Thursday Roundup - Caps 5, Thrashers 3
by J.P. on Nov 27, 2008 12:16 AM EST
26 comments
[AP Recap - Game Summary - Event Summary - WashingtonCaps.com Recap]
In professional sports, when adversity hits, teams need their best players to be their best players, and that's exactly what the Caps got from Alex Ovechkin last night - three goals (including the game winner), an assist, a plus-two rating, and game highs in shots, hits and takeaways. Ovechkin and something resembling the Caps flat out took care of business in a 5-3 win that wasn't as close as the score.
A few more thoughts on the game:
- Karl Alzner led all Caps defensemen in total ice time at 21:06, which speaks to both the coaching staff's faith in King Karl and their shift management (easier to do, of course, in a game that was never all that close). In those 21 minutes, Alzner looked as good as could be expected - efficient, smart, solid, but physically overmatched once or twice along the boards.
- Alzner's fellow call-up, Sami Lepisto, didn't look as good (he also had the second-worst Corsi Rating on the team for the night, behind only... Shaone Morrisonn).
- On the other side of the Corsi spectrum, Tyler Sloan rocked it, with a game-high plus-12 rating. But c'mon... 19-plus minutes for Tyler Sloan?
- Know what's worse than "the wave" at a hockey game? NOTHING. Stop it.
- Once the game got to 4-1, the Thrashers wanted to go home - no fight, no energy, no effort.
- Viktor Kozlov is such a good hockey player when he wants to be, and Tomas Fleischmann continues to impress with his skills... in the offensive zone.
- The Caps power play stays hot, while the penalty kill has gone ice cold (and with Boyd Gordon, Jeff Schultz, John Erskine out - to say nothing of Sergei Fedorov and Alex Semin - that doesn't look to get much better any time soon).
- Graham Mink had four shots on goal?
- Chris Bourque was a ball of energy all night, but needs to play a bit more under control (and he was terrible on the third Atlanta goal). Still, it's nice to see someone other than Matt Bradley whose idea of forechecking involves more than stick lifts.
- Tom Poti's set up on the third Ovechkin goal was suh-weet.
- For all the complaining about the ice at the Verizon Center, it was good last night, and damn, did it show on the gorgeous Michael Nylander to Fleischmann to Eric Fehr goal.
- Ovechkin now leads the Caps in scoring. Anyone think he'll be caught?
So the Caps get a much needed win against a crappy team, but will be better tested on Friday night when the Canadiens come to town. Until then, however, enjoy your turkey and savor last night's two points.
Elsewhere Around The Rinks
SI.com's S.L. Price loves him some AO.... Catch Bruce Boudreau on XM204 this morning at 8:45.... Oskar Osala potted another two goals for Hershey last night.
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Holy crap! A Caps blog
I am beyond cised. I have been reading you for a while now and I even asked for a Caps blog on SB Nation and recomended you as you can see right here: http://blog.sbnation.com/2008/10/15/635445/a-washington-capitals-blog
I went to the game, and me and the Russian guys behind me were pretty annoyed by the wave.
I really can’t imagine expecting Tyler Sloan to be any better than what he has been for us all year.
Alzner, unsurprisingly looked almost as smooth out there as when I watched him play in the rookie game back in September at Kettler. He made some tough plays look pretty easy, and the coaches sure seemed to trust him to play alot of quality minutes.
Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words—"mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
-Jack Handey
by jobe on Nov 27, 2008 1:12 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Thrash were the road trip Caps
Atlanta is in dire need of a defensive minded coach. The way Kozlov took Alex’s pass for the breakaway was beautiful – skate to stick. Let’s hope the Bears and Caps can play as well against Montreal.
by hotdog88gt on Nov 27, 2008 7:55 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
our D
you say Atlanta gave up when down 1-4, but they still found a way to score 2 on the Cappies. myeah. the Habs will manhandle us on Friday if they don’t play tighter.
I hope they keep Sloan up permanently. he is playing better than 2 of our starters (Erskine is not one of them).
Alzner really played as advertised. Smart, simple, quick to get the puck out. not a bad shot either!
by ns on Nov 27, 2008 8:09 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Fehr
Eric M’Boy Fehr also had a pretty nice game. He coulda had more than just the one, tho that one was a sweetie. To be sure. He continues to run the net and use his size and speed well. Keep doing that, Eric!
Agreed on the wave. Dopey!! I suspect that last night’s crowd was tipped somewhat over into the newbies/tourists area of humanity, The guy next to me asked me, from the depths of his Southern accent, what college Alzner had gone to. And then he told me that the “Raleigh Hurricanes” won the Stanley Cup a few years ago. I tried to be polite.
by Uncle C on Nov 27, 2008 9:05 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Alzner the Collegian
I have to admit that my wife of almost 40 years who has been trudging to hockey games all over the country with me asked the same question and she was there when GMGM drafted him. At least she thinks the wave is lame and hooted the one dweeb in our section who stood up for it.
by Old Bob on Nov 27, 2008 11:44 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Someone should show Eric Fehr the game tape and let him see that when he went into high-traffic areas he got chances. When he lingered around the perimeter: Nada.
Nice to see Tom Poti’s minutes managed downward in a game that was ovah early.
I can’t remember the last time I saw an NHL team so disinterested in playing a game. ATL had a physical game with TOR on Tuesday night (it included a Kovalchuk fight), and boy did it show.
