I've been having trouble watching Caps games, lately, with my dad having health problems. But I was able to watch the Caps/Jets game the other day only a couple of hours after initial puck-drop.
It was a game with some definite surprises beforehand. A slight surprise was that Holtby was in net, but the big surprises were at the blue-line. Green and Erskine were both out (still don't know why for Erskine, although Green's injury is a concussion), and Strachan was sent back down, so Wey and Brouillette were called up to be the third pairing. This was a bit concerning, as Wey was underwhelming in his previous game, and Brouillette was getting his first NHL action (after four years mostly spent in the AHL).
I'm not sure why Wey and Brouillette were called up, rather than Oleksy and Schmidt, but it did work out ok.
In fact, the game started out pretty well for the Caps, with play more often in their offensive end. And the MarJo, Wellman, and Brouwer line had a couple of good shifts, culminating in a Brouwer goal (helped by Pavelec playing with a broken stick) five minutes in. Things were significantly downhill after that, and for quite a while. Eight minutes later, Little deflected a Ladd shot past Holtby, and Byfuglien scored six minutes into the second.
But Holtby was huge, and kept the Caps in the game until the end of the second. At that point, they were actually getting outplayed so badly that I was tempted to turn the game off. And that's despite Washington getting three of the four power plays up to that point.
But the Caps woke up a bit in the third. After a small flurry a couple minutes in, they solidly dominated the rest of the way. And that paid off with a Wey->Brouillette->Wilson (?!?) goal in the fourth minute (Wey played across to Brouillette, who shot wide, with the rebound going to Wilson as he skated into the slot). OV added his fortieth four minutes later, when he backhanded in a rebound of a Backstrom shot (itself a rebound of an Alzner shot).
And Brouwer finished out the scoring eight minutes later when he got on a 2-on-1 with MarJo, and MarJo passed to Brouwer so Troy could backhand it over Pavelec from only a few feet out. Interestingly on this one, Carrick had the second assist as he passed ahead to them, and Laich was on the ice by the time the goal was scored (unknown what happened to Wellman being with the other two).
The two goals led to Brouwer getting first star of the game, despite a Corsi For under 30% (5-on-5). MarJo was at the same level. Bad process, good results.
On the flip side, Wey and Brouillette were both a hair over 50%, so that was encouraging. And there was a funny note there, as that goal they both got assists on was the first NHL point for each. Speculation was rampant that they'd be cutting the puck in half, and giving each of them part. Haven't heard anything since on what was done.
The power play for the game was only ok, with eight shots (thirteen attempted) over their eight minutes with the advantage. That's not bad, but a bit less than I'd like to see. They also had two shots against, which is definitely more than I'd prefer.
The PK was not terribly good, with three shots against (and one blocked) in only two minutes. They kept the puck out of the net, but wouldn't do so if they kept allowing that shot rate against for much longer.
But the better part was that they stayed out of the box, and only gave up those two minutes.
And Holtby was again excellent, with only those two goals on thirty-six shots. Granted, worse than he did over two or three games against Winnipeg last year, but nothing to sneeze at.
Overall, a not-terribly-good game for the Caps, but at least Holtby stole one for them.
I'll write about the Devils game separately.
Showing posts with label jets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jets. Show all posts
20140211
20131025
Leavin', on a jet plane...
[Again, I wrote this a couple of days ago.]
I was able to watch last night's Caps/Jets game in toto, happily. Unfortunately, it looked much like the previous game.
One early change was that Erskine was back from injury, and pushed Urbom back into the press box. Otherwise, offensive lines and defensive pairs were the same.
The first period was fairly quiet, with a lot of back and forth. The Jets started pulling ahead halfway through, in possession, but were unable to break through. And the Caps caught back up close to the end. But they were unable to solve Pavelec, as well.
In the second period, all hell broke loose. The second line mounted a strong charge a couple minutes in, culminating in Grabo slotting home a rebound from an Erskine shot three minutes in. Things were looking fairly good from that, especially when, a few minutes later, the Caps got a power play. Things looked pretty good through the first three-quarters of a minute of that, but then a good defensive play led to a short-handed breakaway and a short-handed goal by Little. Washington got a little pressure, but no score, on the rest of the power play. And then things went south, with Clitsome scoring to give Winnipeg the lead.
Things went back and forth, with Winnipeg getting a number of breakaway opportunities, but no goals. Then MarJo sprung OV for a breakaway, and he backhanded it past Pavelec to tie things up. Things were really looking good when OV scored again, a couple minutes later, three seconds after a faceoff caused by his own near-miss shot. But Wheeler deflected in a fairly soft point shot by Kane in the final minute to knot things up again.
The third period was much like the second, with Washington getting more zone time (I think; that's certainly what it felt like) but Winnipeg getting a number of breakaways and odd-man rushes. But Brouwer and Little were the only ones to find the back of the net, and regulation ended in a tie.
Overtime started well for the Caps, with them getting quite a bit of zone time (although I certainly wondered about Backstrom and Brouwer being out together). But they didn't get any shots during that minute or so, and it was all Jets from there on out. But Holtby, happily, was up to the task.
Both coaches started the shootout with a pair of the goal scorers, but all of them were stopped. Then Ladd and Backstrom both score. Then the teams started digging a bit deeper, and Jokinen, Laich, Setoguchi, and Brouwer all scored. Finally, Kane was stopped by Holtby (in a play that looked remarkably similar to the attempts of Wheeler and Little), and Erat got a chance. They didn't even give his career shootout record, but he managed to go 5-hole on Pavelec to seal the win.
Several things struck me about all this. One, the Caps aren't very good, offensively, in the shootout. The two best Caps had career marks of 35%. Three of the Jets were better than that, and a fourth, I believe, was very close.
More generally, in the game, it was similar to the game before, with lots of defensemen pushing the play leading to a boatload of odd-man rushes the other way. This is not working; it needs to be abandoned, or the wings need to get a lot better at covering. It looked close enough for them to be able to learn against Columbus; it did not, against Winnipeg.
