Oddly (well, maybe not, if we consider that it's against the Sabres), tonight's matchup between the Caps and Sabres was almost a mirror image of the Rangers game.
The Caps actually put up a dominating performance (70% Fenwick for (all situations)), and just peppered Miller with fifty shots. I'm pretty sure that's their best performance of the season.
Unfortunately, Miller was playing like someone who really wants to start for the US in the Olympics, and stopped forty-nine of those shots. It's true that they didn't get as many screened and deflection shots (or quick one-timers) as you would like, but they still "should" have scored more.
Gru was going again for the Caps, and the defense kept the shots against him down to seventeen (kudos for that; I suspect it was their best game of the season for that, as well).
And I should point out that there was about seven minutes of four-on-four in the game (two minutes of matching penalties and five minutes of overtime), and the Caps were even more dominating in those stretches.
Unfortunately, all of that was merely preamble to the shootout, which ended up going to the sixth round. For the first five rounds, Gru matched Miller by stopping everyone (including a great save where a shot rang off the iron, bounced off his leg, and was then caught before it could go into the net), but he was beaten in the sixth.
A bit of a frustrating game (since Miller looked so good), but actually the most encouraging one in almost three weeks. In fact, it was the first one to push the rolling ten-game average of fenwick close upwards since the 4-1 victory over the Rangers. Let's hope it isn't just a mirage.
Next chance to see is tomorrow in Ottawa. I'd expect that Holtby will get the nod, but we'll see. Go Caps!
20131231
20131229
Fehr Dinkum, Mate
The Caps/Rangers tilt the other day was basically a continuation of the prior several games. That is to say, the Caps were managing to stay in the game, but were resoundingly outplayed by the opposition.
Basically, given equivalent goaltending, the Caps would have had their butts handed to them. The goaltending was a bit odd, though. Talbot was getting his third straight start over Hank (very weird) while Gru was getting another start over both Neuvy and Holtby (almost as weird). Both choices were, I think, coaches being blinded by small samples of success, although both coaches were rewarded.
And man, it looked bad at the start. The Rangers got fourteen shots in the first period. IIRC, that's as many as both teams had in the first period, last time they played. The Caps managed half that, but thanks to a Green slapshot from the point on the power play, the period ended one-nil in the Caps favor.
The second period had Pouliot and Backstrom (tough to think where Caps would have been over the last month without him) trading goals, with the Rangers again having a large edge in shots and Fenwick.
The third period started with Hagelin managing a short-handed goal seventeen seconds in (with a very nice stretch pass from McDonagh). From there, it was basically Fehr time, with him getting a disallowed goal, and then an approved goal a couple minutes later. And that was it for scoring in the game, as the Caps managed to hold off New York.
But man, did they look bad in doing it. They allowed forty shots on goal (with nineteen more blocked by defenders) to a team that only averages thirty-one. The power play, shortie notwithstanding, looked pretty good, despite getting only one score; they took eleven shots in their four opportunities. The PK actually wasn't too bad, allowing only four shots (which really isn't great, but it is a signal improvement on recent performances).
But the key, of course, was that Gru stopped 38 of those forty.
That's great to see, of course, but is hardly sustainable.
It does seem a bit churlish to complain about the team finally getting another regulation win (which makes ten of their twenty overall victories), but I'm just going to keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Let's hope it doesn't come soon.
I'll talk about this evening's game against the Sabres separately.
Go Caps!
Basically, given equivalent goaltending, the Caps would have had their butts handed to them. The goaltending was a bit odd, though. Talbot was getting his third straight start over Hank (very weird) while Gru was getting another start over both Neuvy and Holtby (almost as weird). Both choices were, I think, coaches being blinded by small samples of success, although both coaches were rewarded.
And man, it looked bad at the start. The Rangers got fourteen shots in the first period. IIRC, that's as many as both teams had in the first period, last time they played. The Caps managed half that, but thanks to a Green slapshot from the point on the power play, the period ended one-nil in the Caps favor.
