Recap - Caps 4, Habs 3 (SO)
by J.P. on Feb 19, 2009 7:00 AM EST
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[AP Recap - Game Summary - Event Summary - WashingtonCaps.com Postgame]
When the Washington Capitals play as a cohesive unit - twenty men reading off the same sheet of music, anticipating one another's actions before they happen, creating chances where none seemed to exist and enveloping opposing forwards before they can get to within spitting distance of the crease - it's a truly beautiful sight to behold.
Last night wasn't that. Not by a long shot.
And yet, the Caps turned it on when it mattered and pocketed another two points in the standings with a win over a decent team that probably played with as much effort and emotion as their coach had hoped in the wake of the shakeups of the past few days.
We've talked ad nauseum about this team's focus (or lack thereof), so we'll skip that for now and get right to some post-game thoughts:
- The Caps - or should I say, individuals - spent far too much time trying to beat Canadiens at the blueline rather than getting the puck deep and going after it, and, with one notable exception (see next bullet), there was little in the way of going to the net and creating traffic in front of a goalie whose confidence was shaky at best coming into the game.
- Alex Ovechkin's goal? Seriously? I don't know what part of it I enjoy the most - the self-pass/spin-move at center ice to get around Roman Hamrlik, the shot itself or the celebration.
- Nicklas Backstrom had a strong 65 minutes (including a power-play goal, three hits, three takeaways, no giveaways and four shots on goal), but in many ways his shootout goal encapsulated what Nick is when he's at his best - calm, confident and quick... and not taking a faceoff (he was just 6-for-18 on the night).
- Of all of Bruce Boudreau's line combos this season (now numbering in the thousands, I believe), Brooks Laich - Michael Nylander - Matt Bradley might be my least favorite.
- David Steckel was 7-for-11 in the dot (64%) and his win (with help from Laich) late in the third led directly to his tying goal. Not Breaking News: winning offensive zone faceoffs leads to scoring chances. At some point, Steckel might have to take Backstrom's o-zone draws for him then swap out for the line's rightwing du jour (preferably not Alex Semin) when he gets a chance. There are simply too many opportunities falling by the wayside.
- Speaking of faceoffs, maybe we jinxed the penalty kill earlier in the day yesterday, but two of the Habs' three extra man tallies came within ten seconds of the start of the respective power plays, thanks to faceoff wins rather than a poorly executed, set-up penalty kill.
- Sticking with faceoffs for one more bullet, I don't for the life of me understand why Tomas Fleischmann was sent out to take an offensive zone draw in OT. The result, predictably, was a loss.
- Three hooks and a delay of game penalty. Blech.
- Jose Theodore wasn't at his best and would surely like the Tomas Plekanec goal (that beat him short side from a bad angle) back, but he was money when it mattered after that, through the rest of the third, OT and the shootout.
- Tom Poti played well, assisting on the Steckel goal and earning a +2 rating, but on a night when the PK surrenders three goals, it's hard to say he (or Boyd Gordon or Steckel) really did his job.
- Nice job by Donald Brashear to not engage Georges Laraque early on when the Caps had the mo'.
But two points are two points, and the Caps have another desperate team - the Avs - coming to town tomorrow night, so fire up the ol' "gotta play sixty minutes" cliches and "we need to be better disciplined" speeches and see if they work this time. Maybe fifteenth time's the charm.
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Aside from Red Jesus, I thought that Semin was the best player on the ice last night, I was sure he was gonna score at least 3 times, he had a couple of gorgeous passes, and even made a good defensive play on the back check (no that is not a typo).
All in all, not the way we hoped this game was gonna go, but it was still a great game. I don’t remember the last time my heart stopped so many times in OT.
I disagree, and it’s a welcomed moniker around here.
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by J.P. on Feb 19, 2009 10:34 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Backie
Backstrom’s shootout goal was a beauty! I could almost hear Carey Price’s inner monlogue guessing what was coming as Backie slowly skated in. Couple that with the monster hit he had last game, wow!
i had no idea he had the good or quick of a shot. his penalty shot was sick.
by ns on Feb 19, 2009 8:16 AM EST up reply actions
the backstrom PK reminded me of an experienced soccer PK. he didn’t give price any indication where he was going with the puck until it was too late. very cool.
by Natty Bumppo on Feb 19, 2009 8:33 AM EST up reply actions
Agreed on Theodore, though it seems like he’s been a tad off since the LA game, even if the numbers don’t bear it out.