Perhaps related (or maybe not, I'm not sure), but the power play looked only ok. Part of that was not doing as well on the faceoffs. But they gave up several breakaways the other direction that led to Winnipeg having only one fewer short-handed shot (seven) than Washington did on the power play. And the same number of goals. Ugly.
Green was held out of the entire overtime, and the shootout. I suspect that either he was hurt by a hit late in the game (goodness, I hope not) or Oates decided he was a culprit in too many of those breakaways (I only tracked the cause of a couple of them. One by Oleksy trying to duplicate his success last game; that led to a 3-on-1 with Erskine defending. Somehow, Big John got the stop, but Wilson immediately got called for crosschecking, in trying to prevent rebound attempts. And the power play problems were definitely Green or Carlson (Green is more likely)). We'll have to see.
In terms of possession, it was not a good game. The Caps did well with the score tied (razor-thin edge), but poorly otherwise.
Kane's line was particularly good, showing a lot of speed and power (Byfuglien, backing them up, contributed to the latter). Little was also causing a lot of havok around Washington's back line.
Holtby, despite allowing four goals (on 47 shots), actually had a fantastic night. He stopped an amazing number of in-close shots, and looked good in the shootout. I'm actually surprised he didn't get one of the stars of the night.
I was able to watch last night's Caps/Jets game in toto, happily. Unfortunately, it looked much like the previous game.
One early change was that Erskine was back from injury, and pushed Urbom back into the press box. Otherwise, offensive lines and defensive pairs were the same.
The first period was fairly quiet, with a lot of back and forth. The Jets started pulling ahead halfway through, in possession, but were unable to break through. And the Caps caught back up close to the end. But they were unable to solve Pavelec, as well.
In the second period, all hell broke loose. The second line mounted a strong charge a couple minutes in, culminating in Grabo slotting home a rebound from an Erskine shot three minutes in. Things were looking fairly good from that, especially when, a few minutes later, the Caps got a power play. Things looked pretty good through the first three-quarters of a minute of that, but then a good defensive play led to a short-handed breakaway and a short-handed goal by Little. Washington got a little pressure, but no score, on the rest of the power play. And then things went south, with Clitsome scoring to give Winnipeg the lead.
Things went back and forth, with Winnipeg getting a number of breakaway opportunities, but no goals. Then MarJo sprung OV for a breakaway, and he backhanded it past Pavelec to tie things up. Things were really looking good when OV scored again, a couple minutes later, three seconds after a faceoff caused by his own near-miss shot. But Wheeler deflected in a fairly soft point shot by Kane in the final minute to knot things up again.
The third period was much like the second, with Washington getting more zone time (I think; that's certainly what it felt like) but Winnipeg getting a number of breakaways and odd-man rushes. But Brouwer and Little were the only ones to find the back of the net, and regulation ended in a tie.
Overtime started well for the Caps, with them getting quite a bit of zone time (although I certainly wondered about Backstrom and Brouwer being out together). But they didn't get any shots during that minute or so, and it was all Jets from there on out. But Holtby, happily, was up to the task.
Both coaches started the shootout with a pair of the goal scorers, but all of them were stopped. Then Ladd and Backstrom both score. Then the teams started digging a bit deeper, and Jokinen, Laich, Setoguchi, and Brouwer all scored. Finally, Kane was stopped by Holtby (in a play that looked remarkably similar to the attempts of Wheeler and Little), and Erat got a chance. They didn't even give his career shootout record, but he managed to go 5-hole on Pavelec to seal the win.
Several things struck me about all this. One, the Caps aren't very good, offensively, in the shootout. The two best Caps had career marks of 35%. Three of the Jets were better than that, and a fourth, I believe, was very close.
More generally, in the game, it was similar to the game before, with lots of defensemen pushing the play leading to a boatload of odd-man rushes the other way. This is not working; it needs to be abandoned, or the wings need to get a lot better at covering. It looked close enough for them to be able to learn against Columbus; it did not, against Winnipeg.
Perhaps related (or maybe not, I'm not sure), but the power play looked only ok. Part of that was not doing as well on the faceoffs. But they gave up several breakaways the other direction that led to Winnipeg having only one fewer short-handed shot (seven) than Washington did on the power play. And the same number of goals. Ugly.
Green was held out of the entire overtime, and the shootout. I suspect that either he was hurt by a hit late in the game (goodness, I hope not) or Oates decided he was a culprit in too many of those breakaways (I only tracked the cause of a couple of them. One by Oleksy trying to duplicate his success last game; that led to a 3-on-1 with Erskine defending. Somehow, Big John got the stop, but Wilson immediately got called for crosschecking, in trying to prevent rebound attempts. And the power play problems were definitely Green or Carlson (Green is more likely)). We'll have to see.
In terms of possession, it was not a good game. The Caps did well with the score tied (razor-thin edge), but poorly otherwise.
Kane's line was particularly good, showing a lot of speed and power (Byfuglien, backing them up, contributed to the latter). Little was also causing a lot of havok around Washington's back line.
Holtby, despite allowing four goals (on 47 shots), actually had a fantastic night. He stopped an amazing number of in-close shots, and looked good in the shootout. I'm actually surprised he didn't get one of the stars of the night.
20131004
Ondrej the giant?
I was reading the Down Goes Brown recently, and McIndoe's opening night post. Some funny stuff there.
But what got me thinking was his bringing up Ondrej Pavelec. I hadn't looked at his overall numbers, but has seemed to me that Pavelec has done pretty well against the Caps, over his career. So I was surprised to see his overall numbers aren't that great. So, has he been that good against the Caps? Well... not so much. Not that that's terrible, but it's a bit below league average (though a hair better than his overall numbers). I wish I had the breakout by year.