The second period had Pouliot and Backstrom (tough to think where Caps would have been over the last month without him) trading goals, with the Rangers again having a large edge in shots and Fenwick.
The third period started with Hagelin managing a short-handed goal seventeen seconds in (with a very nice stretch pass from McDonagh). From there, it was basically Fehr time, with him getting a disallowed goal, and then an approved goal a couple minutes later. And that was it for scoring in the game, as the Caps managed to hold off New York.
But man, did they look bad in doing it. They allowed forty shots on goal (with nineteen more blocked by defenders) to a team that only averages thirty-one. The power play, shortie notwithstanding, looked pretty good, despite getting only one score; they took eleven shots in their four opportunities. The PK actually wasn't too bad, allowing only four shots (which really isn't great, but it is a signal improvement on recent performances).
But the key, of course, was that Gru stopped 38 of those forty.
That's great to see, of course, but is hardly sustainable.
It does seem a bit churlish to complain about the team finally getting another regulation win (which makes ten of their twenty overall victories), but I'm just going to keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. Let's hope it doesn't come soon.
I'll talk about this evening's game against the Sabres separately.
Go Caps!
20131226
Enough of Clough?
NPR was interviewing Michael Sheen last week, and the interviewer mentioned a movie he'd done a few years ago called The Damn United. They played a little clip of it, and it seemed very funny. Also, it was about the Premiership thirty-ish years ago, so I figured my father-in-law would like it.
So we watched it a couple nights ago, and it was really interesting.
It's about Brian Clough, a top football manager of the time, and his brief tenure at Leeds United, the top team of the time. What made it interesting was Clough had, by that point, made a lot of hay in the press attacking Leeds and their style of play. It spent a lot of time in flash-backs that illustrated where the bad feelings had come from and on how Clough had gotten to the point that Leeds would be interested in hiring him despite the bad blood.
Basically, Clough (and his good friend Peter Taylor) had brought Derby from the bottom of the second division to the top of the Premiership over the span of... three, I think, years. They had then left in a tiff with management (Clough had an enormous ego, to put it mildly, and didn't like ownership telling him what to do), and went to Brighton & Hove Albion for eight months or so (the movie makes it look like Clough never actually coached at Brighton).
And then, there was Leeds. Not surprisingly, it didn't work out (lasting forty-four days, in fact), largely because Clough did nothing to try to work with the players, and try to earn their respect. One wonders, also, if Taylor not being there (he had stayed at Brighton when Brian went to Leeds) contributed.
For further interest, the end of the movie mentions Clough's later success with Nottingham Forest, also taking them from the dregs of the second division to the Premiership championship, as well as back-to-back UEFA championships. But he never coached the English team.
Anyway, I liked the way the story explored the past. And it did a good job, I think, of showing football of the time. There were two things I didn't much like about it. One was that they showed his towering ego and difficulties dealing with people, but did not do much of anything to show what made him successful. The one scene they had that showed a bit of that ended up being cut out (this was one of the two or three deleted scenes I wish they'd kept).
Really, the movie made it look like Clough and Taylor's success was due mostly to Taylor's scouting abilities. And while I'm sure Taylor had a lot to do with their combined success, I very much doubt he was all of it.
Anyway, the second thing was the casting of Timothy Spall as Taylor. He did a fine job; I'm not trying to denigrate him, but my only previous experience with him was as the witch's minion in Enchanted. So seeing him in this kept took me out of the movie several times.
Despite those two flaws, I thought it was an excellent movie, and very enjoyable.
So we watched it a couple nights ago, and it was really interesting.
It's about Brian Clough, a top football manager of the time, and his brief tenure at Leeds United, the top team of the time. What made it interesting was Clough had, by that point, made a lot of hay in the press attacking Leeds and their style of play. It spent a lot of time in flash-backs that illustrated where the bad feelings had come from and on how Clough had gotten to the point that Leeds would be interested in hiring him despite the bad blood.
