Recap - Capitals 5, Hurricanes 4 (SO)
by David Getz on Mar 15, 2009 7:00 AM EDT
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[AP Recap - Game Summary - Event Summary - WashingtonCaps.com Postgame]
It wasn't quite the exorcism of recent home-ice demons the Capitals and their fans were looking for, but it was a win against a hungry division opponent fighting for their playoff life in a building where wins have been hard to come by of late. Strong special teams and another superhuman effort from Alexander Semin were enough to hold the Hurricanes to a tie in the hockey game and to let the Capitals walk away with the extra point.
While it's great that the Capitals have not one, but two, Alexes capable of single-handedly carrying the team to victory, there's no way last night's effort doesn't arouse at least some concern over secondary scoring. It's true that the Capitals have enough secondary scoring to carry them deep into the playoffs but there's also no reason Tomas Fleischmann, Michael Nylander, Eric Fehr, Viktor Kozlov, and Brooks Laich should tally just seven shots on goal in a game where the "Young Guns" had a combined four goals and nineteen shots.
Some thoughts on the game:
- Seven non-coincidental minors in the first two periods, none in the third and one in overtime? Looks like the refs are getting ready for the playoffs too.
- Keith Aucoin wasn't all that noticeable, which all but tells you he had a better game last night than Alexandre Giroux did on Thursday.
- Since Donald Brashear's fight with Wade Belak on Tuesday the Capitals have outscored their opponents 8-5, outshot them 92-86, have been on the recieving end of one physical foul (a cross check against Carolina Jussi Jokinen), and have managed to go nearly three full games without anyone taking a run at one of their stars or at Jose Theodore. Those facts aren't enough to build a convincing argument that Brashear's presence isn't needed to police the Capitals' games, but they're a pretty good starting point.
- Semin, Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom took a combined 70 shifts, 31 of which were over a minute in length. 12 of Ovechkin's 23 shifts were longer than a minute and that's just too long, even if you are playing the point on the powerplay.
- The Caps did a great job of getting in the shooting lanes last night; 25 of Carolina's 71 shot attempts were blocked, 19 on which were by defensemen. Jeff Schultz, John Erskine, Shaone Morrisonn, and Mike Green had four blocks each. For the sake of comparison, no Hurricanes player had more than two.
- There's no doubt that the Capitals have a lot of depth on the wings, but it's still hard to rationalize Eric Fehr having less ice time than any of the team's other players.
- Once the NHL figures out what it's doing with fights and head shots they ought to take a look at stricter enforcement of slew-footing. And that includes trying to bring a player down by locking your legs around his ankles like Eric Staal did to Ovechkin last night.
- Speaking of potential rule changes, the league ought to look at unsportsmanlike minors for players who go after guys who have laid clean hits on the them. The Capitals shouldn't have to do without the night's shutdown defensive pairing just because Ray Whitney can't handle being hit.
- Schultz's takeaway on Eric Staal curl-and-drag attempt in overtime deserves mention. So there it is. Mentioned.
- If Michael Nylander skates and moves the puck like he did last night, we'll be more than comfortable will him playing regularly next year. Even if he plays like he gets docked pay whenever he takes a shot.
- Cam Ward's third period save on Boyd Gordon was not only the save of the night, it was downright unfair for a guy who works as hard as Gordo.
At the end of the night, despite the lack of much offense outside of the Young Guns, the botched five-on-one, and, yes, a shootout, the Capitals are one point closer to clinching the Southeast Division for the second straight season.
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The Poti-Erskine pairing (and Steckel line) both did a great work on the Staal/Cole line, it’s almost as if they were the only ones playing D out there (I kid).
To further illustrate your secondary scoring point, of those eight goals, six have been from the Guns.
Oh yeah, check your Whitney good sir.
"Good crowd out there tonight, boys, let's really try to win this one."
We had a couple of defensive meltdowns too – Theodore bailed us out last night. Of course, that’s what a good goalie should do.
Schultz was very good. Poti, not so much.
I think part of the scoring imbalance last night was that the PP carried almost all of the scoring water last night (Carolina’s penalty kill … yikes).