The other part that I found interesting was his number of games against, by team. He's played the Caps quite a bit more than anyone else; 25 against the Caps, with the second highest being the Lightning, at 19. I wonder if that's just because the Caps have been good, so they never (outside of that one game) put the backup in against Washington.
Anyway, I might be the only one, but I found it interesting.
But what got me thinking was his bringing up Ondrej Pavelec. I hadn't looked at his overall numbers, but has seemed to me that Pavelec has done pretty well against the Caps, over his career. So I was surprised to see his overall numbers aren't that great. So, has he been that good against the Caps? Well... not so much. Not that that's terrible, but it's a bit below league average (though a hair better than his overall numbers). I wish I had the breakout by year.
The other part that I found interesting was his number of games against, by team. He's played the Caps quite a bit more than anyone else; 25 against the Caps, with the second highest being the Lightning, at 19. I wonder if that's just because the Caps have been good, so they never (outside of that one game) put the backup in against Washington.
Anyway, I might be the only one, but I found it interesting.
20130423
Jetting to the Title
Thanks to last night's win by the Jets over Buffalo, the Caps came into tonight's game needing a regulation or overtime win to clinch the Southeast Division title for the season. And they came out flying, taking it to the Jets, and playing hard to keep it in the offensive zone.
They got a break early, too, when Hendricks put one in off the back of Pavelec's shoulder from the corner for an early lead. Play went back and forth for a while after that, with play generally favoring the Caps, but the Jets having a pair of unbelievable chances. One of those chances was literally pulled off the goal line by Erskine (he'd actually made a nice play on the earlier incredible chance as well, where Carlson ended up clearing the puck from the paint when Holtby was down); that one took a substantial review to be sure it hadn't completely crossed (it did mostly cross, but did not clearly make it all the way. If the call in play had been a goal, I don't think the call would have been reversed; it was that close).
But the Caps did continue to play hard, and were rewarded again, this time by the third line, when Chimmer took a pass from Perreault, pulled it a few feet over, in front of the net, put it off of Pavelec, then knocked the rebound over Ondrej to double the margin.
Half a minute later, Volpatti took a slashing penalty when he retaliated for a shot to his head (no call), and went off. The Caps did a good job holding them off for the rest of the period, and took their two-goal lead into the intermission.
For the period, they had a solid six-shot edge, and had to be feeling pretty good.
But things did not continue well in the second, as Kane was given an uncontested entry into the zone, and put the puck into the far side of the net only sixteen seconds in (and five seconds before the power play expired; Erskine's only real negative on the night was being the screen on this shot), cutting the margin in half. Play continued, mostly favoring the Caps, but the Jets were still the next team to score.
Oleksy took the puck behind the net, and threw it around the boards, but Antropov intercepted there and three it into the high slot where Wheeler immediately buried it into the net. I must admit, I was getting a bit worried at that point.
Oates responded by throwing the top line out there, and they delivered on that shift. Nicky took the puck over the blue line, and tossed it wide to OV on the right. OV got half a step on the defender and threw it back across the net, between Nick's defender's legs, and off of Backstrom and in (which was all sorts of weird. It got reviewed, even though there was nothing resembling a kicking motion, and, even stranger, OV was initially credited with the goal).
A couple minutes later, the third line struck again when the puck ended up loose in front of Pavelec in the slot. Everyone was reaching for it, but Matty hit it with his stick first, and it carried over Ondrej and into the back of the net.
So after a very busy second period, where the Caps again had a large edge in shots, the Caps were still up two.
The third period was more even than the first two (especially in terms of shots), though the Caps did get a power play five minutes in. It wasn't a great power play overall, though it did get a couple of good chances. But no insurance goal.
In fact, the lead was cut in half again, four minutes after that power play ended, when Antropov carried in without being met at the line. He then put a wrist shot into the top corner before he could be fully engaged by the Caps blueliners.
That led to some fairly frantic play, especially when Perreault got called for high sticking, although the PK did a fantastic job on that kill. They not only held Winnipeg shotless, but got two opportunities of their own. Brouwer got a beautiful breakaway, but was unable to beat Pavelec. And Beagle missed the net entirely on a 2-on-1.
They kept the momentum up after that, playing hard, and putting the puck in deep continuously then hitting the Jets with the forecheck. They didn't score any goals, and didn't even get a lot of shots (though there were a couple of very good shifts, particularly including one by the fourth line), but were keeping the Jets from even getting close.
And they kept doing that until there was a minute and a half or so left. At that point, the Jets did manage to get it into the zone long enough to pull Pavelec, but were unable to keep it there when the puck went out of play.
Again, the Caps went back to the forecheck (and some ridiculously short shifts), and eventually got a turnover just outside the Jets zone. It was on Nick's stick, and he threw it across to OV. I'm almost surprised the defender didn't step out of the way when OV went into a full windup, but it didn't really matter. OV didn't miss, and the celebration could begin with about half a minute left.
There was a slightly bizarre moment a few seconds after that, when Erskine and Tangradi got sent off for matching misconducts (but no other call), but nothing else of any interest. In fact, the game ended with the Caps in a board battle behind the Jets net.
So the Caps will win the Southeast (the Jets actually could end up tied in points with the Caps, but the Caps have the tiebreakers) and the Islanders will make the playoffs (Winnipeg can no longer pass them, either).
I hope this means that some guys (most notably, Holtby) will get at least one game of rest before the end of the season. It'd be even better if Orlov could come up, but I doubt that'll happen. Maybe Wolski will get another game or two.
Even more, I'm hoping Ward will return from his knee (?) injury. It'd be nice if Laich would return also, but I'm not holding my breath.
And I just checked, and the Caps have no chance to catch Boston/Montreal for the second spot, so there's certainly no reason to go all out for both games.
Oh, and the TV crew got a great shot of McPhee celebrating momentarily, right after the empty netter was scored. This is at least partial vindication of his decision-making this year. I thought he made the wrong decision (well, I'm still not entirely sure he made the right one), but they did make the playoffs, at least, so it wasn't a terrible choice.
