing hard, so much the better.
Anyway, next game is Tuesday in St Louis, where we will probably be put out of our misery of a season (after that, a Detroit overtime loss and a Columbus win would be enough to make it a mathematical certainty).
20131106
Marching down the isle
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!
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!
20130507
Hockey night (not) in Canada
I turned on the hockey game tonight, hoping to see if the Habs lost their minds again vs the Sens, but it wasn't on at all. Just the Pens and Isles, which is probably the last series I actually want to watch.
But I was stuck with it, so I left it on for a while. Long enough to see the Islanders outplaying the Pens pretty seriously, and to take a 1-0 lead in the first. Between periods, I had to turn the game off (had to distract my son for a while), and didn't get back to it until I put the kids to bed.
So I turned it on with a couple minutes left, and was thrilled to see the Isles were still up by a goal (less so that the Pens had scored four in the intervening time, but you take what you can get). Even better, just after I turned it on, the Isles stopped the Pens just past the blue line, quickly moved it up-ice, and Cizikas put a weak shot off of Fleury's hand (it was an atrocious attempt at a save, on a shot that wasn't even on-net) and into the net. I'm thinking TVo will be starting for Pittsburgh next time.
The Islanders just played defense to their raucous crowd after that, and kept the Penguins from getting close to scoring. Glorious.
After their initial shut-out, and doubly so when I heard Crosby was coming back for Game 2, I was quite willing to write off the series (actually, I was almost ready to write it off before it started). But the Islanders have outplayed the Pens three games in a row now, so they might be able to pull off the huge upset. I'm hoping.
But I was stuck with it, so I left it on for a while. Long enough to see the Islanders outplaying the Pens pretty seriously, and to take a 1-0 lead in the first. Between periods, I had to turn the game off (had to distract my son for a while), and didn't get back to it until I put the kids to bed.
So I turned it on with a couple minutes left, and was thrilled to see the Isles were still up by a goal (less so that the Pens had scored four in the intervening time, but you take what you can get). Even better, just after I turned it on, the Isles stopped the Pens just past the blue line, quickly moved it up-ice, and Cizikas put a weak shot off of Fleury's hand (it was an atrocious attempt at a save, on a shot that wasn't even on-net) and into the net. I'm thinking TVo will be starting for Pittsburgh next time.
The Islanders just played defense to their raucous crowd after that, and kept the Penguins from getting close to scoring. Glorious.
After their initial shut-out, and doubly so when I heard Crosby was coming back for Game 2, I was quite willing to write off the series (actually, I was almost ready to write it off before it started). But the Islanders have outplayed the Pens three games in a row now, so they might be able to pull off the huge upset. I'm hoping.
20130404
One is the loneliest number
Tonight's Caps game started out pretty well. The Caps weren't getting a lot of chances in the first period, but they did a good job of keeping the puck at the other end of the rink. That didn't pay off, but they did break through with thirteen seconds in the period when Green's wrister deflected off the defender and between Nabokov's legs.
I was really surprised, at that point, to see that the shots were five aside (though I knew the Islanders had gotten a couple of good chances); I was sure the Caps had an edge, and wouldn't have even been surprised to see a sizable one.
After that, things went downhill as the Caps stopped being able to keep it at the other end, and were still giving up chances on the rush. But Holtby kept the team in the game, repeatedly bailing them out (sometimes spectacularly).
The Caps did keep getting chances, but not as many as they were giving up. Plus, it was pretty much one-and-done on every Caps chance.
In some ways, it was feeling like Hunter hockey in the latter half of last season. Not because it was played the same way, but the results were pretty similar.
The third period started well for the Caps. They played quite well for the first several minutes. But it was pretty much all Islanders after that, culminating in a stick to stick to stick passing play across the ice that ended with the puck almost going through the net. That happened with five minutes left, and the Islanders continued to push. They even got a bogus delay of game (apparently, despite conferring together, none of the four refs saw the puck skip off the glass on its way out) with two and a half minutes left that really made things tight for the home team.
The Caps pulled together, and despite a couple of terrible clearance fails, did manage to kill the penalty. But the Caps couldn't get the puck in the net, so they went to overtime.
The Caps again looked pretty good for the first minute or two of overtime, but it was pretty chaotic after that. The puck just kept going back and forth from blueline to blueline, with all the shots going to New York.
But Holtby held on strong, and pulled them into the shootout.
The shootout didn't start well, with Hendricks pulling his move too soon (I think) and not managing to get Nabokov to react after that. OV followed, and tried an unusual combination (for him) that ended with him roofing it on the backhand into the top of the net for the score. Ribeiro was third, and didn't really do much of anything before putting it into Nabokov's pads.
On the other side, Nielsen responded to Hendricks by also going straight into Holtby. Boyes followed with a nice forehand move, but lost control on it and the puck went into the corner of the rink. Tavares followed, and made a pretty decent move to Holtby's right, but Holtby got his leg out and stopped it dead.
So the Caps got the two points they needed, and moved into first in the division when the Jets were grounded in Montreal, 4-1.
Of course, the big question is, what about Erat? He looked very good in puck control, but put his only good scoring chance into Nabokov's glove (it was one hell of a save off a nice feed by Perreault).
I'm still skeptical about the trade, but at least we got a good player. It certainly could have been a lot worse. Maybe I'll come around on it, eventually.
But I'm not feeling great about the Caps, moving forward. They've now gone six straight periods (including two overtimes) without registering ten shots in a period. And they've allowed seventy-six shots over that time period (plus thirty-five more blocked). Not disaster time, but not encouraging.
But, as I said, they're now leading the division. That part is nice, at least. We'll see if it's enough.
Next up is Florida on Saturday. As long as they don't take the Cats for granted, they should win that one pretty handily. Of course, this team does have a long history of coming out flat in such games.
Oh, one more detail I forgot. Carlson isn't generally a big hitter, but did have a couple of very nice ones tonight.
I was really surprised, at that point, to see that the shots were five aside (though I knew the Islanders had gotten a couple of good chances); I was sure the Caps had an edge, and wouldn't have even been surprised to see a sizable one.
After that, things went downhill as the Caps stopped being able to keep it at the other end, and were still giving up chances on the rush. But Holtby kept the team in the game, repeatedly bailing them out (sometimes spectacularly).