And can we stop with the Mo Green pairing?
"Good crowd out there tonight, boys, let's really try to win this one."
… and start with the Mo Pressbox pairing.
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Yep. I think he (and Poti) both looked like pylons on a couple even strength rushes at one point last night.
"Good crowd out there tonight, boys, let's really try to win this one."
by Bald Pollack on Feb 19, 2009 8:38 AM EST up reply actions
the look on Price's face
every time anyone scored was Priceless (sorry). seriously, it was the definition of a deer in headlights look.
love this team.
Semin is just so enigmatic
Semin’s inability to hit the net on several shot attempts was very frustrating, but he’s become a player who has a better chance of scoring in the shootout than most.
I’d love to know why Semin doesn’t get breakout passes like Ovechkin does.
TSN’s coverage last night was excellent, with the exception of anything having to do with Pierre McGuire. We all could do without his “overcommentary” and he was especially bad criticizing Laraque for his “hit from behind” in the first. Just tell us what happened, not how YOU feel about his actions. The Canadiens fan in him came shining through on that one.
That was a terrible win.
Semin was awful. That hooking penalty was childish… childish in the sense that he’s done it before, he’s been yelled at before, and he continues to do it. Once again: He dangles with the puck just inside the offensive blue line more than any other player in the league. He often turns it over there, which can be disastrous. (Odd-man rushes…)
The effort level for 40 minutes in the middle was atrocious. This team thinks it can turn it on come April, eh? Well, they don’t seem interested in turning it on before that, so we’ll have to hope that works.
Nick Backstrom doesn’t compete on faceoffs (to use Dean Evason’s word). It’s painful to watch someone try so little on 3/4 of his faceoffs.
Mo has played himself out of the playoffs. Hello Columbus/Colorado/whomever.
Is Flash in the building?
One more thing: When the Caps play badly, two problems are good canaries-in-the-coal-mine: They’re content to shoot wristers from the deep perimeter and they fail to get the puck in deep (exception: 39-15 lines, which always do).
Witness Eric Fehr having a regression game, shooting 35-foot weakies on the rush. Or Alex Semin taking a wrister from just inside the blue line late in the third.
Just poor effort.
i'm not disagreeing with you
but isn’t it at least a good sign that the caps can bring home 2 points on an off night? like the quote about tiger woods finding a way to win tournaments when his game isn’t 100%? it’s a long season.
fehr has seemed content with some low-percentage wrist shots. last night, he had one opportunity with nothing but white ice between himself and price, and chose to float a wrist shot instead of driving hard to the net.
by Natty Bumppo on Feb 19, 2009 8:51 AM EST up reply actions
Fehr shoots those soft wristers when he’s the one carrying the puck into the zone. He doesn’t have AO’s power moves or Semin’s dangleability (um…), so he gets the puck to the net the only way he can.
Point being, he should not be carrying the puck into the zone – he should be crashing the net while someone else does. Whether he needs to give it up sooner or someone else needs to simply take charge is up for debate, but I think we at least know when and why this (the forty-foot Fehr floaters) is happening.
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Agreed. Instead of shooting from Hershey, he’s gotta carry that puck longer, down below the circles and then either deposit it where a forechecker can get it, send it into the slot, or leave a drop pass for someone. It’s something he needs to add to his game.
Speaking of over-dangling etc...
I thought it QUITE interesting during the 2nd Intermission when Brooksie was discussing the system and to paraphrase; they shouldn’t be skating all over the ice in circles and playing with the puck in their own zone, when they are playing “the system” they should be skating in straight lines up/down/across the ice and creating opportunities. Maybe it’s my personal bias, but hearing that from the future C got me to thinking this lone thought…..Nyls must go. Talk about another 0 game for him, it’s like watching a bumblebee fly over the ice, without the threat of a sting.
