Five keys from WSH-NYR that you won't hear from the MSM types
by TylerG on Apr 29, 2009 5:25 PM EDT
38 comments
1.) Milan Jurcina finally played up to his potential -- and consistently at that. He led the Caps D in hits with 24. Only Shaone Morrisonn was on ice for fewer goals-against 5-on-5 per 60 minutes. (And by only a .81 to .76 margin.) Jurcina's poke-check on Sean Avery's late-third period breakaway may have saved the WSH season. (Round Two tip: Keep 23 off-ice when the Pens are on the PP.)
2.) David Steckel is good at killing penalties. Despite leading Caps forwards in PK time-on-ice and despite killing against the Rangers' top unit, only one Cap forward who regularly killed penalties was better at 4-on-5 (Nick Backstrom). Which brings us to...
3.) Steckel was both great and bad -- 5-on-5 in the series: The Caps scored more even-strength goals per 60 minutes with Steckel on the ice than any other player. Alas: The Caps gave up the most (minus one-and-done Jeff Schultz) with Stecks on the ice, too.
4.) Speaking of Nick Backstrom and the penalty-kill: Backstrom averaged over two minutes per game of PK time per game and the Rags didn't score a single PPG with him on the ice. Backstrom was just as good at even-strength, leading the Caps in 5-on-5 Corsi.
5.) Tom Poti was a beast -- at both ends and in all situations. This might be the stat of the series: Per 60 minutes of power play ice-time, the Caps scored more goals with Tom Poti on the ice than any other player. No wonder Poti was 2-4-6 for the series.
If this FanPost is written by someone other than one of the blog's authors, the opinions expressed in it do not necessarily reflect those of this blog or SB Nation.
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Well done sir, most stuff I knew (damn you MSM!), some I didn’t.
Looking at BTN a little harder, it surprises me how quietly respectable Pothier was in the series too.
We've got a goalie who's playing pretty good right now, while you've got one who can't get onto the ice without falling on his ass.
by Bald Pollack on Apr 29, 2009 5:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Nick Backstrom is going to win a Selke one of these days. Sooner rather than later.
by katzistan on Apr 29, 2009 6:00 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Good stuff. The only thing I’d point out is that Backstrom’s Corsi is likely inflated by playing lots of shifts with Ovie and Semin. Still, it’s a demonstration of what a true puck-possession center can do.
Jurcina had a monstrous game last night. For the first two periods, he might have been the best Cap outside of Gnarly.
by D'ohboy on Apr 29, 2009 6:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
IMO Backstrom is probably the Caps most underrated PKer. Granted he didn’t play all that much on the PK in the reg. season :52 SH TOI/G, but he was only on the ice for 4 PPGA.
by Yoshietree on Apr 29, 2009 6:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Why does Flash kill penalties? I don’t understand that at all.
by katzistan on Apr 29, 2009 6:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
There are many mysteries surrounding this man we call Flash.
The keyboard is mightier.
by breed16 on Apr 29, 2009 6:16 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
My guess is because he’s capable of creating and finishing a breakaway in the other direction. Boudreau likes to keep the opposition honest at the points, and this is one way of doing that when he can’t put Semin or Backstrom out there.
by D'ohboy on Apr 29, 2009 6:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
It’s not in the data. Flash is the team’s worst F 5-on-4… and it’s not even close.
by TylerG on Apr 29, 2009 6:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
My guess is that ostensibly it’s because Fleischmann has quick hands and is a good skater and that in reality is has as much to do with Boudreau’s infatuation with the guy as anything else.
by David M. Getz on Apr 29, 2009 6:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Yeah. Flash’s ability as a penalty killer are less important here – Boudreau sees him as potential short-handed threat. Given Flash’s skill set, this makes sense. However, I agree with you, the results aren’t there.
Something worth considering – I’d imagine that Flash only really gets PK time when one of our other PK forwards (Semin, Backstrom, Laich, Bradley, Steckel, Gordon) is in the box. It also might be related to how much special teams play is occurring in a given game. In a special teams-intensive game, Flash would potentially be more likely to get PK time because Bruce wouldn’t want to tire out Backstrom and Semin (and to a lesser degree, Laich).
by D'ohboy on Apr 29, 2009 9:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
This blog is on cruise control – DMG, Pep, TH and I don’t even need to show up any more, do we?
Japers' Rink: Hockey blogging from the most powerful city in the world
by J.P. on Apr 29, 2009 6:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
so it’s true: you’ve handed the reins over to TEB. It was just a matter of time, I suppose.
from the house that Red Jesus built
by bigonetimer on Apr 29, 2009 6:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
The minute I see webcam posts, I’m outta here.