So Ottawa and Boston are the last two games. They're both at home, and both teams will be fighting (Ottawa has fallen all the way back to eighth place, and could be overtaken by Winnipeg. Boston is tied with Montreal for second in the conference). We'll see what happens.
Update: I just noticed that every team in the East in playoff position has a positive goal differential, and every team out has a negative one. Not often you get quite that high a correlation between goals and wins, especially in hockey.
They got a break early, too, when Hendricks put one in off the back of Pavelec's shoulder from the corner for an early lead. Play went back and forth for a while after that, with play generally favoring the Caps, but the Jets having a pair of unbelievable chances. One of those chances was literally pulled off the goal line by Erskine (he'd actually made a nice play on the earlier incredible chance as well, where Carlson ended up clearing the puck from the paint when Holtby was down); that one took a substantial review to be sure it hadn't completely crossed (it did mostly cross, but did not clearly make it all the way. If the call in play had been a goal, I don't think the call would have been reversed; it was that close).
But the Caps did continue to play hard, and were rewarded again, this time by the third line, when Chimmer took a pass from Perreault, pulled it a few feet over, in front of the net, put it off of Pavelec, then knocked the rebound over Ondrej to double the margin.
Half a minute later, Volpatti took a slashing penalty when he retaliated for a shot to his head (no call), and went off. The Caps did a good job holding them off for the rest of the period, and took their two-goal lead into the intermission.
For the period, they had a solid six-shot edge, and had to be feeling pretty good.
But things did not continue well in the second, as Kane was given an uncontested entry into the zone, and put the puck into the far side of the net only sixteen seconds in (and five seconds before the power play expired; Erskine's only real negative on the night was being the screen on this shot), cutting the margin in half. Play continued, mostly favoring the Caps, but the Jets were still the next team to score.
Oleksy took the puck behind the net, and threw it around the boards, but Antropov intercepted there and three it into the high slot where Wheeler immediately buried it into the net. I must admit, I was getting a bit worried at that point.
Oates responded by throwing the top line out there, and they delivered on that shift. Nicky took the puck over the blue line, and tossed it wide to OV on the right. OV got half a step on the defender and threw it back across the net, between Nick's defender's legs, and off of Backstrom and in (which was all sorts of weird. It got reviewed, even though there was nothing resembling a kicking motion, and, even stranger, OV was initially credited with the goal).
A couple minutes later, the third line struck again when the puck ended up loose in front of Pavelec in the slot. Everyone was reaching for it, but Matty hit it with his stick first, and it carried over Ondrej and into the back of the net.
So after a very busy second period, where the Caps again had a large edge in shots, the Caps were still up two.
The third period was more even than the first two (especially in terms of shots), though the Caps did get a power play five minutes in. It wasn't a great power play overall, though it did get a couple of good chances. But no insurance goal.
In fact, the lead was cut in half again, four minutes after that power play ended, when Antropov carried in without being met at the line. He then put a wrist shot into the top corner before he could be fully engaged by the Caps blueliners.
That led to some fairly frantic play, especially when Perreault got called for high sticking, although the PK did a fantastic job on that kill. They not only held Winnipeg shotless, but got two opportunities of their own. Brouwer got a beautiful breakaway, but was unable to beat Pavelec. And Beagle missed the net entirely on a 2-on-1.
They kept the momentum up after that, playing hard, and putting the puck in deep continuously then hitting the Jets with the forecheck. They didn't score any goals, and didn't even get a lot of shots (though there were a couple of very good shifts, particularly including one by the fourth line), but were keeping the Jets from even getting close.
And they kept doing that until there was a minute and a half or so left. At that point, the Jets did manage to get it into the zone long enough to pull Pavelec, but were unable to keep it there when the puck went out of play.
Again, the Caps went back to the forecheck (and some ridiculously short shifts), and eventually got a turnover just outside the Jets zone. It was on Nick's stick, and he threw it across to OV. I'm almost surprised the defender didn't step out of the way when OV went into a full windup, but it didn't really matter. OV didn't miss, and the celebration could begin with about half a minute left.
There was a slightly bizarre moment a few seconds after that, when Erskine and Tangradi got sent off for matching misconducts (but no other call), but nothing else of any interest. In fact, the game ended with the Caps in a board battle behind the Jets net.
So the Caps will win the Southeast (the Jets actually could end up tied in points with the Caps, but the Caps have the tiebreakers) and the Islanders will make the playoffs (Winnipeg can no longer pass them, either).
I hope this means that some guys (most notably, Holtby) will get at least one game of rest before the end of the season. It'd be even better if Orlov could come up, but I doubt that'll happen. Maybe Wolski will get another game or two.
Even more, I'm hoping Ward will return from his knee (?) injury. It'd be nice if Laich would return also, but I'm not holding my breath.
And I just checked, and the Caps have no chance to catch Boston/Montreal for the second spot, so there's certainly no reason to go all out for both games.
Oh, and the TV crew got a great shot of McPhee celebrating momentarily, right after the empty netter was scored. This is at least partial vindication of his decision-making this year. I thought he made the wrong decision (well, I'm still not entirely sure he made the right one), but they did make the playoffs, at least, so it wasn't a terrible choice.
So Ottawa and Boston are the last two games. They're both at home, and both teams will be fighting (Ottawa has fallen all the way back to eighth place, and could be overtaken by Winnipeg. Boston is tied with Montreal for second in the conference). We'll see what happens.
Update: I just noticed that every team in the East in playoff position has a positive goal differential, and every team out has a negative one. Not often you get quite that high a correlation between goals and wins, especially in hockey.
20130324
Subsonic Jets
I didn't watch the rematch with the Jets live at all the other night; my wife wanted to go out for dinner, and I wanted to get up early to take pictures in the morning. Between them, it didn't seem worth getting any of it. So I turned it on the next morning, still not really looking for a win.
