Recap: Red Wings 3, Capitals 2

A Jurassic Park reference? Rec’d for bringing back some island memories.

It was a good effort, but it’s still a loss, unfortunately. They took fewer penalties but taking a penalty late in the 3rd of a tie game is not a good idea, esp. when the opposing team is as good as Detroit.

Still, the effort was there, they competed, and they’re not going to play an opponent that good every night…

When Nicklas Backstrom bears down on an opposing goalie with his hair spilling out of the side of his helmet I imagine the goalie must suddenly get the feeling he knows exactly what Dennis Nedry’s final moments were like.

Gold!

The effort was better tonight but the Caps still were outworked by the Red Wings in all three periods.

The effort may have been better than the Rags game, but that’s not a high bar. And the smarts most definitely were not there.

The Red Wings disappeared Nick Backstrom tonight. Was also disappointing to see AO back to taking the puck down left wing time after time after time with nowhere to go with it. If not for JT60 this was a 6-2 or 7-2 game.

a) Is he hurt and still playing?
b) Is he a one-year wonder?
c) Is he a head case?
d) Is he as bad as he looks?
e) Will the Caps trade him?

Is it simply too early to be concerned? Theodore was great tonight, he truly was. The Caps still take too many penalties and Semin/Green were good for 2 Detroit goals. Look at what Detroit lost from last year and compare to this year and they still beat down a healthy Caps squad.

CAPS ARE OVER-RATED by a long shot. I’m sorry to say, but they aren’t that good. Fancy players, individual talent, no team work.

well before I get to my point, yes it’s too damned early to get panicked. Dude, we’re 5 games in. 2 years ago we were dead last on new years day and still made the playoffs, so to hit the panic button 5 games into the season is absolutely absurd.

as for my theory…maybe I’m being conspiratorial, but what if Green’s shoulder injury was worse than let on. As in, he needed surgery but that surgery would’ve left him ineligible to participate in team Canada’s Olympic workouts.

And in other news…

Hershey 8 – Bingo 1

Alzner and Carlson, each a plus-4.

If the Capitals didn’t have Mike Knuble or Brooks Laich, would they set Tom Poti up in front of the net on the powerplay? He’s been awfully good at screening goaltenders lately.

Well done sir.

Current Standings:

1 Pittsburgh Penguins 8
2 Calgary Flames 8
3 Philadelphia Flyers 7
4 New York Rangers 6
5 Ottawa Senators 6
6 Columbus Blue Jackets 6
7 Los Angeles Kings 6
8 Buffalo Sabres 5
9 Chicago Blackhawks 5
10 Colorado Avalanche 5
11 Edmonton Oilers 5
12 Anaheim Ducks 5
13 Washington Capitals 5
14 Atlanta Thrashers 4
15 Nashville Predators 4
16 Dallas Stars 4
17 St Louis Blues 4
18 San Jose Sharks 4
19 Detroit Red Wings 4
20 Boston Bruins 4
21 New Jersey Devils 4
22 Phoenix Coyotes 4
23 Tampa Bay Lightning 4
24 Carolina Hurricanes 4
25 Montréal Canadiens 4
26 New York Islanders 3
27 Minnesota 2
28 Vancouver Canucks 2
29 Florida Panthers 2
30 Toronto Maple Leafs 1

Wow, the Avalanche are better than us right now.

Fortunately 7 of the teams ahead of the Caps are in the Western Conference. So it doesn’t count. They need to stay ahead of 5 other teams in the East to stay in the playoff picture. (Or stay ahead of Carolina, Florida, Atlanta, and Tampa Bay in the South Least.)

A strong dislike of Mike Green is growing in me. This needs to stop.

It’s so frustrating to lose games by 1 goal because of last minute penalties. We better not be down by 1 in the last period against NJ on Monday.

Someone needs to have a one-on one with Green.

PIM:

1 Mike Green 12
2 John Erskine 11
3 Matt Bradley 7
4 Alexander Semin 6
5 Boyd Gordon 6
6 Alex Ovechkin 4
7 Chris Clark 4
8 Milan Jurcina 4
9 Mike Knuble 2
10 Boyd Kane 2
11 Jeff Schultz 2
12 Brooks Laich 2
13 Eric Fehr WSH 0
14 David Steckel 0
15 Shaone Morrisonn 0
16 Tyler Sloan 0
17 Brian Pothier 0
18 Quintin Laing 0
19 Tom Poti 0
20 Brendan Morrison 0
21 Nicklas Backstrom 0

Ok, I’m going back to bed now.

Has to happen. It seems the consensus is to put Knuble on the top line. I’d prefer to see Knuble stay with Morrison and put Semin on their left. For some reason, there seems to be a belief that Semin is not a left wing. But he’s played the left regularly and is even listed as a LW on the Caps web site. He is dangerous from the left as a right-handed shot in the same way Ovie is. Putting him with two disciplined, veteran players might help him mature, and would give them a skilled guy to generate offense. Morrison’s opportunities for assists would explode, and Knuble would have more rebounds to knock home.

Who would go to the top line? I don’t know, but anybody you put there is likely to produce. Why not try Fehr once he gets in game shape? Shoot, put Clark back there and see if there is any magic. If he can’t produce in that position, we’ll know once and for all that he’s done.

No moral victories? I can understand the spirit of it, but at this stage of the game, I think you can look for some positives.

First off, it was the Detroit Red Wings, the sine qua non of excellence in ice hockey for over a decade. To my eye, the Caps had their complete attention, too. They buckled down, took care with their passes, and made sure to execute their system. To be sure, the Wings were markedly the superior team, but it was competitive and at The Joe – no shame in dropping a game there.

Second, Theo had a nice game – no softies, some big saves, didn’t get rattled. Maybe he’ll build on this one.

Third, the Caps got beat, but they did not give it away.

On the minus side, the PK is still giving up too much. Mike Green had a bad game on both sides of the ice. Backstrom was silent, and there were precious few scoring chances from the “other” three lines. They got hemmed in their own zone again for long stretches.

We knew coming in that the opening schedule was brutal. In fact, I was hoping for 5 points out of the first 5 games, figuring they could sneak an OT point out of either Boston or Philly, beat Toronto and NYR, and go down to the Wings. No time to panic. They have room to improve, but they’ve also got time to do it.

I think the Caps had puck possession for about three or four minutes total – at least that’s what it felt like.

Game #5 has not been good to the Capitals. In the team’s history they are now 7-26-1-1 with 98 goals for and 160 goals against. For whatever reason the Caps do not play well in this game.

Interesting perspective on Game 5’s.

Yes, October is not usually a kind month for the Caps.

From Vogel’s recap:

"You just take those dumb penalties and they’re going to cost you in the end," laments Caps bench boss Bruce Boudreau. "And they did. The last two goals were obviously power play goals. You can kill the first two or three, [but] I knew that when we got the fourth one – because it was a bad penalty – that it was going to cost us.

Do we get Fatso in the net tomorrow?

Theo looked great. Green lost the game. Weak call, but it’s just inexcusable to take a penalty late in the 3rd of a tie game. I’m tempted to tune back in in January and see how things are going. 60 should get another start tomorrow, imo.

Shaone playing with a mean steak… mmmmm, delicious mean steak.