The Caps did keep getting chances, but not as many as they were giving up. Plus, it was pretty much one-and-done on every Caps chance.
In some ways, it was feeling like Hunter hockey in the latter half of last season. Not because it was played the same way, but the results were pretty similar.
The third period started well for the Caps. They played quite well for the first several minutes. But it was pretty much all Islanders after that, culminating in a stick to stick to stick passing play across the ice that ended with the puck almost going through the net. That happened with five minutes left, and the Islanders continued to push. They even got a bogus delay of game (apparently, despite conferring together, none of the four refs saw the puck skip off the glass on its way out) with two and a half minutes left that really made things tight for the home team.
The Caps pulled together, and despite a couple of terrible clearance fails, did manage to kill the penalty. But the Caps couldn't get the puck in the net, so they went to overtime.
The Caps again looked pretty good for the first minute or two of overtime, but it was pretty chaotic after that. The puck just kept going back and forth from blueline to blueline, with all the shots going to New York.
But Holtby held on strong, and pulled them into the shootout.
The shootout didn't start well, with Hendricks pulling his move too soon (I think) and not managing to get Nabokov to react after that. OV followed, and tried an unusual combination (for him) that ended with him roofing it on the backhand into the top of the net for the score. Ribeiro was third, and didn't really do much of anything before putting it into Nabokov's pads.
On the other side, Nielsen responded to Hendricks by also going straight into Holtby. Boyes followed with a nice forehand move, but lost control on it and the puck went into the corner of the rink. Tavares followed, and made a pretty decent move to Holtby's right, but Holtby got his leg out and stopped it dead.
So the Caps got the two points they needed, and moved into first in the division when the Jets were grounded in Montreal, 4-1.
Of course, the big question is, what about Erat? He looked very good in puck control, but put his only good scoring chance into Nabokov's glove (it was one hell of a save off a nice feed by Perreault).
I'm still skeptical about the trade, but at least we got a good player. It certainly could have been a lot worse. Maybe I'll come around on it, eventually.
But I'm not feeling great about the Caps, moving forward. They've now gone six straight periods (including two overtimes) without registering ten shots in a period. And they've allowed seventy-six shots over that time period (plus thirty-five more blocked). Not disaster time, but not encouraging.
But, as I said, they're now leading the division. That part is nice, at least. We'll see if it's enough.
Next up is Florida on Saturday. As long as they don't take the Cats for granted, they should win that one pretty handily. Of course, this team does have a long history of coming out flat in such games.
Oh, one more detail I forgot. Carlson isn't generally a big hitter, but did have a couple of very nice ones tonight.
20130402
Inveterate teases
I haven't really felt like writing about the last few Caps games, but I haven't missed any of them.
The Islander game last Tuesday was very frustrating. The Caps actually played quite well, and were doing very well possessionally, but they had two early breakdowns in defensive coverage (no excuse for leaving someone alone at the near edge of the faceoff circle, and they did it twice) that led directly to goals. Then, they clawed their way back and tied the game up in the second (a beautiful effort from Ribeiro, and a good point shot from Carlson).
It was pretty good play from there, well on into the third, but then Greenie had quite an adventure trying to get control of the puck (he missed it with his stick, then with his foot), gave it up right next to the net, then watched the Islanders feed it in front for the deciding goal. Very frustrating all the way around, especially at home against a lower-ranked team.
You give up points like that, you force yourself to need to beat one of the better teams later in the season, which is not a position you want to be in.
Then they had several days off until playing Buffalo last Saturday. That was certainly an exciting game, and one that really got off on the wrong foot (especially annoying as Hendricks was interviewed before the game and talked about how important a strong start is). They had a bad play along the left half-wall which allowed Ehrhoff to walk in alone, and Holtby couldn't stop the shot over his shoulder (one he would definitely like back).
A minute into the second, Leino brought it in the zone, fed to Ennis on the right, then crashed the net and cashed in on the rebound.
All this time, the Caps were actually playing pretty well, but were not able to cash in on any of their (many) chances. But on the next shift after that goal, Ennis tripped Johansson to give the Caps a power play chance, and OV found the twine with a wrist shot from his normal position.
But things got worse eight minutes later, as Leino tipped in a Foligno shot to restore their margin. That was where the period ended, and you could be forgiven for not guessing that the Caps were the ones with the 2:1 advantage in shots in the period.
A couple of minutes into the third, the Caps faced another short-handed situation when Carlson flipped the puck over the glass, and you could definitely feel that they needed to hold to have a chance in the game. Brouwer certainly felt that way, and when he saw Laich getting to the puck in the zone, he bolted for the far goal. Laich saw him, and fed a long pass between the defenders to give him a breakaway.
Troy received it without issue (really, it was a beautiful pass) and put it high, blocker side, into the net to cut the margin in half. Play continued, back and forth, with the Caps having the better of it but unable to even the score until they pulled Holtby with a minute left.
With the extra attacker, they kept the puck in the zone for quite a while, working it around until Greenie got a slapshot off from the point that went off the post, off the back of Enroth's shoulder, and into the net to tie it with half a minute remaining. Unsurprisingly, both teams played to keep that standings point into overtime.
Alas, a DVR snafu kept me from seeing most of the overtime, but I caught the end of it, before it went into the shootout.
The shootout started the Caps way, with Buffalo electing to go first and having Pominville stopped by Holtby. Hendricks went next, with his normal move. He didn't get much more than a flinch from his normal fake, but still managed to stay half a step ahead of Enroth until he put the puck over Enroth's leg and into the net. Holtby then stopped Ennis as well, and things were feeling good.
I was actually looking forward to seeing Ribeiro or Wolski (who somehow made it out of Oates' doghouse for a game, and playing ok in very limited minutes), but OV got the call.
I usually prefer to see OV sweeping wide on his attempts, but he only went a little wide this time. But it worked out as he managed to find a tiny gap going over Enroth's stick in the five hole to give the Caps the two points.
Quite a finish to the game.
That left the Caps in Philadelphia on Sunday, with both teams in the second half of back-to-back games.
Things started well for the Caps, with them controlling play, and getting the first goal from a really nice tip-in from Backstrom. From there, things were pretty seriously downhill for the Caps as Talbot put a rebound past Holtby and Read scored on a breakaway (sprung by Giroux).