Aucoin had a really nice individual effort in the third where he pretty much created an offensive play singlehanded by going end to end – too bad his support didn’t catch up in time to finish, but they did force Ward to make a pretty good stop.
Speaking of support – that was one of my beefs with the boys last night – too many times when we had one guy alone fighting for the puck and the others were either line changing or standing around with their thumbs up their butts. I saw at least three cases where it was three or four Canes to one of our guys.
Oh that botched five-on-one – that was not the most embarrassing play in the NHL last night. I watched the third of Sharks/Kings when I got home; the Sharks gave up a 2-on-0 shorthanded breakaway, and not only did the Kings not score, they didn’t get a shot on goal.
"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Delores Ibarruri
Since Donald Brashear’s fight with Wade Belak on Tuesday the Capitals have outscored their opponents 8-5, outshot them 92-86, have been on the recieving end of one physical foul (a cross check against Carolina Jussi Jokinen), and have managed to go nearly three full games without anyone taking a run at one of their stars or at Jose Theodore. Those facts aren’t enough to build a convincing argument that Brashear’s presence isn’t needed to police the Capitals’ games, but they’re a pretty good starting point.
The Caps are 15-for-46 on the power play in their last 11 games (32.6 percent). That might be the best policing of all. But that said, it might be that the Caps need to pick their spots with respect to what teams need the sort of policing Brashear provides. Against a Carolina? Perhaps if Conboy plays (but he had only 2:36 in ice time last night). Against Philly? I was surprised at how tame the Flyers were in their game. There will be nights when it might make sense, and there will be others when it doesn’t.
I’m just wondering why Eric Fehr is getting Brashear minutes.
If you've read this far...seek help.
Fehr was doing too much hovering and floating last night. But I wonder if it isn’t a chicken-and-egg problem. Maybe the more he plays, the better he’ll play.
by Gould Old Days on Mar 15, 2009 9:13 AM EDT up reply actions
I honestly didn’t notice Fehr much last night so I can’t say what his problem has been (hard to notice a guy when he gets less ice than the AHL call up). I would really like to see Fehr put on a line with a clearly defined roll, though. This isn’t a new argument but the prototypical “net man” in the NHL is Holmstrom, and think about what exactly he has to do on his line. Basically all he has to do is get pucks from the corner and then get back to the net. It’s such a simple solution that I have to think BB has considered this. At this point I am just completely at a loss for an answer as to why Fehr still can’t get significant minutes with any of the quality skill guys on the team. If you play him with grinders, that’s all he’s going to be.
The box score has has everything you need to know about that second goal:
3:25 36 J.JOKINEN 2 Cross checking
5:57 EV CAR 12 E.STAAL 13 R.WHITNEY 4 .SEIDENBERG 4, 12, 13, 25, 26, 30 8, 19, 28, 52, 60, 92
.
So Jokinen’s penalty started at 3:25. It ended at 5:25. But at 5:57, more than 30 seconds into even strength play, the players on the ice for the Caps were Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, Green, Theodore and Nylander.
Inexcusable.
by Gould Old Days on Mar 15, 2009 9:11 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
1) Seriously folks… stop bashing the refs. There isn’t, I repeat there isn’t, a conspiracy theory to damage the Caps. All games there is stuff not called, from both sides of the ice, not just one.
2) Using 3 game statistics to prove a point against Brashear shows that a. you don’t know statistics and b. you didn’t notice that no team tried to go after our stars.
3) I’m a big Fehr supporter but he’s proving me wrong game after game… he’s no producing…. maybe that’s why BB is limiting his time on the ice?
4) No mention of Theo’s “bailout” at all on your summary?
I think it’s a chicken-and-egg thing, mauree: is his TOI limited because he’s not producing, or is he not producing because his TOI is so limited? it reminds me of Petr Prucha and the Rangers, really.