Agreed. Nylander’s gotta be hell to play with if you’re not used to playing with him.
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They got the two points
We’ve all accused the Caps of playing down to their opponent, but I don’t think last night was the case. Montreal was a desperate team, yet I never got the sense the Caps weren’t putting forth equal effort. Let’s not forget, all three Montreal goals came on the PP and two of them were flukes. The third was a harmless shot that Theodore stops 99 times out of a hundred. On paper, the PK had a bad night but the goals came so quickly it’s hard to say if it was just bad luck or something systemic. Even strength, I thought the Caps were the better team. The bottom line is that over an 82 game season, not every night is going to be a work of art. Last night was one of those games but in the end the Caps perservered against a team playing for their hockey lives and came away with two points. It may not have been a masterpiece, but color me impressed.
On paper, the PK had a bad night but the goals came so quickly it’s hard to say if it was just bad luck or something systemic.
That’s exactly the point I was trying to make about the PK in the post. Just like that run of Caps PP goals directly off faceoffs a week or two ago didn’t indicate that the PP was “clicking,” neither did these show that the PK wasn’t.
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And how ridiculous was it to give Markov the #1 star. Yeah, he got three assists but one was on a shot that missed the net by five feet and bounced right to a wide open Higgins ( he wasn’t trying to do that) the second was on an excuse me goal that Erskine knocked in and the third was on a weak goal by Theo. Ovechkin scores the goal of the year, gives up his body to block a shot and leads both teams in shots, Backstrom scores in regulation and the shootout, yet Markov, who was a minus player for the night, gets the #1 star for three assists on goals that shouldn’t have happened.
steckel deserved his star, but i do think backstrom was robbed. markov as #1 is only excusable if the game was in montreal. lame.
by Natty Bumppo on Feb 19, 2009 9:28 AM EST up reply actions
Great, the Caps were better even-strength. But they took hideous penalties, which enabled THREE PPG. (MTL PP: 3-for-4.) Other than that they were great 5-on-5.
They may have been quick PPG, but they were still goals. Nothing fluky there. JT60 giving up a softie is still JT60 giving up a softie. It shouldn’t happen. And when it does, it’s a problem.
Actually, they weren’t even great 5-on-5 – they were outshot at even strength, which is usually a recipe for a loss.
And no one’s saying the PPGA were fluky, but the weren’t breakdowns in defensive zone coverage or failures to clear (like what plagued the team for most of the season), they were faceoff losses.
As for JT’s softie… when was the last time he allowed one? It’s gotten to the point where it’s rare enough that when he does, it really stands out, no?
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Yeah, that was part of my point. There’s a point at which you can’t say the Caps are great 5-on-5 when they take dumb penalties 5-on-5. Which they’ve done a lot in the last two games. (Eight vs. FLA, four vs. MTL.)
Agreed on JT. But I’m not comfortable with the analytical approach of ignoring everything the Caps did that was horrid and then saying that the Caps were impressive.
The third one was on a failed clear I think.
We’ll never know how bad the PK was because they barely got started, we do know that they didn’t win very many faceoffs on the PK.
They won two of four SH draws, but the two the lost cost ’em big time.
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And I wish Gabby would toughen up on the dumb penalties, even if it costs the Caps a W or two. I mean, sit Semin for the rest of the period after a dumb hook, etc.
There’s a theory out there that the game Semin missed last week was a benching and not some sort of injury. If so, obviously the message wasn’t received.
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That was my understanding as to why a $3m center was being paid $4m.
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
Semin takes stupid penalties, but I don’t think that was one of them. If he doesn’t do something, the Montreal player has an uncontested shot from 15 feet out. That’s a penalty you’ve got to take and hope your PK does their job.
Appropos of (mostly) nothing, that came seconds after Ovie was hauled down at the other end with no call. It’s no excuse for Semin, but it’s hard to play the game when one thing isn’t a penalty at one end (or in one period) and something less flagrant is called at the other.
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And not for nothing, but it looks like Bob Gainey got the response he wanted from the Habs, eh?
