I was at a bar last night with some friends to watch the Caps game. And we kind of did that, but I must admit that I didn't get much out of it. (Which is ok, the main goal was to talk with friends, one of whom hasn't lived in the area in quite a few years.)
The paper made a big deal out of Semin being benched for much (all?) of the third period, and not playing much of the second either. I think the goal, there, is a good one. Show that everyone, including Semin, is being held accountable, although I'm skeptical of whether it'll actually accomplish anything vis a vis Sasha. But maybe it says something to the rest of the team important enough to overlook that.
In any event, the team seemed to be doing well, and the returns were certainly good. I was shocked (though in a good way, of course), when Chimmer buried that breakaway, shorthanded. And I was amused to see Marjo get another goal from so close to the net. I'm loving that, but it's definitely not what I was expecting from him.
Tonight, I was able to watch pretty close to all of the game. I did miss them saying, at the beginning, that Green (well, he was expected, after last night) and Erskine (didn't hear what happened to him) were out, so I was a bit confused at Laich being on the blue line.
Brouwer's goal was very nice (in fact, thinking about it, maybe he should have gotten a chance in the shootout), and Chimmer did a nice job of vulturing Carlson's goal. I kid; it was well-played. It was nice to see the Caps come out of the first with a lead, for once, and without surrendering a goal, which was even nicer.
But the Caps looked terrible for most of the second period. They did have one really, really nice shift, that ended when MarJo drew a tripping penalty behind the net. I can't remember if they actually got any shots out of that shift, but I loved watching them keep it in the offensive zone for so long. But that was pretty much the only bright spot of the period. They had only two shots, which is terrible. And that's also how many goals they allowed, which is also pretty bad.
A lot of credit certainly goes to the Devils, who played an excellent period, but the Caps just didn't seem to want it nearly as bad as NJ.
In the third period, down another defender with Hamrlik in the dressing room, the Caps actually played better, and generated some chances. Not as many as I would have liked, but more than the second. And they looked much better while doing it, as well. Plus, they didn't give NJ nearly as many chances. Oh, and the top line was especially buzzing. I don't think I'd want to keep Ward up there (I'd rather keep him on the shut-down line), but he did look good there.
But nobody got on the board in the third, so we ended up with overtime. The Caps looked good for the first minute or so of overtime, but the Devils basically took over from there, getting almost all the chances from then on (helped by getting away with a lot of interference).
But again, nobody scored, so we went into the coin flip portion of the game. And that did not go so well, but it is what it is (which is to say, a terrible way to end a hockey game).
So, while the result was disappointing, in the larger picture the Caps did take three of four points in the home-and-home, and that is hard to really get upset about.
Time to start a road trip to Nashville (where I'm sure Ward will be happy to take on his old mates), Winnipeg, and Toronto. I guess we'll find out something more about all the blue-line injuries; and maybe we'll finally get a look at Orlov. We can hope, at least, although Collins is more likely, if they need someone from Hershey.
20111112
The mark of Cain
I've been watching the Republican field mutate and rotate with some degree of amusement. I'm definitely impressed with how up-and-down the polls have been for most of the candidates.
The latest up is really interesting to me. Cain is accused by many women of sexually harassing them, but, it seems, the "values" voters don't really seem to care about that. One would think that, if morals are your main voting criterion, then that would be a pretty prohibitive problem. (To say nothing about all the religious types who make a big deal out of Obama's name, but think nothing of Cain's. Did they stop reading Genesis at the flood? (Thanks for pointing that one out to me, Paul).)