"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Delores Ibarruri
11 points in 13 games last month. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. And then Bruce suddenly cuts his TOI again? I don’t get it.
he looks tentative out there for sure. Hurt?
by bigonetimer on Mar 15, 2009 10:15 AM EDT up reply actions
Ummm...ok
1) I didn’t see a single comment/recap that was bashing refs…bashing the league maybe, but not the refs
2) Here’s a stat for you, the Detroit Red Wings won a Stanley Cup last year, they don’t have a single person on their team that fills an “enforcer” role.
3) See above
4) ??? He played very very well…what are you looking for?
by wittcap79 on Mar 15, 2009 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
1) it’s the very first item on this post
2) I agree on your point, and maybe the “enforcer” role is less important nowadays. My point though is that DMG is trying to use stats to make a point that Brash is useless, and that’s what I’m against.
3) Fehr looked good on that stretch… now he looks not so good. I wonder if that’s the reason he’s getting less ice time, that’s all
4) That’s my point! He wasn’t mentioned at all on this post while he was the reason we got 2 points instead of one
See wittcap? I think we agree more than you previously thought :D
DMG didn’t call out the refs to imply a conspiracy against the Caps. He was pointing out that (unfortunately) reffing standards change down the stretch and in the playoffs. Questioning DMG’s handle on statistical analysis is just silly and uninformed. Scroll back through his past posts. He didn’t “prove” or conclude that Brash is useless, he just said it was a starting point. If a team like the Flyers isn’t going after our stars without Brash, then what does that tell you?
by Rob Parker on Mar 15, 2009 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
BTW, I think Theo was the reason the Caps got 2 points instead of none last night. He made a lot of huge saves for a game with 4 GA.
The OT PK alone gets Theo the credit for the second point. That game should have probably been over right there. I was shocked that Semin didn’t see the ice after that PK though. The dude owns the ‘canes and had 4 points on the night and didn’t get a chance to close the game out. I would have put Semin out instead of Poti for that final shift, let the young guns go win it.
1) Seriously folks… stop bashing the refs. There isn’t, I repeat there isn’t, a conspiracy theory to damage the Caps. All games there is stuff not called, from both sides of the ice, not just one.
No one said anything, anything, about the referees trying to hurt the Capitals but there’s significant evidence that the officials put the whistles away in later periods and that shouldn’t be the case.
my bad on this DMG, I apologize, I misunderstood. I was fed up with other comments claiming we’re mistreated by the refs and thought you jumped on that wagon.
Nah, there isn’t too much of that here in general, I’ve found. Some refs are plain stupid, but out to get us? No.
"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Delores Ibarruri
Except Bill McCreary, am I right?
I’M KIDDING! I’M KIDDING!
I have as many wins in a Capitals uniform as Michael Belhumeur does.
2) Using 3 game statistics to prove a point against Brashear shows that a. you don’t know statistics and b. you didn’t notice that no team tried to go after our stars.
You’re right that using stats from a few games to try and prove something would be a bad idea, which is why I said that it doesn’t prove anything. But it does provide evidence that Brashear isn’t what’s keeping all hell from breaking loose every night. There’s this meme that if you don’t have an enforcer in the lineup the opposition is going to run roughshod over you and there hasn’t been any evidence to support that with him out.
And I didn’t say no one tried to “go after” the Capitals stars. Of course they’re going to try and hit them and all, but no one is taking blatant cheap shot runs at them like some people have suggested.
Rule Changes
Last night the announcers said that next year commercial breaks will be allowed during icing delays, and made it sound like a feature, not a bug. What is that all about? One of hockey’s great attractions is the low number of time-outs in comparison with other sports.
And once again last night we had no replay of a penalty after going to a commercial break; a penalty that was off camera. That last Poti penalty was replayed only once briefly and did not look justified to me. Could be I’m biased, however.
3 minors from your supposed best PK’er? Poti looked like he was chasing the play all night.
Hard hat for Dave Steckel, and a happy birthday as well today. He had a great PK game (almost 4 minutes) and was 10-3 in the dot. If only he watched tape of Nik Antropov.
by bigonetimer on Mar 15, 2009 10:12 AM EDT up reply actions
Poti looked like he was chasing the play all night.
Is the implication that Erskine was saving him all night?