B2B really solid games from Juice.
by TylerG on Nov 27, 2008 9:08 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
“Really solid” you say? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, that sounds like a compliment of our worst defenseman. Let’s go with “he managed to not fuck up quite so bad as he normally does” and work our way up if he somehow manages to not screw up in future games.
by Hazardous on Nov 27, 2008 9:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
The Wave
Hahaha, I was wondering what the deal was with the wave last night as well. Must be the out-of-town guests. Stupid tourists.
by RussianMachine on Nov 27, 2008 9:30 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Oh God
Saturday night at the Leafs game a guy was determined to start the wave. He tried probably 10 times in the third period to get it going with his back to the play. What a mook.
Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.
by PPP on Nov 27, 2008 10:03 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Then his friend yelled at us that we weren’t real Leafs fans because we didn’t want to do the wave, and then his friend’s girlfriend stood up, cracked the whip, and they left halfway through the third.
Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.
by Chemmy on Nov 27, 2008 11:35 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
The Wave
I suspect it was started by College Kids. I think last night was a bonus Student Rush, and I heard some college aged kids going back to the metro as I was going up the escalator mentioning the game was sold out.
I agree though, let’s leave the Wave to baseball games, where there is nothing going on for 2 of the three hours it takes to play the game.
by Sombrero Guy on Nov 27, 2008 10:08 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
sweet jebus
all of America watching the Thanksgiving Parade just got Rick Roll’d, live.
by ns on Nov 27, 2008 11:01 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
?
Do tell….
jrwendelman
The Artist Formerly Known as "Junior", who blogs at http://www.heroesinrehab.ca/blog
"But if someone so eager to engage into fist talk, we can always meet after season end in Minsk." (Mikhail Grabovski and a well-meaning but not particularly skillful translator)
by jrwendelman on Nov 27, 2008 11:11 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Gotcha, America
ha ha. had the exact same thought. AWESOME.
by dcrock on Nov 27, 2008 11:18 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Why are you watching the parade?
Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.
by Chemmy on Nov 27, 2008 11:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
its on in the background while helping with food prep and checking my fantasy football lineup :)
by ns on Nov 27, 2008 11:46 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
The Wave
There is a kid from Oakton High School in Fairfax who posted (in really poor English) on the Caps Boards that a group from his school was going to the game and then posted today that they started the wave. Hope they don’t come back if they are going to do the wave.
Good game, I don’t know if it was just me,but both Jurcina and Nylander looked so much better last night. On the injury front, Tarik’s WaPo story did not have good news, Poti left the game and was seen limping after the game. In the list of injuries, Tarik indicated that Erskine might have a concussion. I guess Alzer might be here for a couple of games.
by NovaCath on Nov 27, 2008 11:40 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Alzner lifted up Jurcina's play
similar to how Fedorov did earlier in the year.
Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words—"mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
-Jack Handey
by jobe on Nov 27, 2008 1:37 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Good point
This is an interesting point. Juice’s worst games have come when he’s been paired with Erskine, when he may have felt he had to make up for 4’s lack of speed and coverage. Put Juice with a quieter, calmer, steadier partner and he seems more free to take the body and to even play the puck.
by TylerG on Nov 27, 2008 2:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Yeah, Erskine's been real good this year
but he shouldn’t be paired with Jurcina.
Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words—"mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
-Jack Handey
by jobe on Nov 27, 2008 2:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
What jobe said. Jurcina’s 800 times worse than anyone else on the team, let’s shut up with the Erskine hate and see problems for what they really are. Jurcina’s lousy and Erskine is only sort of lousy at times. To say Erskine has a lack of coverage is kind of stupid since he’s always the one in position while Jurcina is not. The sooner we dump Jurcina the better.
by Hazardous on Nov 27, 2008 9:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Yeah, I mean goodfor McPhee to get
a guy who can contribute on the big club for a fourth round pick, but his time with us should be over soon.
Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words—"mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
-Jack Handey
by jobe on Nov 27, 2008 11:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Calgary Hitmen Season Ticket Holder checking in.
Glad to hear Alzner had a good game in his debut. :)
That’s two Hitmen D that the Caps have added in just a couple of years. Wonder if they’ll go for Matt MacKenzie at this year’s draft? ;)
by Doogie2K on Nov 27, 2008 6:14 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Does Bret Hart still own the team?
If he does, is there really any better match than Austin vs. Hart at WM 13.
Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words—"mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
-Jack Handey
by jobe on Nov 27, 2008 11:44 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Fleischmann
“Tomas Fleischmann continues to impress with his skills… in the offensive zone.”
I’m not disagreeing with the statement, he does leave something to be desired when in the defensive zone and with his backchecking. Buuuut, since he’s in the midst of what appaears to be a break out season, is it possible that the defensive awareness will follow the offensive stats? I’m just thinking about Semin and OV…and yes I know it’s hard, if not impossible, to compare Flash with those two, but still.
Thoughts?
by Yoshietree on Nov 28, 2008 2:35 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I’ll buy that – offensive skill comes naturally to a lot of guys, and it’s defense they have to work on. If Flash is willing to work, no reason to think he won’t get better at it.
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
by J.P. on Nov 28, 2008 2:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
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Southeast Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Washington
|
16 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 22 |
|
Tampa Bay
|
14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 15 |
|
Atlanta
|
12 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 13 |
|
Florida
|
14 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 11 |
|
Carolina
|
15 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 7 |
(updated 11.7.2009 at 9:10 AM EST)
Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