Basically, Clough (and his good friend Peter Taylor) had brought Derby from the bottom of the second division to the top of the Premiership over the span of... three, I think, years. They had then left in a tiff with management (Clough had an enormous ego, to put it mildly, and didn't like ownership telling him what to do), and went to Brighton & Hove Albion for eight months or so (the movie makes it look like Clough never actually coached at Brighton).
And then, there was Leeds. Not surprisingly, it didn't work out (lasting forty-four days, in fact), largely because Clough did nothing to try to work with the players, and try to earn their respect. One wonders, also, if Taylor not being there (he had stayed at Brighton when Brian went to Leeds) contributed.
For further interest, the end of the movie mentions Clough's later success with Nottingham Forest, also taking them from the dregs of the second division to the Premiership championship, as well as back-to-back UEFA championships. But he never coached the English team.
Anyway, I liked the way the story explored the past. And it did a good job, I think, of showing football of the time. There were two things I didn't much like about it. One was that they showed his towering ego and difficulties dealing with people, but did not do much of anything to show what made him successful. The one scene they had that showed a bit of that ended up being cut out (this was one of the two or three deleted scenes I wish they'd kept).
Really, the movie made it look like Clough and Taylor's success was due mostly to Taylor's scouting abilities. And while I'm sure Taylor had a lot to do with their combined success, I very much doubt he was all of it.
Anyway, the second thing was the casting of Timothy Spall as Taylor. He did a fine job; I'm not trying to denigrate him, but my only previous experience with him was as the witch's minion in Enchanted. So seeing him in this kept took me out of the movie several times.
Despite those two flaws, I thought it was an excellent movie, and very enjoyable.
Not-so-guaranteed?
UPS has a policy that, up until a certain day, they guarantee delivery by Christmas. But this year, their system was overloaded, and they failed a significant number of "guaranteed" deliveries. I wonder what they do for the packages that didn't make it. And I wonder what they're going to do differently, next year.
Ducking into a short vacation
I watched the Caps game against the Ducks the other night, but really should not have waited so long to write about it.
I heard that the Caps didn't do any kind of tribute video for Boudreau, it being his first trip back since going to Anaheim, and (despite agreeing with his firing) that was a missed opportunity. Things might have gone a bit south (or south-east, I guess) at the end, but Bruce did improve the team a lot. And I think the team (especially when things went pear-shaped) improved Bruce as well.
One thing I will say about the game is that the Caps did do quite a bit better than I expected. Not only were shot totals much closer than I expected (49% FF 5v5, 48% close), but the Caps scored first (twice, even) and led for much of the game.
A bit surprisingly, they did very poorly on the power play; they scored once, but only managed two shots on five opportunities. Which says to me that Bruce's PK does a much better job preventing controlled entries than Oates' (I'm beginning to think that ~75% of killing penalties is keeping the other team from getting set up).
Washington's PK, meanwhile, allowed eight shots in four opportunities (and I believe that's even after one of the penalties was stopped without a shot. More and more, I think the Washington PK is really terrible, but that's getting masked by some really terrific goaltending.
I'm pretty much just waiting for the other shoe to drop, and for Washington's record to take the kind of turn that the Maple Leafs' has recently. The Caps have two terrific lines, one not-very-good one, and one terrible one. On the defensive side, I think Carlson and Alzner need to be together, playing the top lines. And Green and Orlov should probably play together as well, and Oleksy and Schmidt should take the remainder.
I've been giving it a bit of thought, and I think what the Caps need to do is stop passing D-to-D behind the net. It just seems to consistently bite them in the butt when they do (Oates' insistence on handedness probably exacerbates this).
Anyway, despite the game being better than most of the recent ones, it still wasn't good, and still doesn't give a lot of hope for the future. Let's hope things start improving tomorrow when the Rangers come to visit. Go Caps!
I heard that the Caps didn't do any kind of tribute video for Boudreau, it being his first trip back since going to Anaheim, and (despite agreeing with his firing) that was a missed opportunity. Things might have gone a bit south (or south-east, I guess) at the end, but Bruce did improve the team a lot. And I think the team (especially when things went pear-shaped) improved Bruce as well.