Well, they came out flying, with some incredible forechecking. At times, it felt like Hunter hockey last year, where the Caps couldn't get it into the offensive zone, except that it was the Caps doing the hounding.
Twelve minutes in, the Caps opened the scoring with a goal from Laich off an outstanding assist from Ribeiro. Four minutes later, the lead was extended.
Right after the Jets hit the crossbar on a shot, Brouwer managed to play through a defender trying to hold the puck in, leading to a 2-on-1 with him and Ribeiro. Brouwer played it across to Ribs at the blue line, then Ribeiro sent a beautiful saucer pass back, which Brouwer buried with authority (really, the Ribeiro pass was a complete thing of beauty, as the puck was in the air most of the way, but hit the ice just as Brouwer's slapshot was connecting).
That was all the scoring in the first, and I was certainly feeling good at that point. Six minutes into the second, the Beagle line got into the act. The Caps hadn't really done much of anything offensive up to that point, but they forced a turnover, which left Ward with the puck behind the net. He started to skate it around to the outside, when he realized that Beagle was uncovered and very close to the net. Then he threw it over to Beags, who put it past Pavelec.
That left Pavelec, who has long felt like a thorn in the Caps side, with only six saves on nine shots. Noel decided that was enough, and sent Andrej to the showers early.
Things didn't get a whole lot better for the Jets with Montoya in net. On the first shot he faced, OV put a wrist shot from the circle into the top corner to put the Caps up 4-0. At that point, my wife really needed me to watch the kids, so I turned the game off (then checked the paper to see that the final was 6-1).
I was pretty surprised to see the shot totals at the end (31-24 against), although I suppose score effects (teams behind by a lot tend to significantly outshoot their opponents) account for most of that. I should also point out that Holtby was again stellar, as he had to make a lot of saves. I don't think he was challenged as much as the night before, but you certainly don't get thirty saves on thirty-one shots by accident.
All in all, it shows a team really turning things around and doing things right. It actually left the Caps only five points out of first in the division (three out of eighth, I believe), which certainly doesn't feel like a lot. But with the number of games remaining, it's much more significant than it seems.
It seems relevant to point out something Peerless wrote over a month ago. Essentially, he looked back at teams overcoming five point deficits with 36 games remaining, and there were almost none since the previous lockout. Well, now we're looking at the same deficit with less than half as many games remaining.
All of which leaves me a bit nonplussed. It was great to see them play so well (and, let's face it, get some puck-luck), but it's likely to tempt management to hold pay at the deadline, which would not be a good thing.
Ah well, on to the Rangers (at MSG). With the Rangers in eighth, a must-win game.
Well, they came out flying, with some incredible forechecking. At times, it felt like Hunter hockey last year, where the Caps couldn't get it into the offensive zone, except that it was the Caps doing the hounding.
Twelve minutes in, the Caps opened the scoring with a goal from Laich off an outstanding assist from Ribeiro. Four minutes later, the lead was extended.
Right after the Jets hit the crossbar on a shot, Brouwer managed to play through a defender trying to hold the puck in, leading to a 2-on-1 with him and Ribeiro. Brouwer played it across to Ribs at the blue line, then Ribeiro sent a beautiful saucer pass back, which Brouwer buried with authority (really, the Ribeiro pass was a complete thing of beauty, as the puck was in the air most of the way, but hit the ice just as Brouwer's slapshot was connecting).
That was all the scoring in the first, and I was certainly feeling good at that point. Six minutes into the second, the Beagle line got into the act. The Caps hadn't really done much of anything offensive up to that point, but they forced a turnover, which left Ward with the puck behind the net. He started to skate it around to the outside, when he realized that Beagle was uncovered and very close to the net. Then he threw it over to Beags, who put it past Pavelec.
That left Pavelec, who has long felt like a thorn in the Caps side, with only six saves on nine shots. Noel decided that was enough, and sent Andrej to the showers early.
Things didn't get a whole lot better for the Jets with Montoya in net. On the first shot he faced, OV put a wrist shot from the circle into the top corner to put the Caps up 4-0. At that point, my wife really needed me to watch the kids, so I turned the game off (then checked the paper to see that the final was 6-1).
I was pretty surprised to see the shot totals at the end (31-24 against), although I suppose score effects (teams behind by a lot tend to significantly outshoot their opponents) account for most of that. I should also point out that Holtby was again stellar, as he had to make a lot of saves. I don't think he was challenged as much as the night before, but you certainly don't get thirty saves on thirty-one shots by accident.
All in all, it shows a team really turning things around and doing things right. It actually left the Caps only five points out of first in the division (three out of eighth, I believe), which certainly doesn't feel like a lot. But with the number of games remaining, it's much more significant than it seems.
It seems relevant to point out something Peerless wrote over a month ago. Essentially, he looked back at teams overcoming five point deficits with 36 games remaining, and there were almost none since the previous lockout. Well, now we're looking at the same deficit with less than half as many games remaining.
All of which leaves me a bit nonplussed. It was great to see them play so well (and, let's face it, get some puck-luck), but it's likely to tempt management to hold pay at the deadline, which would not be a good thing.
Ah well, on to the Rangers (at MSG). With the Rangers in eighth, a must-win game.
20130302
Come fly with me
Quite an interesting game for the Caps, today. And for the first time all season, I was able to watch the entire game live (well, I was near the TV live; thinking about it, there were lots of interruptions in the first, especially early).
Holtby had quite the game. Like the Canes game the other night, he seemed very nonchalant about everything that came his way. That part was fun to watch. There were a couple of close calls, where he got lucky with scrambles in front of the net, but he was mostly a vaccuum cleaner hoovering up every puck nearby.
My impression, from what I did see of the first, was that the Caps were outplayed, though possibly not quite as badly as the shot totals (15-5) would indicate. Why? Well, possession seemed more even than that, plus, the Caps five shots did include some really good chances. Chimmer got robbed on a point-blank shot; I think that was in the first, and there were definitely one or two more.