I'd like to try to read the tea leaves here, and predict who I think it will be, but it seems pretty much a toss-up. Cain's 9-9-9 plan would absolutely destroy the country (plus, what other position could one try for, where a complete lack of experience is seen as a plus). Bachmann and Perry seem to have, at best, a tenuous connection with reality (not to mention both being Dominionists). Romney has contradicted himself so many times that I have no idea what he would actually do if he got elected (Kerry got a lot of grief for that, but he's a punter compared to Romney). Paul is consistent, but would also destroy the country (although I do like a few of his positions). Huntsman is the only one I could personally support, but is basically a fringe candidate. I was a bit surprised to see, with the latest poll, that Newt is still in the race; with the way his campaign seemed to implode a few months ago, I didn't think we'd hear from him again. And I'm probably forgetting a couple of people, which would imply, I think, my analysis of their chances.
As an independent with significant liberal leanings, the only one who has a chance of beating Obama is Romney, but I'm not sure if he can actually win the primary. Certainly, things aren't looking good for him at the moment.
As a side note, I haven't watched any of the debates (I tend to get mad at all the lies when I watch political debates, so it's rare that I'll watch a debate), but everything I hear about them says that they shouldn't even really be called debates. In fact, it sounds like they're being produced by the same people doing reality TV shows, which is definitely not a good thing. These things should be issue-dominated, and it sounds like they're getting close to coming to blows on stage. Maybe it makes for good theater (although not the sort of thing I'd want to watch), but it sure as heck isn't good for the political conversation.
I suppose it's just part and parcel of the ongoing culture war that is attempting to rip the country apart by making everything a left-right battle and getting everyone contemptuous of the other side.
The latest up is really interesting to me. Cain is accused by many women of sexually harassing them, but, it seems, the "values" voters don't really seem to care about that. One would think that, if morals are your main voting criterion, then that would be a pretty prohibitive problem. (To say nothing about all the religious types who make a big deal out of Obama's name, but think nothing of Cain's. Did they stop reading Genesis at the flood? (Thanks for pointing that one out to me, Paul).)
I'd like to try to read the tea leaves here, and predict who I think it will be, but it seems pretty much a toss-up. Cain's 9-9-9 plan would absolutely destroy the country (plus, what other position could one try for, where a complete lack of experience is seen as a plus). Bachmann and Perry seem to have, at best, a tenuous connection with reality (not to mention both being Dominionists). Romney has contradicted himself so many times that I have no idea what he would actually do if he got elected (Kerry got a lot of grief for that, but he's a punter compared to Romney). Paul is consistent, but would also destroy the country (although I do like a few of his positions). Huntsman is the only one I could personally support, but is basically a fringe candidate. I was a bit surprised to see, with the latest poll, that Newt is still in the race; with the way his campaign seemed to implode a few months ago, I didn't think we'd hear from him again. And I'm probably forgetting a couple of people, which would imply, I think, my analysis of their chances.
As an independent with significant liberal leanings, the only one who has a chance of beating Obama is Romney, but I'm not sure if he can actually win the primary. Certainly, things aren't looking good for him at the moment.
As a side note, I haven't watched any of the debates (I tend to get mad at all the lies when I watch political debates, so it's rare that I'll watch a debate), but everything I hear about them says that they shouldn't even really be called debates. In fact, it sounds like they're being produced by the same people doing reality TV shows, which is definitely not a good thing. These things should be issue-dominated, and it sounds like they're getting close to coming to blows on stage. Maybe it makes for good theater (although not the sort of thing I'd want to watch), but it sure as heck isn't good for the political conversation.
I suppose it's just part and parcel of the ongoing culture war that is attempting to rip the country apart by making everything a left-right battle and getting everyone contemptuous of the other side.
20111109
Unusual Ubuntu Upset
I finally upgraded to Ubuntu's latest release, Oneiric Ocelot, a week and a half ago, or so. It was the first Ubuntu upgrade that was a hassle, at all.
The new release of dovecot (an IMAP server) was broken by the upgrade, which caused a loss of all of my email for several days, along with hassling everyone sending me email as everything bounced. Once I figured out that dovecot's delivery agent no longer accepted the '-n' flag, and removed that from postfix's configuration file (and removed all of the pending bounces from being sent), everything was hunky-dory.
Pain in the arse.