That was it for the first period. Though pretty heavily outplayed through the second, the Caps did manage one good moment as Laich found Green coming out of the box at the end of a penalty. Green took the pass cleanly for a breakaway, and put it past Bryz's right shoulder to tie the game.
The Caps power play wasn't for quite a while. It came up empty in the first and second, and was looking pretty bad through the first minute of a double-minor to Voracek (who took unkindly to a hard, but clean open-ice hit Oleksy put on Giroux). But Giroux tried to get a little too fancy before clearing the puck, and hit OV's skates when he tried. That left the puck dribbling out a little to MarJo, who stepped in and put it over Giroux and into the net.
Just twenty-six seconds later, Carlson got his point-to-half-wall pass to OV perfect (he'd put it into OV's feet with that pass a number of times recently) for the one-timer that Bryz had no chance on.
That's where things stayed for another six minutes, with the Caps having the two-goal advantage but getting outplayed pretty seriously. That's when Giroux scored, sixteen seconds into a power play, to cut the margin in half with about seven minutes left. I hate to say it, but it was a very nice play with good puck-movement.
But the one that was the real dagger came with only nine seconds left (shortly after a very questionable icing call, and with Bryz on the bench), as a seeing-eye shot from the point eluded everyone and snuck into the very edge of the net.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the Caps couldn't even manage a shot in the extra period, before Fedotenko's wrister from just outside the paint, with 94 seconds left, found the back of the net.
Man, that was a depressing way to end. Up two with eight minutes left... I imagine their odds of winning, at that point, were about 85%. Ugh. Again, quite a finish to the game, but not in a good way, this time.
The only positives are that they did still get a point out of that, and the non-Caps games over the last four or five days have gone about as favorably as possible for the Caps.
So if the Caps can beat the Canes tonight, they'll be in pretty decent shape. If Winnipeg also loses to the Islanders, they'll be two points behind with two games in hand. And regardless of what Winnipeg does, that would put them a game ahead of the Canes (although the Canes will have a game in hand as well).
This is, pretty much, make-or-break. If the Caps lose and Winnipeg wins, I think the white flag needs to go up. Carolina and Winnipeg can't keep playing as badly as they have the last week or two. But if the Caps win, then things aren't looking too bad.
But I still feel like they're going to be within a point of making the playoffs, one way or the other. I'm really worried that they'll miss by a point or two, not get any taste of the playoffs and be in horrible position in the draft. We'll see.
The Islander game last Tuesday was very frustrating. The Caps actually played quite well, and were doing very well possessionally, but they had two early breakdowns in defensive coverage (no excuse for leaving someone alone at the near edge of the faceoff circle, and they did it twice) that led directly to goals. Then, they clawed their way back and tied the game up in the second (a beautiful effort from Ribeiro, and a good point shot from Carlson).
It was pretty good play from there, well on into the third, but then Greenie had quite an adventure trying to get control of the puck (he missed it with his stick, then with his foot), gave it up right next to the net, then watched the Islanders feed it in front for the deciding goal. Very frustrating all the way around, especially at home against a lower-ranked team.
You give up points like that, you force yourself to need to beat one of the better teams later in the season, which is not a position you want to be in.
Then they had several days off until playing Buffalo last Saturday. That was certainly an exciting game, and one that really got off on the wrong foot (especially annoying as Hendricks was interviewed before the game and talked about how important a strong start is). They had a bad play along the left half-wall which allowed Ehrhoff to walk in alone, and Holtby couldn't stop the shot over his shoulder (one he would definitely like back).
A minute into the second, Leino brought it in the zone, fed to Ennis on the right, then crashed the net and cashed in on the rebound.
All this time, the Caps were actually playing pretty well, but were not able to cash in on any of their (many) chances. But on the next shift after that goal, Ennis tripped Johansson to give the Caps a power play chance, and OV found the twine with a wrist shot from his normal position.
But things got worse eight minutes later, as Leino tipped in a Foligno shot to restore their margin. That was where the period ended, and you could be forgiven for not guessing that the Caps were the ones with the 2:1 advantage in shots in the period.
A couple of minutes into the third, the Caps faced another short-handed situation when Carlson flipped the puck over the glass, and you could definitely feel that they needed to hold to have a chance in the game. Brouwer certainly felt that way, and when he saw Laich getting to the puck in the zone, he bolted for the far goal. Laich saw him, and fed a long pass between the defenders to give him a breakaway.
Troy received it without issue (really, it was a beautiful pass) and put it high, blocker side, into the net to cut the margin in half. Play continued, back and forth, with the Caps having the better of it but unable to even the score until they pulled Holtby with a minute left.
With the extra attacker, they kept the puck in the zone for quite a while, working it around until Greenie got a slapshot off from the point that went off the post, off the back of Enroth's shoulder, and into the net to tie it with half a minute remaining. Unsurprisingly, both teams played to keep that standings point into overtime.
Alas, a DVR snafu kept me from seeing most of the overtime, but I caught the end of it, before it went into the shootout.
The shootout started the Caps way, with Buffalo electing to go first and having Pominville stopped by Holtby. Hendricks went next, with his normal move. He didn't get much more than a flinch from his normal fake, but still managed to stay half a step ahead of Enroth until he put the puck over Enroth's leg and into the net. Holtby then stopped Ennis as well, and things were feeling good.
I was actually looking forward to seeing Ribeiro or Wolski (who somehow made it out of Oates' doghouse for a game, and playing ok in very limited minutes), but OV got the call.
I usually prefer to see OV sweeping wide on his attempts, but he only went a little wide this time. But it worked out as he managed to find a tiny gap going over Enroth's stick in the five hole to give the Caps the two points.
Quite a finish to the game.
That left the Caps in Philadelphia on Sunday, with both teams in the second half of back-to-back games.
Things started well for the Caps, with them controlling play, and getting the first goal from a really nice tip-in from Backstrom. From there, things were pretty seriously downhill for the Caps as Talbot put a rebound past Holtby and Read scored on a breakaway (sprung by Giroux).
That was it for the first period. Though pretty heavily outplayed through the second, the Caps did manage one good moment as Laich found Green coming out of the box at the end of a penalty. Green took the pass cleanly for a breakaway, and put it past Bryz's right shoulder to tie the game.
