Righting the ship

After their worst game of the season a couple of nights ago, the Caps put things together better for a very nice game against the Hurricanes. The score was only 3-2, but the game was very well played outside of the first eight minutes of the third period.

I was really surprised by that, especially with Green out. In fact, the power play looked much better tonight than it did the last stretch in which Green was missing. The defense selection was very... mixed, I guess. Green being out was quite worrisome, but Poti in was good. Sloan out wasn't too bad, but exchanging him for Fahey was less encouraging. But they mostly held together quite well.

I was happy to see Varly back (though somewhat less so, given why he was back), although I didn't think he looked all that great. I guess I've gotten spoiled by watching Neuvy so much, but Varly seemed a bit out of position fairly frequently. And he certainly allowed a lot more rebounds. I'm hoping that is all because of rust. Having said that, there's no way at all to blame him for the first goal, and the second one would have also been tough.

OV had his best game in quite a while. Perhaps swinging him over to the other side threw the defense off more than it affected him. Plus, he cut to his backhand for only the second time I've seen all year (though I've only seen most of every game, not all of them). And he was really buzzing around. He didn't pot any, but did have three assists, and consistently looked like a threat. Ya-hoo!

Anyway, don't want to get too excited, but the team looked really good overall. Now, to head down to Tampa and try to take a couple of points from the Lightning.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

Angry, Angry Play

Well, the Caps did play like an angry team finally. Ovie looked particularly motivated early in the game. They showed up for the whole game, and mostly played well.

But the results were not there tonight. Neuvy allowed two goals on seven shots (at least one of which he had no chance on). Apparently, he wasn't feeling well, as he left before the thirteen-minute mark. Varly did very well in relieving him, allowing one goal on a shot that had, I think, five players screening him (thirteen saves).

MarJo got his first North American goal, and had a pretty good game overall. And the PK maintained its perfection, despite a 53-second 5-on-3. In fact, it even generated a couple of chances. The team, as a whole, put the puck on net quite a lot (36 shots).

But that's about the end of the positives. Sarge was finally on the ice for a defensive score. The Power Play wasn't. I just looked, and the face-offs were about even, although it sure didn't feel like it in real time.

I guess we'll just have to see if things come together a bit better on Thursday. Hopefully, Green and Neuvy will both be available for that one.