Hopefully, nobody else got horked by the problem.
The new release of dovecot (an IMAP server) was broken by the upgrade, which caused a loss of all of my email for several days, along with hassling everyone sending me email as everything bounced. Once I figured out that dovecot's delivery agent no longer accepted the '-n' flag, and removed that from postfix's configuration file (and removed all of the pending bounces from being sent), everything was hunky-dory.
Pain in the arse.
Hopefully, nobody else got horked by the problem.
20111108
Star-struck
The Caps did not look good tonight against the Stars, at all. I'm really not sure there's anything positive to say about it. There were way too many odd-man rushes and blown defensive assignments. And way too much trouble moving the puck against the Stars physical forecheck.
They were outworked and outhustled, pretty much from the beginning. I count it as more luck than anything that they were tied through two periods. But the wheels sure fell off in the third, when they allowed three goals in the first eight minutes.
Really, the only positive I can think of was that Backstrom's assist on Semin's first period, power play goal was very pretty.
But there wasn't really any sustained offensive pressure in the whole game (well, I guess there might have been in the second half of the third period; I turned the game off immediately after the fifth goal was allowed).
I can't really even say anything about the officiating, either. I thought Semin's penalty in the first was kind of weird, when he was called for tripping for tying up the guy's stick, and having the guy trip over his own stick. But he wasn't whistled for at least three stick penalties later in the game that I thought should have been called, so the Caps definitely came out ahead on those.
MarJo, I suppose, looked pretty good, and Knuble looked good in very limited time (Tarik El-Bashir had a really good profile of Knuble in today's paper, I should mention). But that's pretty much the limit of what I can point to, and those two weren't even great, just better than the rest.
I guess we'll just have to look forward to the weekend, when the Caps have a home-and-home series against the Devils. Hopefully, they can put their heads back together, work harder, and take both games. And maybe Green will be able to play again; that would go a long way towards helping moving play in the right direction.
They were outworked and outhustled, pretty much from the beginning. I count it as more luck than anything that they were tied through two periods. But the wheels sure fell off in the third, when they allowed three goals in the first eight minutes.
Really, the only positive I can think of was that Backstrom's assist on Semin's first period, power play goal was very pretty.
But there wasn't really any sustained offensive pressure in the whole game (well, I guess there might have been in the second half of the third period; I turned the game off immediately after the fifth goal was allowed).
I can't really even say anything about the officiating, either. I thought Semin's penalty in the first was kind of weird, when he was called for tripping for tying up the guy's stick, and having the guy trip over his own stick. But he wasn't whistled for at least three stick penalties later in the game that I thought should have been called, so the Caps definitely came out ahead on those.
MarJo, I suppose, looked pretty good, and Knuble looked good in very limited time (Tarik El-Bashir had a really good profile of Knuble in today's paper, I should mention). But that's pretty much the limit of what I can point to, and those two weren't even great, just better than the rest.
I guess we'll just have to look forward to the weekend, when the Caps have a home-and-home series against the Devils. Hopefully, they can put their heads back together, work harder, and take both games. And maybe Green will be able to play again; that would go a long way towards helping moving play in the right direction.
20111105
A night on the Isle
The Caps flew north to face the Islanders in Uniondale tonight. Eakin was scratched, which seemed weird (we really want him playing, whether in the NHL or AHL), and Perreault was back in. And the lines were scrambled a bit, with Laich moving up to the second line and Halpern on the third, leaving Knuble, Hendricks and Perreault on the fourth.
The game started out really well, with the Caps taking it to the Islanders, and trying to wear them down via cycling. The Caps got both of the period's goals, with Ward and OV both tallying.
But things went downhill fairly quickly in the second, with the Islanders dominating possession and working the Caps hard. In the third, Caps were doing better, but still surrendered another goal six minutes in. Laich tied it up again on the power play three minutes later, and the Caps were looking great for quite a while. But then the Isles got another from Parenteau on the doorstep, and an empty netter half a minute later, and that was it.