"Good crowd out there tonight, boys, let's really try to win this one."
Backstrom Shoot Out
Anyone have a video of the Backstrom shoot out goal? It happened so fast I even missed it.
NHL.com’s recap showed 5 replays of The Most Recent Goal. Can’t say I’ve ever seen them do that.
you’re welcome. the NHL site crashes my browser nearly every time i’ve tried using the video player. gave up on that site loooong ago!
by ns on Feb 19, 2009 1:46 PM EST up reply actions
Solid comments all around.
A few things:
JP, I think we share the same excitement for the Nyls, Laich and Bradley line. I’d personally like to see more of the Gordo/Stecks/Brash line instead of this ‘3rd’ line. Their is no chemistry on that line Its just 3 guys on the ice.
Feds was playing D late in the 3rd, was someone hurt? or was coaching trying to muster up some Offense.
I vote for Mo’ to sit out on Friday (but I understand if that depletes his trade value, play him so we can trade him), but I wouldn’t be too upset if Jurcina or Erskine sit in favor of the Kronwall. (Yes I just named half of our blue line in favor of this guy we’ve only seen play once in our system).
I still say Ovi’s goal was his best ever.
I’m pretty sure Mo is playing with Green right now primarily to increase his trade value. I can see the logic to keeping him around, but I would bet money on him being gone by the deadline.
I am tempted to agree on Ovi’s goal being his best ever. While Phoenix will always be special, as a commenter on Caps Insider pointed out (yes, I am that desperate), this one showcased every aspect of his game: creativity, speed, power, and finesse.
I like the point in your second paragraph. But Phoenix had an element of je ne sais quoi… an improbable impossibility, a subversion of the time-space continuum, an elegance, a sexiness…
Hard to argue with that. One of the best things about last night’s goal is that it has dredged up the clips of The Goal. All things considered, the shot he got off on The Goal (much less that it went in) was more unbelievable. But this one (and his equally dominant – but not as pretty – goal against Buffalo earlier in the year) was a nice treat for the home fans.
But this had a more eloquent story arc
The Exposition of the tense 1-1 game with Ovechkin on the ice
The Rising Action in that sublime steal/bank-pass to himself followed by Chipchurra’s valiant, but clearly going to be futile, effort to backcheck him.
The Climax of the Goal itself
The Falling Action (literally) of the crashing bodies, the dislodged net, etc
and the swooning Denouement: The red lamp, the horn, the crowd’s thunderous roar with Ovechkin seated in the middle of it all beckoning his fans and teammates with a slight glove wave.
The ear cup afterwards was just icing.
When can we start talking about Boston?
9 points back – 24 games left (one of them vs. The Bruins) – It could happen…..
Plus, they have to go down to Florida to play the Cats on Saturday. Look how well that little trip went for the Red Hot Devils.
Right about now. They’re looking somewhat mortal right now and the Caps are flying. Hopefully they can tighten it up a little more to create some extra motivation down the stretch.
Yeah, but they just trounced the Canes and they play Tampa on Sunday. Then they’re home 10 of the next 13. Don’t sight in on them just yet.
"Good crowd out there tonight, boys, let's really try to win this one."
by Bald Pollack on Feb 19, 2009 10:54 AM EST up reply actions
Fair enough. And by the way, I mean no disrespect to the B’s. They are a formidible opponent. The Caps just have to focus on something right now, and I think focusing on catching the Bruins will ensure they’ll finish in the top 2, which is all we can really hope for.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting writing it off. They’re not playing Atlanta and Tampa 7 times in the next 7 weeks like the Caps are, I’d just think it’s better for the Caps if they put their heads down and not watch the out of towns.
"Good crowd out there tonight, boys, let's really try to win this one."
by Bald Pollack on Feb 19, 2009 11:16 AM EST up reply actions
Can the playoffs start yet? Wonder how heavily the Caps will be favored in round 1. Inquiring mind$$$$ want to know.
Russian Machine Never Breaks
I'm still not ruling out
The Pens getting enough of a bounce to fight their way to a 7 or 8 spot and squeak into the playoffs, setting up a Caps v. Pens first round matchup.