The Caps power play wasn't for quite a while. It came up empty in the first and second, and was looking pretty bad through the first minute of a double-minor to Voracek (who took unkindly to a hard, but clean open-ice hit Oleksy put on Giroux). But Giroux tried to get a little too fancy before clearing the puck, and hit OV's skates when he tried. That left the puck dribbling out a little to MarJo, who stepped in and put it over Giroux and into the net.
Just twenty-six seconds later, Carlson got his point-to-half-wall pass to OV perfect (he'd put it into OV's feet with that pass a number of times recently) for the one-timer that Bryz had no chance on.
That's where things stayed for another six minutes, with the Caps having the two-goal advantage but getting outplayed pretty seriously. That's when Giroux scored, sixteen seconds into a power play, to cut the margin in half with about seven minutes left. I hate to say it, but it was a very nice play with good puck-movement.
But the one that was the real dagger came with only nine seconds left (shortly after a very questionable icing call, and with Bryz on the bench), as a seeing-eye shot from the point eluded everyone and snuck into the very edge of the net.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the Caps couldn't even manage a shot in the extra period, before Fedotenko's wrister from just outside the paint, with 94 seconds left, found the back of the net.
Man, that was a depressing way to end. Up two with eight minutes left... I imagine their odds of winning, at that point, were about 85%. Ugh. Again, quite a finish to the game, but not in a good way, this time.
The only positives are that they did still get a point out of that, and the non-Caps games over the last four or five days have gone about as favorably as possible for the Caps.
So if the Caps can beat the Canes tonight, they'll be in pretty decent shape. If Winnipeg also loses to the Islanders, they'll be two points behind with two games in hand. And regardless of what Winnipeg does, that would put them a game ahead of the Canes (although the Canes will have a game in hand as well).
This is, pretty much, make-or-break. If the Caps lose and Winnipeg wins, I think the white flag needs to go up. Carolina and Winnipeg can't keep playing as badly as they have the last week or two. But if the Caps win, then things aren't looking too bad.
But I still feel like they're going to be within a point of making the playoffs, one way or the other. I'm really worried that they'll miss by a point or two, not get any taste of the playoffs and be in horrible position in the draft. We'll see.
20130310
Stick a fork in 'em
Kind of depressing, these last two Caps games. I went into Saturday's game thinking that the Caps should win (and I still think they should have). They played reasonably well, and farily evenly, for the first half of the game. They were still down 2-1 at that point, but the play was pretty even.
They were pretty heavily outplayed for the rest of the second period, but kept the score even. And near the middle of the third, Backstrom even tied it up at two. But shortly after that, they took a pair of double minors, almost back-to-back, leaving themselves in the PK for a long, long time. Tavares scored on both power plays (thirty seconds apart, it turns out) to break the game open.
To make it even weirder, the reason I had no idea how close the two were scored is that the second one was in and out of the goal so fast that the refs couldn't tell that it was a goal. Play continued until the next stoppage (when the Islanders actually scored again) several minutes later. But they did award the Tavares goal (quite correctly), leaving the Caps with two more minutes of PK to go. So they were really playing PK for almost nine minutes straight. Ugh.
Unsurprisingly, they didn't manage to come close to doing anything else the rest of the period. In fact, when they finally got a power play, they managed to give up a shorty only nine seconds in (I was only half paying attention by that point, but that had to be only a second or two longer than the theoretical minimum for a short-handed score without the goalie being pulled). Sad.
That was enough for me to turn it off. Yuck.
One note of some encouragement. Holtby didn't get the start, which I was glad of, and with Neuvy sick again, Grubauer got the start. I don't think Gru was great, but he wasn't bad. I think he should have had two of the goals, but he did have a number of pretty awesome stops. And even if he had made both of the saves I thought he should have, they still would have lost. Oh, and while the overall save percentage was a lackluster .889, that includes saving 17 of 19 on the power play. Yep, 19 (!) power play shots. That's pretty darned good on the power play (and pretty sick that they gave up that many power play shots.
The other encouraging part was that the Backstrom goal was a thing of beauty. Not the shot itself, but the three consecutive one-touch passes leading to the one-touch shot. Fantastic setup.
Not so encouraging was that the shot total was 45-24. Not going to win too many games getting outplayed like that.
And the kicker was that Carolina won yesterday evening, so there was nothing to cushion the blow.
Today was annoying in a different way. I didn't check the start time until close to 1330, so I hadn't realized they were playing a second consecutive matinee game (I didn't think they ever did that). So when I turned it on, it was just in time to see the last second or two tick off the clock of the first period. And apparently they started out pretty strong (plus, the score was tied at one).
Shot differential wasn't looking good (down 12-8), but scoring chances were actually in the Caps favor.
That was as good as it got, though, as the ice was pretty heavily tilted in New York's favor. The Caps did manage some really beautiful chances, but only a couple of sustained barrages, which Biron calmly met.
Penalties were again a significant factor, too. OV managed to pick up two minors in a few seconds in the second. The Rangers scored on the delayed call, then still got an immediate power play (don't think I've ever seen that happen before). They then managed to score only forty seconds later to ice the game.
There were a few encouraging signs after that (the 5-on-3 at the end of the second period was particularly encouraging, and where several of those nice chances I remarked on came from), but no breakthrough.
And when they were really pushing hard, with only a couple minutes left in the game, the Rangers scored again to kill what little hope remained. I did not bother to watch those last couple minutes.
I'm a bit surprised now, looking at the box score, that the shot totals were almost even. It appears, though, that they weren't close at even strength. The Caps had nine power play shots, plus one short-handed, while the Rangers only had the one special teams shot. So at even strength it really wasn't very close. Not encouraging.
Anyway, the Caps have only a very slim chance at the playoffs now. I'd call them toast, although there's still a tiny chance if they can take all of the reamining games against Carolina (yeah, the next two games are a home-and-home with Carolina, and the margin is zero, there). Half the season is left, and they can afford to lose... five, maybe? Not looking good.
They were pretty heavily outplayed for the rest of the second period, but kept the score even. And near the middle of the third, Backstrom even tied it up at two. But shortly after that, they took a pair of double minors, almost back-to-back, leaving themselves in the PK for a long, long time. Tavares scored on both power plays (thirty seconds apart, it turns out) to break the game open.