I think the Caps were mostly tired, but it was also a terrible game by TVo. He did have a good first period, but that's about it. Without reviewing the goals to make sure, I think three of the four goals he allowed were soft ones (definitely the first two were).
And the second period was pretty much terrible for the whole team. There were a couple of penalties that should have been called (a delay of game for dislodging the net, I think, and MarJo definitely took a stick to the face). And Halpern's goaltender interference call was a bit weird.
But the Caps just didn't play well enough, is what it boils down to. My comment about not overlooking the Islanders last night? Well, I don't know if that's what happened, but it's certainly possible. Especially when they went into the first break with a two goal lead.
Anyway, Dallas is up next, on Tuesday. I'm guessing Eakin will get sent back down, and I'm hoping Green will be back. I'm also thinking Neuvy will get the nod in goal. I hope the lines don't get scrambled again, but this is Boudreau, so who knows?
The game started out really well, with the Caps taking it to the Islanders, and trying to wear them down via cycling. The Caps got both of the period's goals, with Ward and OV both tallying.
But things went downhill fairly quickly in the second, with the Islanders dominating possession and working the Caps hard. In the third, Caps were doing better, but still surrendered another goal six minutes in. Laich tied it up again on the power play three minutes later, and the Caps were looking great for quite a while. But then the Isles got another from Parenteau on the doorstep, and an empty netter half a minute later, and that was it.
I think the Caps were mostly tired, but it was also a terrible game by TVo. He did have a good first period, but that's about it. Without reviewing the goals to make sure, I think three of the four goals he allowed were soft ones (definitely the first two were).
And the second period was pretty much terrible for the whole team. There were a couple of penalties that should have been called (a delay of game for dislodging the net, I think, and MarJo definitely took a stick to the face). And Halpern's goaltender interference call was a bit weird.
But the Caps just didn't play well enough, is what it boils down to. My comment about not overlooking the Islanders last night? Well, I don't know if that's what happened, but it's certainly possible. Especially when they went into the first break with a two goal lead.
Anyway, Dallas is up next, on Tuesday. I'm guessing Eakin will get sent back down, and I'm hoping Green will be back. I'm also thinking Neuvy will get the nod in goal. I hope the lines don't get scrambled again, but this is Boudreau, so who knows?
20111104
Sweeping debris
The Caps faced the Hurricanes tonight. Green is still out, Brouwer was questionable until gametime (we almost got an Eakin, MarJo, Perreault second line. Boy, would that have been some speed and scoring touch. Plus, a combined age of what? 62? 63?), but Halpern was back. In the event, Perreault was scratched for Brouwer.
The game started out pretty even; the Canes were outplaying the Caps, but not by a huge margin. They did get the first goal, on a deflection of a shot from the point. In fact, that ended up being the only goal of the period.
Things were slightly tilted in the Caps favor in the second period, despite penalties favoring Carolina. Halpern got a goal by literally diving at a rebound to put it in. And MarJo and Brouwer combined on a very pretty 2-on-1 with a nice saucer pass that Brouwer buried in the top corner of the net (very reminiscent of the goal Semin scored on the Rangers in the playoffs last year (game 5, I think); Eakin had the pass that sprang them). The Caps did get a big break on one of those power plays, though, where the goalie blew the whistle when he couldn't see the puck, and Skinner pushed it into the net just after the whistle.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that Knuble looked very good on the penalty kill (well, the whole unit looked good, but he had an especially good night of it).
In the third period, the Caps really turned on the Jets, and just dominated. It was beautiful; lots of zone time, some efficient cycling (especially from the third and fourth lines), and solid play all around. Backstrom had a very nice goal on a 3-on-2 generated by a nice forecheck (OV had the pass), and Eakin scored his first NHL goal on a 2-on-1 with Semin (I think the goalie must have been playing pass on that, because it was an unobstructed wrist shot. The release was really nice, though). Carlson had the other goal (the first of the period, actually), on the power play from Backstrom and OV.