"Good crowd out there tonight, boys, let's really try to win this one."
by Bald Pollack on Mar 15, 2009 10:39 AM EDT up reply actions
no, not necessarily, tho’ big John did have 4 blocks and played the heavy relatively well.
by bigonetimer on Mar 15, 2009 10:46 AM EDT up reply actions
Gotcha, though considering his work both against Malkin last Sunday and against the Staal line last night, Poti can’t be considered as having a completely bad week.
"Good crowd out there tonight, boys, let's really try to win this one."
by Bald Pollack on Mar 15, 2009 11:43 AM EDT up reply actions
I believe with the icing to TV timeouts that there will still be the same amount of timeouts. Just that they will be allowed to take them off of icings in addition to other stoppages.
That last Poti penalty was pretty weak from where I was in 113. I spose it was a hook, but if Poti can stop him with that, I’d have to say Staal is a weak player. That said, Poti was clearly beat.
Right on the icing. There won’t be mandatory commercial breaks after icings, they will just be allowed. There are 3 commercial breaks each period, about every 5 minutes of play. However, if an icing occurs right before the scheduled break they delay the break, this season. That leads to situations where you got 8-10 minutes without a commercial break then they have to go to breaks on consecutive whistles which interrupts the flow of the game. I assume this is what they are trying to address with the rule change.
TV Timeout after icing is bullcrap
There’s a very specific reason for the rule. Icing is a rule designed to prevent “tired” teams from just tossing the puck down the ice to get a line change and out of danger. By giving a 2 min TV Timeout after an icing, tired guys can again break the rule when they know there’s been no TV time out for a while. This, IMO, was one of the best rule changes over the past few years, and I’d prefer back-to-back TV Timeout stoppages to giving guys 2 min break when the games is designed to prevent it.
by FFSEnough on Mar 15, 2009 2:34 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
bad ice
I’m surprised there’s been no mention of the on-going ice problem at Verizon which, of course, was awful last night. But then, what can you expect when you schedule the Harlem Globetrotters to start at 1:00, allow them to go late and then delay removing the court so they can sell merchandise. Washington Sports & Entertainment treats the Caps worse than any slumlord.
Good, I’m not the only one who noticed. Edges lost, puck rolling and bouncing and flipping. It annoyed the Canes as much as it annoyed us, though, I think. I know a bouncing puck disrupted the Cole/Staal line at least once.
"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Delores Ibarruri
on comcast, al koken did an entire sideline report on how great the ice looked considering the earlier basketball game. he lauded the ice crew at the verizon center as one of the best in the biz.
by Natty Bumppo on Mar 15, 2009 1:10 PM EDT up reply actions
Hockey commentators might have the lowest average IQ of any industrial classification. See, e.g., Jones, Keith; McGuire, Pierre; Olczyk, Eddie; and Milbury, Mike.
In a cohort of utter buffoons, Smokin’ Al stands out as a not-so-shining example of sheer idiocy, an appalling admixture of a room-temperature IQ, banal observations, and the company line.
So I’m not sure he was carrying Uncle Ted’s water with regard to the ice.
. . . have managed to go nearly three full games without anyone taking a run at one of their stars or at Jose Theodore.
Hey, wait a second. ‘one of our stars OR Jose Theodore’?? I am now ready to go ahead and own Joe-Zay, grammatically and otherwise. Take him into our bosom. Wholeheartedly. Wholebosomly. Yeah, okay our collective bosom has a small still-kinda-sore scar called Olie, but BY GOD Joe-Zay is getting the job done.
I am thinkin’ of gittin’ myself a JT60 sweater to wear in May. And June.
My dead-horse beatin’ observation:
Gabby reunited the Care Bears and the trio combined to have a -7 night. Since they were together, Alex Semin got 0:00 of SH TOI (b/c Gabby likes to put the top line out after a PK) and Flash got 2:40. Luckily, that didn’t bite the Caps in the ass. But it could have.
Please, Bruce – save the Care Bear Stare for rare occasions. It’s better for the team that way.
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
by J.P. on Mar 15, 2009 11:09 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Semin’s better on the PK than a lot of people give him credit for. I liked the Care Bear line early on, but I think I prefer Kozzie on the top line, both for the cute factor (the cute was rampant last night) and to balance out the scoring lines.