To make it even weirder, the reason I had no idea how close the two were scored is that the second one was in and out of the goal so fast that the refs couldn't tell that it was a goal. Play continued until the next stoppage (when the Islanders actually scored again) several minutes later. But they did award the Tavares goal (quite correctly), leaving the Caps with two more minutes of PK to go. So they were really playing PK for almost nine minutes straight. Ugh.
Unsurprisingly, they didn't manage to come close to doing anything else the rest of the period. In fact, when they finally got a power play, they managed to give up a shorty only nine seconds in (I was only half paying attention by that point, but that had to be only a second or two longer than the theoretical minimum for a short-handed score without the goalie being pulled). Sad.
That was enough for me to turn it off. Yuck.
One note of some encouragement. Holtby didn't get the start, which I was glad of, and with Neuvy sick again, Grubauer got the start. I don't think Gru was great, but he wasn't bad. I think he should have had two of the goals, but he did have a number of pretty awesome stops. And even if he had made both of the saves I thought he should have, they still would have lost. Oh, and while the overall save percentage was a lackluster .889, that includes saving 17 of 19 on the power play. Yep, 19 (!) power play shots. That's pretty darned good on the power play (and pretty sick that they gave up that many power play shots.
The other encouraging part was that the Backstrom goal was a thing of beauty. Not the shot itself, but the three consecutive one-touch passes leading to the one-touch shot. Fantastic setup.
Not so encouraging was that the shot total was 45-24. Not going to win too many games getting outplayed like that.
And the kicker was that Carolina won yesterday evening, so there was nothing to cushion the blow.
Today was annoying in a different way. I didn't check the start time until close to 1330, so I hadn't realized they were playing a second consecutive matinee game (I didn't think they ever did that). So when I turned it on, it was just in time to see the last second or two tick off the clock of the first period. And apparently they started out pretty strong (plus, the score was tied at one).
Shot differential wasn't looking good (down 12-8), but scoring chances were actually in the Caps favor.
That was as good as it got, though, as the ice was pretty heavily tilted in New York's favor. The Caps did manage some really beautiful chances, but only a couple of sustained barrages, which Biron calmly met.
Penalties were again a significant factor, too. OV managed to pick up two minors in a few seconds in the second. The Rangers scored on the delayed call, then still got an immediate power play (don't think I've ever seen that happen before). They then managed to score only forty seconds later to ice the game.
There were a few encouraging signs after that (the 5-on-3 at the end of the second period was particularly encouraging, and where several of those nice chances I remarked on came from), but no breakthrough.
And when they were really pushing hard, with only a couple minutes left in the game, the Rangers scored again to kill what little hope remained. I did not bother to watch those last couple minutes.
I'm a bit surprised now, looking at the box score, that the shot totals were almost even. It appears, though, that they weren't close at even strength. The Caps had nine power play shots, plus one short-handed, while the Rangers only had the one special teams shot. So at even strength it really wasn't very close. Not encouraging.
Anyway, the Caps have only a very slim chance at the playoffs now. I'd call them toast, although there's still a tiny chance if they can take all of the reamining games against Carolina (yeah, the next two games are a home-and-home with Carolina, and the margin is zero, there). Half the season is left, and they can afford to lose... five, maybe? Not looking good.
20120313
Cardiac Caps, indeed
Well, the Caps have finally managed to make me regret turning a game off. The Caps weren't looking too good, and when they allowed an amazingly fluky goal nine minutes in, it really wasn't looking like their night. This goal deflected off a defender (or forward, it was tough to tell) to the side of, and above, the goal, bounced off the glass, and hit Neuvy in the stomach as he turned around to look for it. Next stop? In the goal. Ugh.
The Caps then allowed two more goals (both on the power play; one with twenty seconds left in the first, the second nine minutes into the second), and I thought about turning it off then. But the Caps cut the lead back to two twenty-eight seconds later (and now that I looked, they changed the scoring; they called this as a Wideman goal initially, but I guess Knuble did touch it for the deflection), so I left it on a bit longer. But when Tavares scored his second of the game two minutes later, I gave up.
And it appears I shouldn't have, now. OV got a tip-in from Laich with a minute left in the second to show a little life. And in the third, Dima scored two minutes in to make it close again. Eight minutes later, OV got another tip-in, this time from Coiner, to tie it up. And that was all the scoring.
I might need to queue up the rest of the video, though. It appears that Hendricks scored on the fourth Washington shoot-out attempt to win the game; I wonder if he used the same move as usual. Regardless, it's the first time Hunter has used Hendricks in the shoot-out; I wonder what happened. Semin, OV, and Dima took the first three, with only OV scoring.
In any event, Washington desperately needed this game, and I'm proud of them for not packing it in, and taking the game. And since the Islanders are out of the playoff picture, I don't even mind that we gave them a point in the process.
Underscoring how much the Caps needed it, Florida crushed Toronto to maintain their lead on the Caps.
Next up is Winnipeg on Friday, and again, the Caps need a win desperately, because after that come Chicago, Detroit, and Philly, all away. If they can win Friday, and come out of the other three games with two more points, I'll feel pretty good about their chances of getting into the playoffs. If not, they're toast.
The Caps then allowed two more goals (both on the power play; one with twenty seconds left in the first, the second nine minutes into the second), and I thought about turning it off then. But the Caps cut the lead back to two twenty-eight seconds later (and now that I looked, they changed the scoring; they called this as a Wideman goal initially, but I guess Knuble did touch it for the deflection), so I left it on a bit longer. But when Tavares scored his second of the game two minutes later, I gave up.
And it appears I shouldn't have, now. OV got a tip-in from Laich with a minute left in the second to show a little life. And in the third, Dima scored two minutes in to make it close again. Eight minutes later, OV got another tip-in, this time from Coiner, to tie it up. And that was all the scoring.
I might need to queue up the rest of the video, though. It appears that Hendricks scored on the fourth Washington shoot-out attempt to win the game; I wonder if he used the same move as usual. Regardless, it's the first time Hunter has used Hendricks in the shoot-out; I wonder what happened. Semin, OV, and Dima took the first three, with only OV scoring.