I think the third period was the best period the Caps have played all season; they weren't taking it easy, even when up by four. If they can play like that with any regularity, they'll win a disgusting number of games. I've got my fingers crossed.
Tonight is the front end of the Caps' first back-to-back games this season. Let's hope the Islanders don't put up a huge fight tomorrow night; if not, and Pittsburgh and Toronto lose, the Caps could end up back in first, with 2-3 games in hand. Not likely, but it would be cool. I know, I'm getting greedy. Let's hope the Caps don't try to look past the Islanders, also.
The game started out pretty even; the Canes were outplaying the Caps, but not by a huge margin. They did get the first goal, on a deflection of a shot from the point. In fact, that ended up being the only goal of the period.
Things were slightly tilted in the Caps favor in the second period, despite penalties favoring Carolina. Halpern got a goal by literally diving at a rebound to put it in. And MarJo and Brouwer combined on a very pretty 2-on-1 with a nice saucer pass that Brouwer buried in the top corner of the net (very reminiscent of the goal Semin scored on the Rangers in the playoffs last year (game 5, I think); Eakin had the pass that sprang them). The Caps did get a big break on one of those power plays, though, where the goalie blew the whistle when he couldn't see the puck, and Skinner pushed it into the net just after the whistle.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that Knuble looked very good on the penalty kill (well, the whole unit looked good, but he had an especially good night of it).
In the third period, the Caps really turned on the Jets, and just dominated. It was beautiful; lots of zone time, some efficient cycling (especially from the third and fourth lines), and solid play all around. Backstrom had a very nice goal on a 3-on-2 generated by a nice forecheck (OV had the pass), and Eakin scored his first NHL goal on a 2-on-1 with Semin (I think the goalie must have been playing pass on that, because it was an unobstructed wrist shot. The release was really nice, though). Carlson had the other goal (the first of the period, actually), on the power play from Backstrom and OV.
I think the third period was the best period the Caps have played all season; they weren't taking it easy, even when up by four. If they can play like that with any regularity, they'll win a disgusting number of games. I've got my fingers crossed.
Tonight is the front end of the Caps' first back-to-back games this season. Let's hope the Islanders don't put up a huge fight tomorrow night; if not, and Pittsburgh and Toronto lose, the Caps could end up back in first, with 2-3 games in hand. Not likely, but it would be cool. I know, I'm getting greedy. Let's hope the Caps don't try to look past the Islanders, also.
20111103
Looking more at the Kindle
i've talked a few times about Amazon's Kindle before. And perhaps it's a little odd that I have, given that I still haven't bought one, and still don't have any plans to do so (actually, having bought an iPad not too long ago, it's less likely now than it was a year ago).
But I think it's interesting what they're doing, still. They still haven't gotten rid of DRM, so that hasn't helped.
But they did bring out new devices recently. I must admit to not thinking too much of the Touch or Touch 3G (that is, if I was actively in the market for a Kindle, those would not have gotten me to purchase). The only thing they've really got going for them is price.
What was more interesting is the Fire. It won't replace an iPad (the screen is a really big difference. Literally and figuratively), but it does seem pretty nice for a limited-purpose tablet.
But they wanted to brag so much about the browser technology, saying how revolutionary it is. Well, it's interesting, and if the work behind it does, really, go all the way to the browser, that's more interesting, though probably not in a good way. My point in bringing it up, though, is that it really isn't revolutionary.
Ok, enough catching up to the present. The main reason I was writing this article, though, is because of Amazon's announcement today.
What? They're lending e-books for free, now? Yep. Interesting idea to drive sales of devices. Will it work? I don't know, but it wouldn't hugely surprise me.
Of course, you could argue that any Amazon e-book purchase is actually a rental, given their DRM. It won't get me to buy, even though I already have prime membership, but, as I said, it's interesting. I'm curious to see how well it works.