One thing I will say about the game is that the Caps did do quite a bit better than I expected. Not only were shot totals much closer than I expected (49% FF 5v5, 48% close), but the Caps scored first (twice, even) and led for much of the game.
A bit surprisingly, they did very poorly on the power play; they scored once, but only managed two shots on five opportunities. Which says to me that Bruce's PK does a much better job preventing controlled entries than Oates' (I'm beginning to think that ~75% of killing penalties is keeping the other team from getting set up).
Washington's PK, meanwhile, allowed eight shots in four opportunities (and I believe that's even after one of the penalties was stopped without a shot. More and more, I think the Washington PK is really terrible, but that's getting masked by some really terrific goaltending.
I'm pretty much just waiting for the other shoe to drop, and for Washington's record to take the kind of turn that the Maple Leafs' has recently. The Caps have two terrific lines, one not-very-good one, and one terrible one. On the defensive side, I think Carlson and Alzner need to be together, playing the top lines. And Green and Orlov should probably play together as well, and Oleksy and Schmidt should take the remainder.
I've been giving it a bit of thought, and I think what the Caps need to do is stop passing D-to-D behind the net. It just seems to consistently bite them in the butt when they do (Oates' insistence on handedness probably exacerbates this).
Anyway, despite the game being better than most of the recent ones, it still wasn't good, and still doesn't give a lot of hope for the future. Let's hope things start improving tomorrow when the Rangers come to visit. Go Caps!
Structure in life?
I just heard about Structure's kickstarter project today (via Brin). It's already over, unfortunately, but it's one of the neatest projects I've ever heard of. You can still preorder via their website, and I probably will. The only problem right now is that I've got an iPad 2 and my wife has an iPad 3, and only 4, Air, and Retina Mini are supported.
Nothing surprising there, but it is disappointing. I'll probably get a retina mini before too long, though, and I'll follow that order with a Structure order, if so.
Essentially, though, it's a piece of hardware that attaches to the iPad. You connect it, and trigger it, and it gives a 3D layout of what it sees, with dimensions of everything (accurate to 1%, I believe). I'm not sure what I'll actually do with it, but I'm excited about the possibilities.
Plus, they'll also be releasing an SDK for programming it. Even more possibilities.
Nothing surprising there, but it is disappointing. I'll probably get a retina mini before too long, though, and I'll follow that order with a Structure order, if so.
Essentially, though, it's a piece of hardware that attaches to the iPad. You connect it, and trigger it, and it gives a 3D layout of what it sees, with dimensions of everything (accurate to 1%, I believe). I'm not sure what I'll actually do with it, but I'm excited about the possibilities.
Plus, they'll also be releasing an SDK for programming it. Even more possibilities.
A few Premier notes
Yes, I'm over a week late posting this, but just wanted to mention that I'd watched the Man City/Arsenal game last week (well, it was played Saturday of the week before, but I watched it with my father-in-law last week), and found it very entertaining.
I found out that my father-in-law hates Arsenal, in the process, so he was very entertained as well. (Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch autobiography, which I read ten or so years ago, formed much of my early feelings for the Premiership, so I actually tend to like Arsenal, but I like watching City more. Especially since van Persie left Arsenal.)
I've been thinking a bit about it, and I think part of why I like City as much as I do is that they play a skilled, attacking game that's pretty fast-paced.
And I thought that Arsenal, with their recently-upgraded midfield, was ready for that, but they really weren't. The final was 6-3, but it was closer to being 10-3 than it was to 6-6. Arsenal's defense, particularly their spacing just outside of the goalie box, was exposed repeatedly and thoroughly, leading to several of those goals.
The only thing I can say in Arsenal's defense is that we also watched their match against Chelsea a few days ago, and Chelsea did not find that kind of space.