In any event, Washington desperately needed this game, and I'm proud of them for not packing it in, and taking the game. And since the Islanders are out of the playoff picture, I don't even mind that we gave them a point in the process.
Underscoring how much the Caps needed it, Florida crushed Toronto to maintain their lead on the Caps.
Next up is Winnipeg on Friday, and again, the Caps need a win desperately, because after that come Chicago, Detroit, and Philly, all away. If they can win Friday, and come out of the other three games with two more points, I'll feel pretty good about their chances of getting into the playoffs. If not, they're toast.
20120228
Cardiac Caps are back?
Well, tonight was quite the game for the Caps. I watched the first period without being able to pay too much attention, unfortunately (had to watch the kids), but they didn't seem all that great. And the goal allowed was some pretty terrible defense (first on Shultz, who went down too early to try to block a shot, and then on the other players who were back, who didn't pick up for him. Perreault tried to help out on the back-check, but was too far away).
But when I saw the period summary, the Caps were ahead on shots and chances pretty comfortably, so I was feeling a lot better heading into the second. The second didn't start out too well, as the Islanders were ahead on shots 8-1 at one point, but they started coming around before it was over. At the end, the Caps were way behind on shots (though ahead for the game) but still ahead on chances.
So things were still looking decent heading into the third, despite being down a goal. But a barely-deflected shot got past Neuvy a couple of minutes in, leaving the chance of walking out with a victory very slim. And the Islanders were not content to sit back and play defense after scoring, either. The Caps were trying, but couldn't get much offense for quite a while. When Brouwer took a delay of game penalty with seven and a half left, it was getting pretty dire. They killed off that penalty without any great drama, and started to generate some offensive zone time, but nothing was getting past Nabokov.
But Perreault got the puck in the corner with three and a half left, and whipped it across the crease to Brouwer on the doorstep for an easy tip-in to bring it back within one.
They pulled Neuvy shortly thereafter, and weathered some very near misses by the Lon Gislanders. New York threw the puck over the boards (onto the bench) with half a minute remaining, giving the Caps an O-zone faceoff to try to win. Halpern got the puck back, with Wideman pushing it back to Laich. Laich's shot through a metric truckload of traffic deflected off Brouwer and into the short side of the net to send the crowd into pandemonium. Unsurprisingly, both teams pretty much played four corners ball to send the game into overtime at two apiece.
Not much happened in the first minute or so of overtime, but as the line changes were just going to turn the second shift into the third, OV was sprung down the left-hand side, with just one defender. I think he was trying his old, shoot between the legs so the defender is a screen, move, but put it inside the defender. It still fooled Nabokov five-hole, though, giving OV his... 11th? I think, career overtime goal.
It was quite the finish to what had been a pretty innocuous game for fifty-six minutes. And Troy got his only two goals of the month in regulation, there.
Neuvy had a very good game, with some great saves. And while the second goal deflected so little that I'd like to say he should have had it, he made plenty of excellent stops to make up for it.
Schultz had that one gaffe, but was good otherwise. Orlov had a couple of rookie plays, unfortunately, though he also did well at the end, when the chips were down.
This felt like an '09-10 game, where the Caps were always coming from behind in the third period and OT. I'm not sure I really want to return to those days (well, I didn't like their tendency to rely on doing that, but I did love their ability to do it), but it was great to see for one night. And to see them win when allowing more than one goal.
Can't celebrate it too much, especially with Florida also winning, but we'll hope they go into Friday's Devils game riding high.
But when I saw the period summary, the Caps were ahead on shots and chances pretty comfortably, so I was feeling a lot better heading into the second. The second didn't start out too well, as the Islanders were ahead on shots 8-1 at one point, but they started coming around before it was over. At the end, the Caps were way behind on shots (though ahead for the game) but still ahead on chances.
So things were still looking decent heading into the third, despite being down a goal. But a barely-deflected shot got past Neuvy a couple of minutes in, leaving the chance of walking out with a victory very slim. And the Islanders were not content to sit back and play defense after scoring, either. The Caps were trying, but couldn't get much offense for quite a while. When Brouwer took a delay of game penalty with seven and a half left, it was getting pretty dire. They killed off that penalty without any great drama, and started to generate some offensive zone time, but nothing was getting past Nabokov.
But Perreault got the puck in the corner with three and a half left, and whipped it across the crease to Brouwer on the doorstep for an easy tip-in to bring it back within one.
They pulled Neuvy shortly thereafter, and weathered some very near misses by the Lon Gislanders. New York threw the puck over the boards (onto the bench) with half a minute remaining, giving the Caps an O-zone faceoff to try to win. Halpern got the puck back, with Wideman pushing it back to Laich. Laich's shot through a metric truckload of traffic deflected off Brouwer and into the short side of the net to send the crowd into pandemonium. Unsurprisingly, both teams pretty much played four corners ball to send the game into overtime at two apiece.
Not much happened in the first minute or so of overtime, but as the line changes were just going to turn the second shift into the third, OV was sprung down the left-hand side, with just one defender. I think he was trying his old, shoot between the legs so the defender is a screen, move, but put it inside the defender. It still fooled Nabokov five-hole, though, giving OV his... 11th? I think, career overtime goal.
It was quite the finish to what had been a pretty innocuous game for fifty-six minutes. And Troy got his only two goals of the month in regulation, there.
Neuvy had a very good game, with some great saves. And while the second goal deflected so little that I'd like to say he should have had it, he made plenty of excellent stops to make up for it.
Schultz had that one gaffe, but was good otherwise. Orlov had a couple of rookie plays, unfortunately, though he also did well at the end, when the chips were down.
This felt like an '09-10 game, where the Caps were always coming from behind in the third period and OT. I'm not sure I really want to return to those days (well, I didn't like their tendency to rely on doing that, but I did love their ability to do it), but it was great to see for one night. And to see them win when allowing more than one goal.
Can't celebrate it too much, especially with Florida also winning, but we'll hope they go into Friday's Devils game riding high.
20120117
Isle Chatter
Tonight's Caps game was one of the worst they've played all season. They weren't blown out of the water by a superior team (which, I'm becoming more and more convinced, is most of the league), they didn't fall asleep, but were just outplayed from beginning to end by a team they should be able to beat. Especially at home. Especially when that other team played the night before.