But I think it's interesting what they're doing, still. They still haven't gotten rid of DRM, so that hasn't helped.
But they did bring out new devices recently. I must admit to not thinking too much of the Touch or Touch 3G (that is, if I was actively in the market for a Kindle, those would not have gotten me to purchase). The only thing they've really got going for them is price.
What was more interesting is the Fire. It won't replace an iPad (the screen is a really big difference. Literally and figuratively), but it does seem pretty nice for a limited-purpose tablet.
But they wanted to brag so much about the browser technology, saying how revolutionary it is. Well, it's interesting, and if the work behind it does, really, go all the way to the browser, that's more interesting, though probably not in a good way. My point in bringing it up, though, is that it really isn't revolutionary.
Ok, enough catching up to the present. The main reason I was writing this article, though, is because of Amazon's announcement today.
What? They're lending e-books for free, now? Yep. Interesting idea to drive sales of devices. Will it work? I don't know, but it wouldn't hugely surprise me.
Of course, you could argue that any Amazon e-book purchase is actually a rental, given their DRM. It won't get me to buy, even though I already have prime membership, but, as I said, it's interesting. I'm curious to see how well it works.
Back to the beginning...
I previously mentioned reading Michael Lewis. Well, I just got his latest book, and found it rather disappointing. It was all good material, but just about all of it duplicate Vanity Fair articles that he wrote recently.
Actually, now that I was looking at Vanity Fair's site again to find links to those articles, I'm even more disappointed, because even more of it came out of Vanity Fair than I thought (I'd only seen the first two of those before reading the book).
It affects the prose, a little bit, because, for instance, the Ireland section mentions something about Greece without making it a reference back. And the book ends without a real conclusion; it just kind of drops off a cliff.
As I said, it's still good material, so I'm not totally down on it, but it could have been a bit more, I think. And I would have liked if it had gotten into more details of the trouble, with more details about where we go from here. I'm not sure exactly what I mean by that last statement, but, for instance, at the end of The Big Short, I really felt like I had a good handle on what happened with the mortgage crisis. I don't feel like I have that, now.
I'm very tempted to get John Mauldin's Endgame, which reviews indicate might give that level of understanding.
The takeaway, though, is certainly that much of the world is in very bad shape; perhaps even worse than indicated by watching the news. Excessive debt has caused a lot of problems, and will continue to do so for quite a while.
Actually, now that I was looking at Vanity Fair's site again to find links to those articles, I'm even more disappointed, because even more of it came out of Vanity Fair than I thought (I'd only seen the first two of those before reading the book).
It affects the prose, a little bit, because, for instance, the Ireland section mentions something about Greece without making it a reference back. And the book ends without a real conclusion; it just kind of drops off a cliff.
As I said, it's still good material, so I'm not totally down on it, but it could have been a bit more, I think. And I would have liked if it had gotten into more details of the trouble, with more details about where we go from here. I'm not sure exactly what I mean by that last statement, but, for instance, at the end of The Big Short, I really felt like I had a good handle on what happened with the mortgage crisis. I don't feel like I have that, now.
I'm very tempted to get John Mauldin's Endgame, which reviews indicate might give that level of understanding.
The takeaway, though, is certainly that much of the world is in very bad shape; perhaps even worse than indicated by watching the news. Excessive debt has caused a lot of problems, and will continue to do so for quite a while.
20111101
Duck, duck, duck... Goose!
Tonight's Caps game seemed a bit off, from the start. Erskine was back, which was good, but it led to shuffling the D combos, which wasn't. On the forward side, Knuble got demoted to the fourth line, Halpern was benched, and Eakin was playing off-wing with MarJo and Semin.
The play was not pretty, particularly at the start. The Caps were doing ok, although they were spending way more time in their own zone than you'd prefer.. To make matters worse, there were two defensive breakdowns between Hamr and Wideman that led to goals by the Selanne line.