Also, can Fehr please get more ice time?
"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Delores Ibarruri
Also known as the SOB line (Semin/Ovechkin/Backstrom). Named for their tendency to be too damn cute.
"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Delores Ibarruri
SOB > Care Bear line. Care Bear sounds like it has a Hershey connection and none of those guys played in Hershey. That’s what was throwing me off. My Little Pony would resolve the ambiguity.
Amen
Maybe this line should be saved for away games, in Philly they looked great together. I didn’t see the game last night, but obviously they didn’t do that well.
Obviously they didn’t do that well? If I hadn’t watched the game and looked at the box score I’d say the SOB line had a pretty solid outing. 8 combined points, at least two of them in on every goal. Not bad I’d say. I think they do get too cute sometimes but that’s the risk you run with high skill. How would you feel if BB had them playing dump and chase? They will all pass up good shooting opportunities on occasion but they can be the most dominant line in hockey when they are on their game. I wouldn’t limit them by home or away, I’d limit them to situations where we NEED a goal or just haven’t been able to get any offensive flow going. Here’s a question for everyone. If our secondary scoring continues to be non-existent, does that make you want to break up the SOB line, or play them together more? Conventional wisdom says break the line up to get 2 balanced scoring lines but seeing as how no team has been able to shut them down I think in this case there may be an argument to buck the conventional wisdom. If they can put up 4 goals with basically no help it seems like they should stay together, I don’t think breaking them up could have produced any more goals.
Power plays don’t count – the line had one ES goal and was minus-seven. That’s not good.
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
Well when you put it that way it sure looks a lot worse. They looked dangerous all night and I thought AO could easily have scored more goals but they also were the culprits of some of the most egregious turn overs in the game. Still, nights like last night make me wonder how we can’t win a cup in the next few years if we lock those 4 up. The young guns really showed the ability to take a game over.
Break SOB. Ovi is used to take most of shots which limits Semin’s time with a puck. As JP correctly said, only one ES goal last night. Also, the opposing team normally puts their strongest D against Ovi which may slightly shift balance in our favor with Semin on the second line.
Here’s the thing with that argument. Yeah, teams play their best dman against AO, but they usually have their 2nd best D on another pair and will just play that guy against Semin. Putting AO/AS together means that teams either have to change their D pairs to stack their top 2 or at all times one of our two most dangerous forwards is facing a 3/4 dman on the other team. I like that match up. Also, teams play full team defense now. It’s a 5 man system that is used to shut down top players. So yeah, AO will be lined up across the 1D, but the other team will also have their top checking line against him as well. If you watch they shade the Checking Center toward AO as well, and then when we set up in the zone they drop their Checking Wing down toward AO on whichever side of the ice AO is on. That is a damn near triple team on AO. If AS is on another line they will just do basically the same defensive system with him. When they are on the same line if you triple, or even double, team AO you are leaving way too much open ice for Semin on the weak side and Backstrom is such a great passer he will find the passing lanes to move that puck around. We have to break the mold of thinking of offense/defense as a man on man type of thing, except for 4 on 4. Plus, with AS on the same line that gives another guy who can bring the puck up ice. I think AO is most dangerous when he isn’t the guy carrying the puck up ice because he uses his predator instincts to find soft spots in the zone and capitalizes on loose pucks. Semin has the skill to gain the zone and start breaking defense down so AO can get open. AO-down-the-wing-cuts-to-the-middle-shoots-through-defenseman’s-legs has worked well so far but I don’t think it is the most effective use of AO and I think he’d be more dangerous if he played more without the puck.
by Rob Parker on Mar 15, 2009 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
that’s solid chalktalk, F&B. Personally, I like SOB as a changeup to throw at teams, forcing them to adjust, rather than as our regular #1. Against most checking lines, I think Koz’s game is better suited for 8, and particularly 19, as a way to grind opponents down on the cycle down low. Semin does his best work above (and between) the dots, and is better paired with a grinder on his opposite wing than an 8. And Backs makes just about everyone look like an allstar.