They were just out of sync all night; there were a ton of giveaways (the scoresheet says ten; I would have guessed several more). There was only one case of running into one another, but there were several other close calls (two or three instances of stickhandling below/between the feet of a team-mate.
As usual, they were badly outshot (and badly outchanced in the first, 6-1). They didn't even manage to outshoot the Isles in the third, which they entered down by two. It's very rare that a team down by two or more doesn't outshoot the opposition. Well, these Caps managed it.
I'm not sure what's going on (obviously, missing Backstrom and Green doesn't help), but I'm beginning to think this team is just fundamentally broken. Hunter might have fixed some of the glaring problems seen under Boudreau, but I'm not certain he hasn't introduced new ones that are as big, if not bigger, than the original ones.
Put simply, they need to do a better job getting, and keeping, the puck. And they need to shoot more. Seventeen shots is pathetic. And they were outshot in every period. Again.
TVo actually did a good job of keeping this from becoming a rout. Two of the goals he had no chance on, and the third would have required a magnificent save.
I hope this is just a blip where every bounce went the wrong way for the Caps, but I'm very dubious.
We won't have to wait long to find out a bit more, though; there'll be a game tomorrow night in Montreal. I wouldn't want to be on the flight up there; that's for sure.
As a side note for tomorrow's game, Rene Bourque (who delivered the dirty hit on Backstrom that has kept him out of the lineup) was traded to Montreal, and will be playing. We'll see what kind of fireworks that leads to. I'm guessing that Erskine will be dressing for the Caps tomorrow.
On a vaguely similar note, Green was put on IR (as I speculated, the other night), but was moved to LTIR today, and had sports hernia surgery. They're now saying 4-6 weeks recovery. Nice to have a better idea what's going on. Get better, Mike. This team needs you, desperately, but they need you 100%.
Update: After thinking about it, I might have been a little bit harsh (not a lot, but a little). In the Caps defense, when outshot in the third last night, they did spent a lot of time killing penalties.
They were just out of sync all night; there were a ton of giveaways (the scoresheet says ten; I would have guessed several more). There was only one case of running into one another, but there were several other close calls (two or three instances of stickhandling below/between the feet of a team-mate.
As usual, they were badly outshot (and badly outchanced in the first, 6-1). They didn't even manage to outshoot the Isles in the third, which they entered down by two. It's very rare that a team down by two or more doesn't outshoot the opposition. Well, these Caps managed it.
I'm not sure what's going on (obviously, missing Backstrom and Green doesn't help), but I'm beginning to think this team is just fundamentally broken. Hunter might have fixed some of the glaring problems seen under Boudreau, but I'm not certain he hasn't introduced new ones that are as big, if not bigger, than the original ones.
Put simply, they need to do a better job getting, and keeping, the puck. And they need to shoot more. Seventeen shots is pathetic. And they were outshot in every period. Again.
TVo actually did a good job of keeping this from becoming a rout. Two of the goals he had no chance on, and the third would have required a magnificent save.
I hope this is just a blip where every bounce went the wrong way for the Caps, but I'm very dubious.
We won't have to wait long to find out a bit more, though; there'll be a game tomorrow night in Montreal. I wouldn't want to be on the flight up there; that's for sure.
As a side note for tomorrow's game, Rene Bourque (who delivered the dirty hit on Backstrom that has kept him out of the lineup) was traded to Montreal, and will be playing. We'll see what kind of fireworks that leads to. I'm guessing that Erskine will be dressing for the Caps tomorrow.
On a vaguely similar note, Green was put on IR (as I speculated, the other night), but was moved to LTIR today, and had sports hernia surgery. They're now saying 4-6 weeks recovery. Nice to have a better idea what's going on. Get better, Mike. This team needs you, desperately, but they need you 100%.
Update: After thinking about it, I might have been a little bit harsh (not a lot, but a little). In the Caps defense, when outshot in the third last night, they did spent a lot of time killing penalties.
20110226
All in a New York Minute
Two New York games for the Caps this week. The first was against the Rangers, with the second on the Island.
The first, against the injury-depleted Rangers, was the Caps second-worst game of the season, I think (behind only the 7-0 drubbing from back in December). I saw nothing good in the newly two periods I watched of it. I turned it off after the second time I got up in the second period, and came back to find another goal scored. At 4-0, I was seeing no signs of any reason to hope. They weren't being unlucky (well, maybe a little, but not significantly), they were just getting out-worked, and generally worked over, by the Rangers.
How upset was management? Perreault got sent down, DJ got waived (about time, that), Marco Sturm was picked up off waivers, MarJo started the Islanders game centering OV and Knuble, and the lines were generally shuffled.
Tonight's game against the Islander started out just as bad. Actually, given all the horrendous turnovers in the first period, maybe even worse. But Neuvy had a stellar game, thankfully, and kept them in it. Actually, his game was even better than it appeared, as he can't really be blamed for either goal tonight. One was a very nice screen (on which Alzner made an uncharacteristically terrible play), and the other was just a fluke on a knuckling puck.
But really, the Caps only had, I think, two good shifts in the first period. One was the Caps first shot of the game; a nice one by OV. The other was some beautiful, sustained pressure that ended with seven minutes left in the period. And it only ended because one of the Islanders got hit by a puck, and the play was whistled dead.
The second period started out similarly listless, with a second goal being surrendered about a minute in. And it kept going like that until just after the midpoint of the period, when Laich got a fairly lucky goal off a turnover at mid-ice. Somehow, the Caps seemed to turn it on about then, and play very well for the rest of the game.
In fact, they played well enough to end up winning the game, with Knuble and Semin (playing on the again-reconstituted SOB line) getting the tying and winning goals, respectively. Neuvy kept the Islanders off the sheet for the remainder of the game, backstopping the win.
So it's with mixed feelings, and a bit of tripidation, that I say, "Yay".
Next up will be the Islanders again on Tuesday, this time at home. We will hope that the team that finished tonight's game will show up, not the team that started it.
The first, against the injury-depleted Rangers, was the Caps second-worst game of the season, I think (behind only the 7-0 drubbing from back in December). I saw nothing good in the newly two periods I watched of it. I turned it off after the second time I got up in the second period, and came back to find another goal scored. At 4-0, I was seeing no signs of any reason to hope. They weren't being unlucky (well, maybe a little, but not significantly), they were just getting out-worked, and generally worked over, by the Rangers.