Actually, this morning, I took a peek back at Selanne's numbers. I've always liked him, and I knew he'd had a good year, last year. So I was wondering how he was doing this year. Answer: pretty good. And tonight he was the wrecking crew with a pair each of goals and assists (I imagine he's probably among the league leaders at the moment). Ugh. Good for him, but I wish he'd picked a different night.
In any event, at the end of the first, the Caps were down 2-0, but looking decent outside of those breakdowns.
The Caps came out looking pretty good, but weren't able to score before Selanne got his second goal, nine minutes in. A cross-ice pass found him alone in the circle with an open net, and he buried it, as you'd expect.
At this point, Anaheim had three goals on less than eleven shots. The really bad part is that none of the goals were Vokoun's fault. He'd actually played well.
But the Caps finally started playing like a desperate team, and working hard. And the checking line was the one to start things going in the right direction, getting a goal from Ward and another from Wideman (with Laich and Ward assisting; if there had been a third assist, it would have gone to TVo, who had wisely iced the puck to Ward).
That left the Caps down a goal with a period to play, so things weren't looking too bad. Not great, but not terrible.
Just over nine minutes in, though, things were looking a bit worse. The Ducks got a power play, which started out looking very good for the Caps. But they got the puck into the zone, and put it in the net in a scrum with Vokoun down.
So things were definitely not going well, but the team was still working hard, and was getting quite a few chances. Two and a half minutes later, they finally buried one of those chances. Brouwer got the goal, assisted by Erskine and Wideman. The weird part of that whole setup is that Brouwers line-mates at the time were Perreault and ... Hendricks, I think.
The team kept working hard, but time was winding down. They did get a power play when Fowler accidentally shot the puck over the glass when trying to clear, but they looked really bad on that man advantage. But they finally managed to tie the game with less than a minute left, after pulling Vokoun. Backstrom did the honors, with Chimmer and Laich getting the assists.
In overtime, the play was fairly even, going up and down steadily. But the Caps were the ones to finally convert, with Backstrom again potting the vulcanized rubber (helped by OV and Schultz).
For the most part, the Caps actually looked quite good throughout this game. The two first-period defensive breakdowns were very frustrating. I wonder if Selanne's second period goal should also be considered a defensive breakdown, although not as bad a one as those in the first.
We are definitely missing Green. I thought we wouldn't be (well, not a huge amount, anyway), because we're so deep on defense (Erskine, for all his flaws, is excellent as a seventh defenseman, if, perhaps, a little expensive for that role). I thought, with Carlson, WIdeman, and Hamr, that we wouldn't have any trouble moving the puck up-ice. But with Wideman and Hamr mostly playing together, we're left with a third pairing that has a lot of trouble dealing with a strong forecheck. And the other pairings have been far from flawless, as well. I'm a little puzzled, really.
In any event, the good part is that the team was working hard through the game, never sitting back on their heels. Even at three-nil, they showed no signs of discouragement, and were rewarded for it.
All four lines looked good, at times. Eakin looked ready to contribute to the big club. I don't think he'll spend a lot of time up (and I'm not sure he should, particularly without significant injuries), but he looked ready for it. His line generated some very nice chances, and he was definitely part of that.
Perreault still looked very good. He was having a bit of trouble with the Ducks' size, but he was still making it work, and playing well at both ends.
Half the defense was on the scoresheet, which is nice. But they also hung TVo out to dry several times, which isn't. I'm not sure what to make of them, as a whole. I definitely don't want to see Alzner and Carlson split up again. Let's chalk that up as a failed experiment (for which I'm still not seeing the reason why), and move on.
The important part, though, is that we got the standings points we needed. And with the Ducks being out of conference, I don't much care about their consolation point. So things are good, I guess.
I just hope that Green's back for the Canes on Friday, the team is just a lot less dangerous without him.
The play was not pretty, particularly at the start. The Caps were doing ok, although they were spending way more time in their own zone than you'd prefer.. To make matters worse, there were two defensive breakdowns between Hamr and Wideman that led to goals by the Selanne line.