I'm pretty comfortable, at this point, in feeling that Arsenal is going to drop out of contention for the title, and that City has a very good shot at winning it all. The one that I can't figure out is Everton. We also watched their last match (v Swansea, IIRC), and that was a bloody boring game, especially in the first half. Lots of sloppy play, and very few scoring chances (I don't think there were any in the first half). Everton did win, and I did note that the commentators said that Everton has only lost one match all season, but I can't figure out how they're doing so well. Time will tell.
I found out that my father-in-law hates Arsenal, in the process, so he was very entertained as well. (Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch autobiography, which I read ten or so years ago, formed much of my early feelings for the Premiership, so I actually tend to like Arsenal, but I like watching City more. Especially since van Persie left Arsenal.)
I've been thinking a bit about it, and I think part of why I like City as much as I do is that they play a skilled, attacking game that's pretty fast-paced.
And I thought that Arsenal, with their recently-upgraded midfield, was ready for that, but they really weren't. The final was 6-3, but it was closer to being 10-3 than it was to 6-6. Arsenal's defense, particularly their spacing just outside of the goalie box, was exposed repeatedly and thoroughly, leading to several of those goals.
The only thing I can say in Arsenal's defense is that we also watched their match against Chelsea a few days ago, and Chelsea did not find that kind of space.
I'm pretty comfortable, at this point, in feeling that Arsenal is going to drop out of contention for the title, and that City has a very good shot at winning it all. The one that I can't figure out is Everton. We also watched their last match (v Swansea, IIRC), and that was a bloody boring game, especially in the first half. Lots of sloppy play, and very few scoring chances (I don't think there were any in the first half). Everton did win, and I did note that the commentators said that Everton has only lost one match all season, but I can't figure out how they're doing so well. Time will tell.
Playing with fire
[I wrote this the morning before the Ducks game, but didn't post for a while.]
I missed both of the last two games (the first due to a DVR mistake; the second because I forgot about it that night, and haven't watched it yet), and I'm not terribly upset about that.
I watched the highlights for the Carolina game, and my reaction to the six-minute sequence was that the Caps allowed a horrific number of 2-on-1s. Then I looked at the fenwick numbers, and saw that they were indeed dominated (under 32%, 5v5 close). But the power play rocked, and they scored their first empty-net goal to win the game in regulation (yes, no even strength goals at all). And Gru was excellent, stopping all those 2-on-1s.
I watched the highlights for the Devils game. Wasn't terribly hopeful there, as the Devils are a very good possession team, but somehow don't win much. But the highlights weren't bad; wasn't a succession of near-misses by the Devils with a couple goals by the Caps. In fact, it seemed most of the near-misses were by the Caps. But there was only about a five minute stretch (yes, singular) where the Caps were ahead on Fenwick (overall), and the 5v5 close number was only a little better than 1/3 (35.7%).
Which leaves the Caps with the worst ten-game average of (overall) Fenwick they've had all year. They were actually over 50% (evens, close) five of the games, but only once ahead by a lot, and were behind by a lot in the other five.
These last two games, together, had 36% overall fenwick for. Ouch.
The only positive is that they somehow got three points out of them. That's not nothing, for sure, but it doesn't bode well for future success. We'll keep hoping.
Next game is tonight, when Boudreau (and Perreault... what'd the team let him go for, again? For Wilson's one shot in the last fifteen games?) returns to the Cap center. Definitely bet on Ducks having the possession edge, but hope that Caps can pull it out, somehow. Go Caps!
I missed both of the last two games (the first due to a DVR mistake; the second because I forgot about it that night, and haven't watched it yet), and I'm not terribly upset about that.
I watched the highlights for the Carolina game, and my reaction to the six-minute sequence was that the Caps allowed a horrific number of 2-on-1s. Then I looked at the fenwick numbers, and saw that they were indeed dominated (under 32%, 5v5 close). But the power play rocked, and they scored their first empty-net goal to win the game in regulation (yes, no even strength goals at all). And Gru was excellent, stopping all those 2-on-1s.