How upset was management? Perreault got sent down, DJ got waived (about time, that), Marco Sturm was picked up off waivers, MarJo started the Islanders game centering OV and Knuble, and the lines were generally shuffled.
Tonight's game against the Islander started out just as bad. Actually, given all the horrendous turnovers in the first period, maybe even worse. But Neuvy had a stellar game, thankfully, and kept them in it. Actually, his game was even better than it appeared, as he can't really be blamed for either goal tonight. One was a very nice screen (on which Alzner made an uncharacteristically terrible play), and the other was just a fluke on a knuckling puck.
But really, the Caps only had, I think, two good shifts in the first period. One was the Caps first shot of the game; a nice one by OV. The other was some beautiful, sustained pressure that ended with seven minutes left in the period. And it only ended because one of the Islanders got hit by a puck, and the play was whistled dead.
The second period started out similarly listless, with a second goal being surrendered about a minute in. And it kept going like that until just after the midpoint of the period, when Laich got a fairly lucky goal off a turnover at mid-ice. Somehow, the Caps seemed to turn it on about then, and play very well for the rest of the game.
In fact, they played well enough to end up winning the game, with Knuble and Semin (playing on the again-reconstituted SOB line) getting the tying and winning goals, respectively. Neuvy kept the Islanders off the sheet for the remainder of the game, backstopping the win.
So it's with mixed feelings, and a bit of tripidation, that I say, "Yay".
Next up will be the Islanders again on Tuesday, this time at home. We will hope that the team that finished tonight's game will show up, not the team that started it.
20110121
Isling the Night Away
I'm not sure how I wrote previously that the Caps would be playing the Rangers last night. I know I looked it up at least once. I guess I must have just seen New York, and turned off my brain. In any event, the Islanders were the opponent for the game last night.
Due to some technical screw-up (I couldn't get my Blu-ray player on the internet without disconnecting my dvr; it should have worked with both. I'll fix it later, so that it does), I missed the first several minutes of the game. So I missed Chimmer's early goal fed by OV and Backstrom. But at least I saw Backstrom's later goal that broke him out of his 21-game goal-less streak.
Both of these goals, though, were caused by OV going to the outside. As we can see, he becomes a whole lot more effective when he isn't just cutting inside to his forehand (no matter how good that move is. And it is). If last night is any indication (please, please, please, please), he'll be fine the rest of the season.
Moving on, things looked pretty good otherwise. The penalty kill was good; the power play didn't score, but did generate good chances. Holtby looked pretty good; not fantastic, but not overmatched, either (one goal on 25 shots is nothing to sneeze at). I even saw a good defensive play by Erskine, where he tied up a forward's stick so that the guy couldn't get a deflection on a shot (Holtby gloved the shot).
On the whole, the team looked pretty good. The effort was there, at least, and that's the single biggest thing I'm looking for, these days. I didn't see the line-shuffling of the last several games (though maybe I just missed it), so maybe we'll get a bit more chemistry. DJ played again, but got even fewer minutes than last game (a hair under 3-1/2).
I am surprised the Islanders don't have more points. Their forecheck looked very good last night, and definitely gave the Caps problems.
Perrault looked pretty good last night. It'd definitely be good if he could become more effective on the boards (given his size, that's tough to do, I know), but he's still doing a good job of driving possession. And he even won the majority of his face-offs last night. Woot!
MarJo, on the other hand, looked generally good, but lost all of his faceoffs. If he can't start winning at least 45% of his faceoffs (and we'd really like to see 50, of course), I don't know if he can really be an effective center, despite his other abilities (and I do like the rest of his game).
My only other comment on the game was that the officiating was, at best, uneven. Really, the Caps should have had several more power plays. I thought the same thing in the Philly game the other night, but at least in that one, the Flyers weren't getting many either. Grr.
Next up, the away streak continues with the Leafs in Toronto. Let's hope that the effort keeps up. And maybe, that Semin returns. We could really use some more scoring.
Due to some technical screw-up (I couldn't get my Blu-ray player on the internet without disconnecting my dvr; it should have worked with both. I'll fix it later, so that it does), I missed the first several minutes of the game. So I missed Chimmer's early goal fed by OV and Backstrom. But at least I saw Backstrom's later goal that broke him out of his 21-game goal-less streak.
Both of these goals, though, were caused by OV going to the outside. As we can see, he becomes a whole lot more effective when he isn't just cutting inside to his forehand (no matter how good that move is. And it is). If last night is any indication (please, please, please, please), he'll be fine the rest of the season.
Moving on, things looked pretty good otherwise. The penalty kill was good; the power play didn't score, but did generate good chances. Holtby looked pretty good; not fantastic, but not overmatched, either (one goal on 25 shots is nothing to sneeze at). I even saw a good defensive play by Erskine, where he tied up a forward's stick so that the guy couldn't get a deflection on a shot (Holtby gloved the shot).
On the whole, the team looked pretty good. The effort was there, at least, and that's the single biggest thing I'm looking for, these days. I didn't see the line-shuffling of the last several games (though maybe I just missed it), so maybe we'll get a bit more chemistry. DJ played again, but got even fewer minutes than last game (a hair under 3-1/2).
I am surprised the Islanders don't have more points. Their forecheck looked very good last night, and definitely gave the Caps problems.
Perrault looked pretty good last night. It'd definitely be good if he could become more effective on the boards (given his size, that's tough to do, I know), but he's still doing a good job of driving possession. And he even won the majority of his face-offs last night. Woot!
MarJo, on the other hand, looked generally good, but lost all of his faceoffs. If he can't start winning at least 45% of his faceoffs (and we'd really like to see 50, of course), I don't know if he can really be an effective center, despite his other abilities (and I do like the rest of his game).
My only other comment on the game was that the officiating was, at best, uneven. Really, the Caps should have had several more power plays. I thought the same thing in the Philly game the other night, but at least in that one, the Flyers weren't getting many either. Grr.
Next up, the away streak continues with the Leafs in Toronto. Let's hope that the effort keeps up. And maybe, that Semin returns. We could really use some more scoring.
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