But, thankfully Holtby was that good, which allowed the Caps to escape the period with a scoreless tie.
The second period was almost as lopsided for the Caps as the first was against them. And thankfully, a few seconds after taking down Wheeler (who, thankfully, did come back to play in the third) with a slapshot, they did manage to put the puck past Pavelec eleven minutes in. It was definitely not a typical Caps goal, with Hendricks tipping a Ribeiro pass in from the doorstep (the kind of goal I keep wishing the Caps would score).
That was it for the scoring for the period, but the Caps did look very good. In fact, they looked so good that it was hard to believe it was almost the same squad that got squished like bugs by the Flyers the other night. The changes, btw, were that Wolski was benched (WTF? And Crabb got six minutes? Which of these two is more likely to contribute?), Green had a relapse (*sigh* this is getting to be expected, with him. Let's hope it's only this game), and new acquisition Volpatti got five minutes as well (well, five on the ice and five in the box). Oh, and Schultz played (and fairly well, judging by the few times I noticed him).
In the third, the Caps weren't managing much in the way of offense, but were defending well, until, three and a half minutes in, a Brouwer shot took a lucky bounce off a defender into the top of the net. Then, forty-five seconds later, Ribeiro cleaned up an OV rebound to give the Caps a three-goal margin.
I was feeling pretty good, at that point; it isn't often a three goal margin gets squandered in the third. But they definitely spent a lot more time than I would prefer on the defensive. In addition, they didn't try too hard on the double-minor power play they got with five minutes and change left.
But Holtby cleaned up all the messes to get the Caps out of there with the win (and shutout!).
The PK really didn't do a good job of helping him out. They gave up 11 (!) shots on the power play for the game, and that's WAY too many. Particularly when you consider that they only gave up three minors.
The power play showed moments of brilliance, and a lot of lethargy (they gave up more shots than they took). Overall, there was a lot of luck flowing the Caps way. We'll take it, but it isn't a good indicator for the future.
One good indicator was that Perreault had another very good game. His line was buzzing, he made a couple of good backchecking plays, and, more surprisingly, was pretty good along the boards. Oh, and that interference call? Seriously? He pushed a (much) bigger player into Pavelec? Color me skeptical.
Anyway, Boston's coming to visit on Tuesday. If the Caps can manage a point in that one, I'll believe they have a chance at the playoffs.
Holtby had quite the game. Like the Canes game the other night, he seemed very nonchalant about everything that came his way. That part was fun to watch. There were a couple of close calls, where he got lucky with scrambles in front of the net, but he was mostly a vaccuum cleaner hoovering up every puck nearby.
My impression, from what I did see of the first, was that the Caps were outplayed, though possibly not quite as badly as the shot totals (15-5) would indicate. Why? Well, possession seemed more even than that, plus, the Caps five shots did include some really good chances. Chimmer got robbed on a point-blank shot; I think that was in the first, and there were definitely one or two more.
But, thankfully Holtby was that good, which allowed the Caps to escape the period with a scoreless tie.
The second period was almost as lopsided for the Caps as the first was against them. And thankfully, a few seconds after taking down Wheeler (who, thankfully, did come back to play in the third) with a slapshot, they did manage to put the puck past Pavelec eleven minutes in. It was definitely not a typical Caps goal, with Hendricks tipping a Ribeiro pass in from the doorstep (the kind of goal I keep wishing the Caps would score).
That was it for the scoring for the period, but the Caps did look very good. In fact, they looked so good that it was hard to believe it was almost the same squad that got squished like bugs by the Flyers the other night. The changes, btw, were that Wolski was benched (WTF? And Crabb got six minutes? Which of these two is more likely to contribute?), Green had a relapse (*sigh* this is getting to be expected, with him. Let's hope it's only this game), and new acquisition Volpatti got five minutes as well (well, five on the ice and five in the box). Oh, and Schultz played (and fairly well, judging by the few times I noticed him).
In the third, the Caps weren't managing much in the way of offense, but were defending well, until, three and a half minutes in, a Brouwer shot took a lucky bounce off a defender into the top of the net. Then, forty-five seconds later, Ribeiro cleaned up an OV rebound to give the Caps a three-goal margin.
I was feeling pretty good, at that point; it isn't often a three goal margin gets squandered in the third. But they definitely spent a lot more time than I would prefer on the defensive. In addition, they didn't try too hard on the double-minor power play they got with five minutes and change left.
But Holtby cleaned up all the messes to get the Caps out of there with the win (and shutout!).
The PK really didn't do a good job of helping him out. They gave up 11 (!) shots on the power play for the game, and that's WAY too many. Particularly when you consider that they only gave up three minors.
The power play showed moments of brilliance, and a lot of lethargy (they gave up more shots than they took). Overall, there was a lot of luck flowing the Caps way. We'll take it, but it isn't a good indicator for the future.
One good indicator was that Perreault had another very good game. His line was buzzing, he made a couple of good backchecking plays, and, more surprisingly, was pretty good along the boards. Oh, and that interference call? Seriously? He pushed a (much) bigger player into Pavelec? Color me skeptical.
Anyway, Boston's coming to visit on Tuesday. If the Caps can manage a point in that one, I'll believe they have a chance at the playoffs.
20120209
Jettisoning position
The game started out with great promise, with the Caps completely dominating play through the first period (to the tune of 12-4 on shots, 6-3 on chances). The scoreboard, however, showed nothing had hit the twine. The summary put up showed Hendricks doing great: something like a shot, a hit, and 5 of 7 on draws. Not too much to notice, there, I think, except that that meant that he took almost half the draws for the period (there were 15). I guess Halpern was getting thrown out of pretty much every faceoff for the period.
The second period was pretty even, with chances dead even at 5 and shots 12-11 in favor of the good guys. Again, though, the score remained deadlocked (though the Caps looked very dangerous in their lone power play).
It was the best game for watching in quite a while, though; the Caps were doing a good job of keeping most of the play in the offensive end.