Again, it’s a nuance, but I admire BB’s willingness to mix and match.
Good analysis. I can only add that it’s more often than not that a coach makes decisions based on other factors, say flow of the game or how a specific player feels/plays on that day. Like yesterday, in the 3rd period BB switched Kozzy and AS which was a good move since Kozzy/Nyls/Laich were not a threat. Maybe he should’ve done that even earlier…
So if Aucoin was an emergency call up (didn’t J.P. say he was) how long can he stay up? Does he have to go down as soon as Brash or Feds is healthy? Or after they play a game?
Muffins deserved better than getting robbed by Ward. That was a great individual effort and a hell of a shot from it to boot.
Also, open question: buyout Brash’s contract in the off-season? Yea or nay?
I have as many wins in a Capitals uniform as Michael Belhumeur does.
Ah! I thought he still had one more year left. Well then… new contract for Brash yea or nay? (I say nay.)
I have as many wins in a Capitals uniform as Michael Belhumeur does.
My money is on Brash going to the KHL, based on that article talking about how interested he is in it. Apparently fighting is catching on over there (Simon is playing in it) and the tax rate is like 15%.
Yeah, it’ll come down to a lifestyle thing with him. How much money does he want to make at this point in his career, and how willing is he to move to Russia, travel on trains, and forgo the perks of an NHL job. He will probably be able to make at least 1.5 mill somewhere but I’m not sure a contender is going to be able to afford that cap hit. He is still one of the most skilled (hockey talent) fighters in the league, and definitely one of the best fighters in the league, Belak fight notwithstanding.
I wish Gordon had scored but even watching it live I knew what he was doing. Cam Ward read the play perfectly and was in position with his glove up high. Gordon telegraphed that move and took too long to spin and shoot, that’s why he’s a checker.
I’m not worried about team toughness without Brash as long as we have Erskine. He stood up to Belak pretty well later in the Nashville game and was doing his job both in regular operations and in extracurricular activity last night.
About the 5 on 1… coaches will tell you that if you get an odd man rush with more than 3 guys, the ones who are further back are supposed to stay back and let the opponents pass them (albeit try to slow them down by holding their position… 3-on-1 is enough to score. That said, if Ward doesn’t save that and the Caps score, it’s moot….
The worst part about that 5 on 1...
was that there was only 1 pass, and after Green missed it, everyone except Semin looked around like they didn’t know what to do.
From 414, I also believe that Semin could have played that a tad better. He was going to have a very hard time catching Whitney, and probably should have focused his attention on Staal. Though, his speed and ability to get a stick in whitney’s hands probably caused Whitney to have a lower-quality shot than if Semin wasn’t breathing down his neck.
Some thoughts
I think we are dwelling on the SO win a little too much around here right now. Let’s keep the rest of the season in perspective:
On a chilly Sat night in DC, the caps got 2 points, gave the Canes 1. We lowered our magic number by 3 out of a possible 4 points. (Magic number still determined by Florida, NOT Carolina). Tampa Bay gave Florida a point. All of these things are GOOD THINGS. Why you ask? It keeps a plethora of teams hovering around the 8th seed, and makes it that much harder for the Pens to reach the playoffs. (They lost yesterday)
Only thing that could have made the night better was MON beating NJ, but alas, we can’t get everything we want.
Specifically on the game. I still can’t figure out how Flash getting hit with a stick in his chin INFRONT of a ref in the 3rd doesn’t get called. I know he saw it cause he was telling the guys to get up the ice. I completely agree with bullet 1, and it is the aspect of hockey I hate the most. The idea that you are supposed to “let the guys play” just because it’s late in a game/season is just idiotic. Had ref-of-the-moment actually called the infraction that caused Flash to go to the bench holding his face, Canes don’t score their 4th goal at that juncture of the game.