And then there shall be an exorcism of demons!!!!
Focusing on staying ahead of the Devils will help. We aren’t in #2 to stay, as the last couple of weeks proved. Washington and New Jersey will fight teeth and claws for that #2 spot, and if Boston doesn’t pick its head up and look out, they’ll find themselves in the middle of the wrangle.
Of course, apparently a flu bug just ripped through their locker room, so that might explain the looking mortal.
Price's Mask
Any thoughts on the refs stopping play because Price took his mask off to look at the strap? I haven’t seen anything today, but Laughlin seemed pretty pissed during the broadcast. I understand that you stop play if there’s something wrong with a goalie’s equipment, but this seemed different. There would be serious problems if all a goalie had to do to get a whistle would be to doff his cap.
and convenient that he did it when we were about to have a 3 on 0
by Sombrero Guy on Feb 19, 2009 10:30 AM EST up reply actions
I personally thought the refs should have blown the whistle when the Habs had control of the puck about 5 seconds before the caps started that 3-0.
It should be treated like an injured player — when the goalie has mask issues and takes it off and HIS team has the puck, blow the whistle. Cause the caps got screwed out of a 3-0.
by vt caps fan on Feb 19, 2009 10:58 AM EST up reply actions
That was right in front of my seats
The straps broke on the back of his helmet…. he looked at the ref first and the puck had just cleared the zone and the Habs had it at center ice so he took it off to try and adjust the back when the Caps stole it and started coming. The ref wouldn’t blow the whistle so he jammed it on his head and got into popsition but the mask wasn’t sitting right so he finally was like “F*** This!” and stood up and took it off completely forcing the ref to stop play.
The ref should have stopped it earlier. You can not expect a goalie to play with a broken mask. If the ref would have just handled it as a standard equipment issue and blown the whistle it would have been a non-event while the puck was in center.
Instead, he waited to see if it would “fix itself” and was forced to insert himself into the middle of a developing play.
I have no doubt that this official heard about this.
The officials screwed up. If he can’t play with it, blow the whistle. If he can, call a delay of game penalty for taking off the mask. Don’t split the difference due to indecisiveness.
+1. I don’t think anyone would have had a problem with them whistling the play dead as the Caps collected the puck in their own zone.
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I was pretty upset with it. I really think indecisiveness is one of the worst qualities for an official to have.
What was extra-silly about that play is that it was obvious that AO’s shot had gone off of Price’s mask, and it was obvious that the strap was flappin’ off the side of the mask. I could see it from the second row of the upper deck. The play should have been blown dead right away.
(Is the NHL the only North American league that doesn’t blow the whistle when the G is hit in the head with a puck?)
Did anybody else notice Kostitsyn slew foot Juice right in front of our net, about 3 minutes into the game. He skated up right behind Juice and kicked his skates out from behind him. Seemed pretty blatant to me,
apparently he has a history of giving the old slew foot
by Sombrero Guy on Feb 19, 2009 10:33 AM EST up reply actions
how does a guy continue to get away with something like that? Think he’s going to get warned by the league?
by Sombrero Guy on Feb 19, 2009 10:37 AM EST up reply actions
He did it earlier in the game (first 10 minutes of the game).
If he keeps this up, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone takes a run at him. Dirty, Dirty play in my opinion
by vt caps fan on Feb 19, 2009 10:59 AM EST up reply actions
Brashear
Yes nice non-retaliation. But—a bit of hockey advice:
When your teammate has just been clocked in the face by a shot, don’t pass him the puck. He may not be quite ready to perform at a high level just yet.
Just sayin’.
who got clocked in the face by a shot? I missed that somehow.
by Sombrero Guy on Feb 19, 2009 12:32 PM EST up reply actions
green, just before he shot the puck into the upper deck
by bilspacecadet on Feb 19, 2009 12:37 PM EST up reply actions
Also
who gets the dollar—Backis? Steckel? Does Niklas get 50 cents and Semin get 50 cents?
Montreal got a standings point—is it only 50 cents, then? Does Niklas get a quarter and Sasha a quarter?
?
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