It was in the third when things started to go sideways. The first ten minutes were pretty even, with, perhaps, a slight edge to the Caps. Then the Caps got a power play and scored in ten seconds. A couple of minutes later, they got a double minor, and scored in twelve seconds. The second half of that double minor had about thirty seconds of pretty atrocious play, but didn't allow any damage (and looked pretty good the rest of the two minutes). But then Hamr took a slashing penalty. The PK was looking good, but a minute and change later Laich was called for playing with a broken stick (he stopped a shot with it, and then passed to Brouwer, probably not even realizing that the shot had broken his stick).
And that's when all hell broke loose. Winnipeg had already pulled Pavelec, because of the power play, so now it was 6-on-3, and it was pretty ugly. They held it off for a while, but allowed a goal with only ten or so seconds left on Hamr's penalty. That wasn't too bad, but twelve seconds later, Big Buff took a shot from the red line which caromed off a defender's stick, and took a weird hop right into the net. Total fluke.
The Caps played pretty well the rest of the way, but were unable to solve the riddle of Pavelec, even through overtime. The 18 seconds of power play they got at the end of overtime didn't really help, either, so they went into the gimmick. And yeah, things didn't go so well, there. OV scored, which surprised me, but Semin and Perreault didn't really challenge Ondrej. And TVo didn't get a stop. *sigh*
Anticlimactic end to what had been, to that point, a very good game. I hope they take heart in the sixty minutes (well, 59:48) that they played really well, and can forget about the fluky lapse.
We'll see on Sunday, when they head up to New York to take on the Rangers.
The second period was pretty even, with chances dead even at 5 and shots 12-11 in favor of the good guys. Again, though, the score remained deadlocked (though the Caps looked very dangerous in their lone power play).
It was the best game for watching in quite a while, though; the Caps were doing a good job of keeping most of the play in the offensive end.
It was in the third when things started to go sideways. The first ten minutes were pretty even, with, perhaps, a slight edge to the Caps. Then the Caps got a power play and scored in ten seconds. A couple of minutes later, they got a double minor, and scored in twelve seconds. The second half of that double minor had about thirty seconds of pretty atrocious play, but didn't allow any damage (and looked pretty good the rest of the two minutes). But then Hamr took a slashing penalty. The PK was looking good, but a minute and change later Laich was called for playing with a broken stick (he stopped a shot with it, and then passed to Brouwer, probably not even realizing that the shot had broken his stick).
And that's when all hell broke loose. Winnipeg had already pulled Pavelec, because of the power play, so now it was 6-on-3, and it was pretty ugly. They held it off for a while, but allowed a goal with only ten or so seconds left on Hamr's penalty. That wasn't too bad, but twelve seconds later, Big Buff took a shot from the red line which caromed off a defender's stick, and took a weird hop right into the net. Total fluke.
The Caps played pretty well the rest of the way, but were unable to solve the riddle of Pavelec, even through overtime. The 18 seconds of power play they got at the end of overtime didn't really help, either, so they went into the gimmick. And yeah, things didn't go so well, there. OV scored, which surprised me, but Semin and Perreault didn't really challenge Ondrej. And TVo didn't get a stop. *sigh*
Anticlimactic end to what had been, to that point, a very good game. I hope they take heart in the sixty minutes (well, 59:48) that they played really well, and can forget about the fluky lapse.
We'll see on Sunday, when they head up to New York to take on the Rangers.
20111219
Caps last two
I didn't get a chance to write about last Thursday's game until yesterday; saw it late Friday and was busy on Saturday (and when I wrote this yesterday, I wasn't able to post it).
It was mostly a good game. The first period was mostly good, but with a few serious breakdowns. Unlike many of the recent games, though, they got great goaltending from Neuvy when those happened. I imagine that Coach Hunter was pretty upset about those breakdowns, though, because a team with aspirations to contending for the title can't have those.
The second and third periods had the Caps taking control, putting a lot of pressure on the Jets, who kept getting bailed out by Pavelec. The Caps didn't get a lot of chances in the third, but they managed to give the Jets even fewer. What's more, with a little over a minute left, OV (with help from Johansson and Backstrom) managed to finally get one past Pavelec.
That ended up being the only goal of the contest, so the Caps left town with a pair of points.
In Saturday's game, I was a bit apprehensive when the paper mentioned that Colorado was 25th in the league. Why did that make me apprehensive? Well, it seemed like every time I looked at one of their scores, they had won. So they must have won just about every game I'd noticed, and I was definitely going to be noticing this one.
One slight disappointment was that Giguere was in net; I'd hoped to see Varly again, even knowing that his season has been incredibly up and down.
The first period was pretty good for the Caps, as they held slight edges in most categories that one would care about. And that was despite losing the face-off battle 15-3. But the one category that you'd definitely care about where they were losing was on the scoreboard.
McLeod put a soft wrist shot from the blue line off Carlson's skate and into the top of the net. Neuvy didn't seem to see it until it was past him, which is fairly damning on a soft shot from that far out with no screen. He had a good night outside of that shot, and the team should be able to score three, but that was still a terrible goal to let in.
The second period did not go well for the Caps either, as they were outplayed by a fair bit from start to finish. They did have a definite bright spot as Semin got a breakaway, putting one over Giguere's shoulder to tie the game.
Unfortunately, they again failed to use that as a confidence builder, allowing another go-ahead goal less than a minute later.
That was it for scoring in the second period, leaving the Caps going into the third period down yet again. Did that motivate them to play harder for the last period? To show desperation? Not until the last minute or so, as they were outplayed pretty badly up to that point. Neuvy kept them in the game, but he can't score goals by himself.
I was very surprised to learn, at the end of the period, that the shots were even, but the play certainly wasn't. A large percentage of the period was played in the Caps end, and far too much of it with the 'lanche holding the puck. Kudos to the Avs, as they played very well; it was a very frustrating game to watch.