We've got a goalie who's playing pretty good right now, while you've got one who can't get onto the ice without falling on his ass.
by Bald Pollack on Apr 29, 2009 7:05 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
you’re not a real hockey journalist if you don’t post videos from your hotel room.
by Natty Bumppo on Apr 29, 2009 9:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Writing things down is so much harder than flipping open a laptop and ad-libbing into the camera…
by CapitalCentre on Apr 29, 2009 10:20 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
No Sh*t
The people over at the Post aren’t even trying anymore.
(rec’d, Baldy)
Pick SPG for your chance to win probably nothing.
by xiix on Apr 29, 2009 9:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Oh come on. I don’t buy that. After all, today they did their 3,284th story on how great AO is.
by TylerG on Apr 29, 2009 10:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I don’t know if that is quite as pathetic as Mike Wise’s lame attempt at drudging up controversy by saying that Madison Square Garden is a “real” hockey arena, with “real” hockey fans, whereas the VC is lame because we have the horn guy and the Goat encouraging us to cheer.
Can’t he go cover something else? Isn’t there some sort of Redskins mini-camp for him to be at?
by D'ohboy on Apr 29, 2009 10:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
IMO:
Steinberg > TEB > Boswell > warm bag of spit > Wise > cold bag of spit > Wilbon
by Gould Old Days on Apr 30, 2009 3:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Where did Cornholer fit in your equation?
Personally, I disliked Kornheiser more than the rest, simply because he went out of his way to denigrate the Capitals and hockey in general. Wilbon simply ignores hockey, which is fine by me.
by D'ohboy on Apr 30, 2009 10:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Ironically enough, Wilbon might be the most intelligent hockey mind of them all.
by Yoshietree on Apr 30, 2009 10:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
What a child. I’m embarrassed that my post provided an outlet for your petulance.
by TylerG on Apr 30, 2009 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Your made-up name for Tony Kornheiser is juvenile in extremis.
by TylerG on Apr 30, 2009 3:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Point taken, but when aren’t 75% of the things we say on here juvenile in extremis? Why single me out for opprobrium? Is a play on words (albeit scatological in nature) somehow that much lower on your comedy scale than a metaphor/equation comparing a journalist to a bag of spittle, or a sarcastic exaggeration about the number of stories printed about AO’s greatness?
I feel that Kornheiser’s attitude toward hockey and the Capitals was reprehensible – his presence in the press box during last year’s playoff run made me sick. If he doesn’t like hockey, he should do what Wilbon does: ignore it.
If every one of my comments contained not-so-clever names for insulting local journalists, then your comment would be more justified. However, I don’t write that way, so I thought your response was over the line. Personally, I think that saying, “D’ohboy, that comment was juvenile,” would have been fine. Calling me a petulant child is a few steps too far.
by D'ohboy on Apr 30, 2009 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Any and all juvenilia of the sort of your Kornheiser name-calling is inappropriate. If you want to rip Kornheiser, do it. Lord knows it’s plenty doable without being a nine-year-old.
by TylerG on Apr 30, 2009 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Dude, this is a blog. About. Hockey. Have you not seen Slapshot? Have you ever been in a hockey locker room? If you think my calling Kornheiser “Cornholer” is bad. . .
I’m not saying that you can’t call my comment juvenile (even if I think you should relax), I’d just prefer that you rip my comment and not my person. I think that’s inappropriate and a step toward a slippery slope.
by D'ohboy on Apr 30, 2009 5:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
OK, fine. Your comment was juvenile. If it is not a reflection of the commenter, then start bringing your ‘A’ game.
by TylerG on Apr 30, 2009 9:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
to be fair, kornheiser himself thinks that goofing on people’s names is the highest form of humor.
by Natty Bumppo on Apr 30, 2009 5:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
FWIW, I think your outrage is misplaced.
by Scott in Shaw on Apr 30, 2009 4:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
This blog is not Pensblog and it is not TEB’s blog. Some basic level of adult comportment is encouraged, even required. If commenters can’t meet even that low bar, they should go bother OFB or something.
by TylerG on May 1, 2009 9:34 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Dang, what do you have against cornhole? I’m a fan, myself. Great tailgate activity.
by Kerry Fraser's Hairspray on Apr 30, 2009 4:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I've always liked this:
“Peter! Watch out for your cornhole, bud.”
by D'ohboy on Apr 30, 2009 5:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I appreciated that because I didn’t know where I stood quiet yet on this Ovechkin guy.
by zephyr on Apr 30, 2009 11:47 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Washington
|
71 | 47 | 14 | 10 | 104 |
|
Atlanta
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70 | 30 | 29 | 11 | 71 |
|
Tampa Bay
|
70 | 28 | 30 | 12 | 68 |
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Florida
|
69 | 28 | 30 | 11 | 67 |
|
Carolina
|
70 | 29 | 33 | 8 | 66 |
(updated 3.20.2010 at 8:14 AM EDT)
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