I was pleased with Semin’s effort to back-check in the 2nd before CAR scored the delayed penalty goal. What was missed in the scuffle though, was before the delayed penalty, Green had the ability to clear the puck and was tripped/hooked behind the net and it wasn’t called. Now, I couldn’t tell who the delayed penalty was on, but when green got back to the front of the net, there were 2 canes there and he was pummeling them with crosschecks to the back. I just assumed this is what the call was going to be. As a Ref, if you are going to let the crap slide that pissed Green off, you have to let the jousting infront of the net go, also. Still, doesn’t excuse Green losing his cool and letting CAR get the extra skater into the zone. Had Semin been able to get a little more control over the puck, a 4-2 lead into the 3rd would have been nice.
Either way, Caps came out super-flat in the 3rd and are lucky that CAR gave up after they tied the game, or it could have been much much worse. As for Poti’s “hook” in the OT.. It was the kid of hook that I ONLY see Feds get called for. Good to see without 91 in the lineup, the refs can still find someone to call. (from 414, I saw the stick in the hands, but only briefly and it didn’t appear to impede his movement.)
All in all, I was very pleased with the result last night. More pleased than if we had won in regulation. We did our job. 13 points left to get to clinch. If FLA loses 2 games, then CAR determines our magic number.
With all due respect, I wouldn’t be too pleased by giving up 3-1 and 4-2 leads to a team that had one player leave (presumably to injury) and two others who barely played all game.
"Good crowd out there tonight, boys, let's really try to win this one."
by Bald Pollack on Mar 15, 2009 3:27 PM EDT up reply actions
Like a cat playing with a mouse...
I have one desire for the first round of the playoffs. To play any team in the EC OTHER than PIT or PHI. And if PIT makes it, I’d rather they get the 5th seed with PHI getting 4th. Allowing CAR to have a point last night makes it harder for PIT to make the playoffs. Now, as long as PHI doesn’t collapse over the next few weeks, they should draw the 4th or 5th seed, and that keeps them out of the booth for the first round.
We got our 2 points. As long as we keep getting our 2 points, we won’t lose the division, not matter how many OT games we play.
Look at the night with your ruby-colored glasses on. We reduced our magic number by 3 of a possible 4 points AND kept the battle for 8th spot tight. That’s a damn fine night, in my book. If you want to force me into thinking the Caps didn’t give up the leads on purpose, then fine, I guess I can be angry like the rest of you ;-P
It’s also important to remember that Carolina is desperate. They are in a fight for their playoff lives, and that fight is about a seven-way fight right now. They were no doubt the hungrier team out there, and it showed.
No, it wasn’t perfect. Was it as horrid as we think? Probably not.
"It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees." - Delores Ibarruri
Who said anything about horrid?
Look, when I see one team who’s come off a big road win, coming home and hosting a team who’s playing their 3rd road game in 4 nights (and 6th game in their last 8 days), you’ll excuse me from trying to figure out what the 1st round draw will be in favor of expecting an effort a little better than what the result turned out to be.
"Good crowd out there tonight, boys, let's really try to win this one."
by Bald Pollack on Mar 15, 2009 4:54 PM EDT up reply actions
Fehr Lines
If I remember correctly, Fehr was doing well when he had Fleischmann on his line, first with Backstrom as center and then with Fedorov in that role. We probably do need to give him some scorers as line mates. So, I would say, it might be time to resurrect the F Bomber line (or the teen line). Fehr and Flash need to get restarted for scoring so we can have some secondary scoring (i.e. from someone other than the Young Guns). So, I’d say, put either Backstrom or Feds as their center and get things restarted.
And to think back in Feb, people were concerned about the fact that Ovi, Fehr, and Green were the only ones scoring. At that time, Semin and Flash weren’t getting goals but getting tons of assists, with Semin getting assists for Green and Ovi and Flash getting assists for Fehr. (That was great secondary scoring compared to now.)
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Southeast Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Florida
|
53 | 25 | 17 | 11 | 61 |
|
Washington
|
54 | 28 | 21 | 5 | 61 |
|
Winnipeg
|
56 | 26 | 24 | 6 | 58 |
|
Tampa Bay
|
53 | 23 | 24 | 6 | 52 |
|
Carolina
|
55 | 20 | 25 | 10 | 50 |
(updated 2.10.2012 at 9:27 AM EST)
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