Actually, this morning, I took a peek back at Selanne's numbers. I've always liked him, and I knew he'd had a good year, last year. So I was wondering how he was doing this year. Answer: pretty good. And tonight he was the wrecking crew with a pair each of goals and assists (I imagine he's probably among the league leaders at the moment). Ugh. Good for him, but I wish he'd picked a different night.
In any event, at the end of the first, the Caps were down 2-0, but looking decent outside of those breakdowns.
The Caps came out looking pretty good, but weren't able to score before Selanne got his second goal, nine minutes in. A cross-ice pass found him alone in the circle with an open net, and he buried it, as you'd expect.
At this point, Anaheim had three goals on less than eleven shots. The really bad part is that none of the goals were Vokoun's fault. He'd actually played well.
But the Caps finally started playing like a desperate team, and working hard. And the checking line was the one to start things going in the right direction, getting a goal from Ward and another from Wideman (with Laich and Ward assisting; if there had been a third assist, it would have gone to TVo, who had wisely iced the puck to Ward).
That left the Caps down a goal with a period to play, so things weren't looking too bad. Not great, but not terrible.
Just over nine minutes in, though, things were looking a bit worse. The Ducks got a power play, which started out looking very good for the Caps. But they got the puck into the zone, and put it in the net in a scrum with Vokoun down.
So things were definitely not going well, but the team was still working hard, and was getting quite a few chances. Two and a half minutes later, they finally buried one of those chances. Brouwer got the goal, assisted by Erskine and Wideman. The weird part of that whole setup is that Brouwers line-mates at the time were Perreault and ... Hendricks, I think.
The team kept working hard, but time was winding down. They did get a power play when Fowler accidentally shot the puck over the glass when trying to clear, but they looked really bad on that man advantage. But they finally managed to tie the game with less than a minute left, after pulling Vokoun. Backstrom did the honors, with Chimmer and Laich getting the assists.
In overtime, the play was fairly even, going up and down steadily. But the Caps were the ones to finally convert, with Backstrom again potting the vulcanized rubber (helped by OV and Schultz).
For the most part, the Caps actually looked quite good throughout this game. The two first-period defensive breakdowns were very frustrating. I wonder if Selanne's second period goal should also be considered a defensive breakdown, although not as bad a one as those in the first.
We are definitely missing Green. I thought we wouldn't be (well, not a huge amount, anyway), because we're so deep on defense (Erskine, for all his flaws, is excellent as a seventh defenseman, if, perhaps, a little expensive for that role). I thought, with Carlson, WIdeman, and Hamr, that we wouldn't have any trouble moving the puck up-ice. But with Wideman and Hamr mostly playing together, we're left with a third pairing that has a lot of trouble dealing with a strong forecheck. And the other pairings have been far from flawless, as well. I'm a little puzzled, really.
In any event, the good part is that the team was working hard through the game, never sitting back on their heels. Even at three-nil, they showed no signs of discouragement, and were rewarded for it.
All four lines looked good, at times. Eakin looked ready to contribute to the big club. I don't think he'll spend a lot of time up (and I'm not sure he should, particularly without significant injuries), but he looked ready for it. His line generated some very nice chances, and he was definitely part of that.
Perreault still looked very good. He was having a bit of trouble with the Ducks' size, but he was still making it work, and playing well at both ends.
Half the defense was on the scoresheet, which is nice. But they also hung TVo out to dry several times, which isn't. I'm not sure what to make of them, as a whole. I definitely don't want to see Alzner and Carlson split up again. Let's chalk that up as a failed experiment (for which I'm still not seeing the reason why), and move on.
The important part, though, is that we got the standings points we needed. And with the Ducks being out of conference, I don't much care about their consolation point. So things are good, I guess.
I just hope that Green's back for the Canes on Friday, the team is just a lot less dangerous without him.
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