I watched the highlights for the Devils game. Wasn't terribly hopeful there, as the Devils are a very good possession team, but somehow don't win much. But the highlights weren't bad; wasn't a succession of near-misses by the Devils with a couple goals by the Caps. In fact, it seemed most of the near-misses were by the Caps. But there was only about a five minute stretch (yes, singular) where the Caps were ahead on Fenwick (overall), and the 5v5 close number was only a little better than 1/3 (35.7%).
Which leaves the Caps with the worst ten-game average of (overall) Fenwick they've had all year. They were actually over 50% (evens, close) five of the games, but only once ahead by a lot, and were behind by a lot in the other five.
These last two games, together, had 36% overall fenwick for. Ouch.
The only positive is that they somehow got three points out of them. That's not nothing, for sure, but it doesn't bode well for future success. We'll keep hoping.
Next game is tonight, when Boudreau (and Perreault... what'd the team let him go for, again? For Wilson's one shot in the last fifteen games?) returns to the Cap center. Definitely bet on Ducks having the possession edge, but hope that Caps can pull it out, somehow. Go Caps!
20131215
Skating on thin ice
I watched today's Caps/Flyers game in two chunks; the first period live, and the rest of the game after the kids were in bed. And it kind of felt like two different pieces (well, maybe even three).
I didn't have a good feel, though, before it even started. First, Erskine was finally back from injury. Well, that one is a little mixed. But the other part was that Grabo was down with "flu-like symptoms". And that put Beagle up to the second line, which is not good. Beagle is where scoring chances go to die (for both teams); that's not bad on the fourth line, but you really don't want it happening on the higher ones.
The first period, it felt like the Caps were doing very well, mostly keeping play at the Flyers' end of the ice. And I think they mostly were, although Fenwick disagrees on that. It felt like they kept play there, and just didn't manage to control the puck cleanly and get shots away. Maybe that's a delusion, but that's how it felt. Fenwick says that the Caps were never ahead, though.
But they were putting pressure on, and got a second power play halfway through the period. And on this one, they got some sustained zone time (for the only time on the power play, all game). And after working it around, Backstrom sent a puck across the goal (from OV's normal position) and it was deflected in. It was originally credited to MarJo (who was waiting at the far post), but changed (after the game) to be credited to OV (who was charging in from between the circles).
It looked like the Caps were going to escape the first with that lead, but Giroux scored one in the final minute from out in front to tie the game up.
From there, it was pretty solidly the Flyers' game until about halfway through the third period. It got so bad, that I almost turned it off when Voracek scored to make it 4-1 early in the third. My normal rule is to watch until a four-goal margin, but since this was the third period, I almost broke it. And I'm glad I didn't, although it took almost eight minutes more for me to feel like that was even marginally a good choice.
That's when Green sent a fairly innocuous-looking snap shot into the net, blocker-side-high, from the point.
Five minutes later, Dima got his first of the season off of a draw, where the defenseman, Grossman, nicely screened Mason. Because of the screen, Mason didn't see it until it was only a few feet in front of him, and in it went, glove-side high.
Things were getting more exciting and stressful into the final minute. Gru had been pulled already, but went back in for a center-ice faceoff after the puck deflected onto the bench. The Caps won the faceoff, and sent it in deep. Gru ran for the bench as Mason went behind the net to play the puck. Mason's attempted clear went right to Ward, who passed in to the center (attempting to hit either Green or Carlson at the point, I think) and hit OV almost in stride. OV sent a quick wrister into the side of the net before Mason could get completely set to complete the come-back.
Despite the excitement of that, the remaining forty-eight seconds were mostly spent trying to lock in the automatic standing point with getting to overtime, although the Caps did get one more good chance.
But it went into overtime, with the normal Caps (2013-14 edition) result: a shootout. But this one, thankfully, was much more merciful than Florida. It was resolved in the normal three rounds, with Fehr and Backstrom providing the scores and Gru stopping two.
Although Gru getting the start surprised me quite a bit (yes, he's been good, but doesn't have nearly the record of Holtby), and despite the third goal being pretty bad, Gru had a solid game. He had two really amazing saves against Philly's power play, and generally looked comfortable.