One part of that is that, while the Caps are a very young team (not as young as the Avs, though), the Avs seemed much, much faster in the game. At times it felt like the team, especially Erskine and Hamr, were just cones to be skated around. As I said, very frustrating.
Adding to the frustration was that the power play was atrocious; they couldn't even bring the puck into the offensive zone. You can see the futility there by noting that they got only one shot on the four power plays (although one of those, at the end of the game, was only fourteen seconds long).
And the face-offs were terrible. I mentioned the first period, which was horrifying, but the margin only increased over the remaining two periods (though not by much).
Let's hope that the team learned some lessons from the game, and applies them tomorrow night against Nashville. And let's hope that that leads to a better result than the last game against the Predators.
It was mostly a good game. The first period was mostly good, but with a few serious breakdowns. Unlike many of the recent games, though, they got great goaltending from Neuvy when those happened. I imagine that Coach Hunter was pretty upset about those breakdowns, though, because a team with aspirations to contending for the title can't have those.
The second and third periods had the Caps taking control, putting a lot of pressure on the Jets, who kept getting bailed out by Pavelec. The Caps didn't get a lot of chances in the third, but they managed to give the Jets even fewer. What's more, with a little over a minute left, OV (with help from Johansson and Backstrom) managed to finally get one past Pavelec.
That ended up being the only goal of the contest, so the Caps left town with a pair of points.
In Saturday's game, I was a bit apprehensive when the paper mentioned that Colorado was 25th in the league. Why did that make me apprehensive? Well, it seemed like every time I looked at one of their scores, they had won. So they must have won just about every game I'd noticed, and I was definitely going to be noticing this one.
One slight disappointment was that Giguere was in net; I'd hoped to see Varly again, even knowing that his season has been incredibly up and down.
The first period was pretty good for the Caps, as they held slight edges in most categories that one would care about. And that was despite losing the face-off battle 15-3. But the one category that you'd definitely care about where they were losing was on the scoreboard.
McLeod put a soft wrist shot from the blue line off Carlson's skate and into the top of the net. Neuvy didn't seem to see it until it was past him, which is fairly damning on a soft shot from that far out with no screen. He had a good night outside of that shot, and the team should be able to score three, but that was still a terrible goal to let in.
The second period did not go well for the Caps either, as they were outplayed by a fair bit from start to finish. They did have a definite bright spot as Semin got a breakaway, putting one over Giguere's shoulder to tie the game.
Unfortunately, they again failed to use that as a confidence builder, allowing another go-ahead goal less than a minute later.
That was it for scoring in the second period, leaving the Caps going into the third period down yet again. Did that motivate them to play harder for the last period? To show desperation? Not until the last minute or so, as they were outplayed pretty badly up to that point. Neuvy kept them in the game, but he can't score goals by himself.
I was very surprised to learn, at the end of the period, that the shots were even, but the play certainly wasn't. A large percentage of the period was played in the Caps end, and far too much of it with the 'lanche holding the puck. Kudos to the Avs, as they played very well; it was a very frustrating game to watch.
One part of that is that, while the Caps are a very young team (not as young as the Avs, though), the Avs seemed much, much faster in the game. At times it felt like the team, especially Erskine and Hamr, were just cones to be skated around. As I said, very frustrating.
Adding to the frustration was that the power play was atrocious; they couldn't even bring the puck into the offensive zone. You can see the futility there by noting that they got only one shot on the four power plays (although one of those, at the end of the game, was only fourteen seconds long).
And the face-offs were terrible. I mentioned the first period, which was horrifying, but the margin only increased over the remaining two periods (though not by much).
Let's hope that the team learned some lessons from the game, and applies them tomorrow night against Nashville. And let's hope that that leads to a better result than the last game against the Predators.
20111117
Jet-ing to new lows
Definitely not a great game put together by the Caps, tonight. It started out pretty well, with the Caps taking it to the Jets pretty well. Semin scored a very nice goal on a 3-on-2 with Laich and Chimera about four minutes in, and things were looking great. They continued to look pretty well through the rest of the first, despite Kane tying the game up four minutes after Sasha Minor's tally.
And they weren't looking too bad into the second until Kane scored again 6:38 in. That, by itself, wasn't too terrible, but the wheels were separating from the axles. I forget which of the remaining two goals was which, but the Caps were looking great on the penalty kill on one of them, even getting some play in the offensive zone. But as soon as that zone play was broken up, the Jets turned up-ice and scored almost immediately. The other goal had the Caps get a two-on-zero (Laich and... maybe Halpern) from forcing a turnover at the blue line. Laich's shot didn't even manage to be on net. Terrible. Then the puck was shot up the left side of the ice where the Winnipeg forward blew past Hamrlik like he was standing still, and deposited the puck behind Neuvy.
I was so irritated, I turned the game off at that point. Given that there was no further scoring, I'm not upset at that decision, although it would be nice to know if the play improved, at least.
We'll see, on Saturday, if the Caps can keep the road trip from being a sweep, but it's been ugly, so far.
And they weren't looking too bad into the second until Kane scored again 6:38 in. That, by itself, wasn't too terrible, but the wheels were separating from the axles. I forget which of the remaining two goals was which, but the Caps were looking great on the penalty kill on one of them, even getting some play in the offensive zone. But as soon as that zone play was broken up, the Jets turned up-ice and scored almost immediately. The other goal had the Caps get a two-on-zero (Laich and... maybe Halpern) from forcing a turnover at the blue line. Laich's shot didn't even manage to be on net. Terrible. Then the puck was shot up the left side of the ice where the Winnipeg forward blew past Hamrlik like he was standing still, and deposited the puck behind Neuvy.
I was so irritated, I turned the game off at that point. Given that there was no further scoring, I'm not upset at that decision, although it would be nice to know if the play improved, at least.
We'll see, on Saturday, if the Caps can keep the road trip from being a sweep, but it's been ugly, so far.
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