I can't say Im pleased with this game. No beast award will be handed out today but I will give a few props where due. Before analyzing the good and the bad I want to say that I'm a little nervous about Varly. I still love the guy, but if I were BB I'd want to do a little reflecting with him, see if there's not something bothering him. Onto the list:
Negatives:
1. Shift lengths for Ovie are still far too long. There were too many moments where Ovie was waiting at center ice for stretch passes that weren't coming. The change of lines needs to occur more often and be better planned.
2. For some reason we love the "let the other team go get the puck behind our net and we'll just wait in front for them to try and stuff then maybe bat it away or something... am I right, who's with me!" play. This happened on several occasions and reflects a larger fear of physical play you see on both offense and D.
3. Penalties and special teams. Bad bad bad bad bad bad. Its worse than good, its bad.
4. Not enough passion during passionate times. The last goal in OT occurred because whilest our two defense men were chasing (first mistake) down a stretch pass, our forwards were chillin out at center ice. The flyers see their Ds take the point, open, pass, shoot, score! Where are our forwards? Still chillin at center ice.
Happy feelings:
1. 3 more points for Ovie, count it!
2. Semin scored twice, count it!
3. BB's pink tie, lookin' sharp!
I guess I'm too upset at their overall play to write a good post today, but Peter has talked me down and I'll try and forget it. The caps will lose some games this year for sure, but they certainly need to figure out their issues because the Cup is most definitely going through Pennsylvania (twice).
Edit: This is a quote from NHL.com's recap of the game (everybody won!):
Briere, on the right post, knocked in the rebound of Kimmo Timonen's point shot for the winning goal on his birthday.
The Caps entered the third period trailing 4-3, but Semin and Morrisson scored 1:14 apart to give the Capitals the win.
Semin and Ovechkin each had a pair of goals and Bradley had two assists as the Caps won their third straight game.
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I didn't see the whole game, but a few things certainly jump out at me after this one:
ReplyDelete- This is exactly why we kept Theodore. Varly certainly is talented and has a bright future, but the kid is young and is prone to some pretty bad periods (3rd against Toronto, 2nd against Philly) and he had a couple of bad ones in preseason as well. BB needs to find a way to settle him down for sure.
- Ovie has left no doubt three games into this season that he is by far the best player in hockey (and is on pace for a career year)
- What the heck is up with Poti putting the puck into our own net! First, its overtime against the Pens, now its a crucial goal late in the third against Philly. Poti, you're killin me man!
Losing always sucks, and the Caps are definitely going to lose some this year but here are some good things that came from this game:
- We may just have the most explosive offense the NHL has ever seen this decade. In three games so far we've scored 4,6 and 5 goals. Two of those games came against top defenses (Boston and Philly). We are SCARY good on offense.
- We went on the road to play a team many have predicted to win the cup this year in their HOME OPENER and we still came away with a point. Put in perspective, that's pretty darn
good.
- Mike Richards can suck a golf ball through a garden hose
Seriously though, I am more angry that we allowed Richards to get a hat trick than I am that we actually lost the game. This ties him with Ovie for the lead league in goals! (As if that will last)
Now here's the question, "Who does BB put in goal for Thursday's game against NY?"