OV didn't seem all that great, but still managed a pair of goals and a bone-crunching hit early in the first. And that game-tying goal was his 399th; let's hope he can get his 400th in Philly on Tuesday.
Dima had a really good game again; he should really be ahead of Erskine.
Erskine, though, to his credit, looked pretty good. At least, the few times I noticed him (and I figure it's a good thing if I don't notice him) he was making the right play. Honestly, though, I think I'd feel better with Schmidt. Sad, but true.
Anyway, that was the good and bad of the game. Next is the Flyers again, in Philly, on Tuesday. Go Caps!
I didn't have a good feel, though, before it even started. First, Erskine was finally back from injury. Well, that one is a little mixed. But the other part was that Grabo was down with "flu-like symptoms". And that put Beagle up to the second line, which is not good. Beagle is where scoring chances go to die (for both teams); that's not bad on the fourth line, but you really don't want it happening on the higher ones.
The first period, it felt like the Caps were doing very well, mostly keeping play at the Flyers' end of the ice. And I think they mostly were, although Fenwick disagrees on that. It felt like they kept play there, and just didn't manage to control the puck cleanly and get shots away. Maybe that's a delusion, but that's how it felt. Fenwick says that the Caps were never ahead, though.
But they were putting pressure on, and got a second power play halfway through the period. And on this one, they got some sustained zone time (for the only time on the power play, all game). And after working it around, Backstrom sent a puck across the goal (from OV's normal position) and it was deflected in. It was originally credited to MarJo (who was waiting at the far post), but changed (after the game) to be credited to OV (who was charging in from between the circles).
It looked like the Caps were going to escape the first with that lead, but Giroux scored one in the final minute from out in front to tie the game up.
From there, it was pretty solidly the Flyers' game until about halfway through the third period. It got so bad, that I almost turned it off when Voracek scored to make it 4-1 early in the third. My normal rule is to watch until a four-goal margin, but since this was the third period, I almost broke it. And I'm glad I didn't, although it took almost eight minutes more for me to feel like that was even marginally a good choice.
That's when Green sent a fairly innocuous-looking snap shot into the net, blocker-side-high, from the point.
Five minutes later, Dima got his first of the season off of a draw, where the defenseman, Grossman, nicely screened Mason. Because of the screen, Mason didn't see it until it was only a few feet in front of him, and in it went, glove-side high.
Things were getting more exciting and stressful into the final minute. Gru had been pulled already, but went back in for a center-ice faceoff after the puck deflected onto the bench. The Caps won the faceoff, and sent it in deep. Gru ran for the bench as Mason went behind the net to play the puck. Mason's attempted clear went right to Ward, who passed in to the center (attempting to hit either Green or Carlson at the point, I think) and hit OV almost in stride. OV sent a quick wrister into the side of the net before Mason could get completely set to complete the come-back.
Despite the excitement of that, the remaining forty-eight seconds were mostly spent trying to lock in the automatic standing point with getting to overtime, although the Caps did get one more good chance.
But it went into overtime, with the normal Caps (2013-14 edition) result: a shootout. But this one, thankfully, was much more merciful than Florida. It was resolved in the normal three rounds, with Fehr and Backstrom providing the scores and Gru stopping two.
Although Gru getting the start surprised me quite a bit (yes, he's been good, but doesn't have nearly the record of Holtby), and despite the third goal being pretty bad, Gru had a solid game. He had two really amazing saves against Philly's power play, and generally looked comfortable.
OV didn't seem all that great, but still managed a pair of goals and a bone-crunching hit early in the first. And that game-tying goal was his 399th; let's hope he can get his 400th in Philly on Tuesday.
Dima had a really good game again; he should really be ahead of Erskine.
Erskine, though, to his credit, looked pretty good. At least, the few times I noticed him (and I figure it's a good thing if I don't notice him) he was making the right play. Honestly, though, I think I'd feel better with Schmidt. Sad, but true.
Anyway, that was the good and bad of the game. Next is the Flyers again, in Philly, on Tuesday. Go Caps!
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