Recap - Capitals 3, Penguins 2
by David Getz on May 3, 2009 7:00 AM EDT
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Simeon Varlamov is really starting to freak me out.
Coming in to the league at twenty years old and playing lights out in your first few starts is impressive, but not unheard of. If you're talking about rookies, even goalies, who come to forefront and play prominent roles in their team's postseason without a ton of NHL experience under their belt, you're talking about fewer players, but there is some precedent. But to be barely twenty-one years old and facing your team's biggest historic rival, and to recover from a soft goal that ties the game to stand on your head and be the single biggest reason your team wound up victorious....that's something that just doesn't seem right. Something that just doesn't seem humanly possible - although you can say the same of his highlight reel save on Sidney Crosby, a stop that might be the best I've ever seen.
Still, we're not quite completely sold on Varlamov yet. Why? It's hard to say. It could be that it simply seems too good to be true. It could be that to get our hopes up too high only to have them dashed by our perceived savior's struggle against our team's biggest rival would be almost too much to bear. It could be that even the guys who have done the seemingly impossible and whom Varlamov now seeks to emulate - Cam Ward and Ken Dryden - struggled at points while leading their respective teams to postseason success. No matter why exactly, we're still sticking with the position that it would be a mistake to assume young Mr. Varlamov is clearly the final missing piece that's going to one day take the Capitals to Stanley Cup glory. But it's getting awfully hard to say it and mean it.
- Whether it's nerves, over-excitement, confusion over the game plan, some combination of those factors, or something else altogether, the Capitals have got to figure out a way to start their games with more jump.
- The Capitals have struggled to find chemistry and production out of their third and fourth lines for much of the season, but Bruce Boudreau seems to have captured something special with the Laich-Steckel-Bradley and Clark-Gordon-Fehr combinations.
- Speaking of David Steckel - we're not the only ones who think he might be ready to break out and become a 15-20 goals scorer next season, right?
- Tomas Fleischmann's decision to let several seconds bleed off a potential five-on-three by not touching the puck was, well, not good.
- As well as he played against the Rangers in the first round, it's hard not to be concerned about John Erskine's weakness when it comes to skating ability moving forward in this series. To his credit, though, Erskine did have eight hits.
Mike GreenAlex Semin's slap pass to Alex Ovechkin on the five-on-three goal: a thing of beauty.- The Capitals had ten giveaways in the first period, including six in the game's first eight and a half minutes. They also had 22 for the game, and 15 by defensemen. Not good.
- Nicklas Backstrom went all November-style on the Capitals, winning only four of 15 draws.
- Mark Eaton now has three goals in the 2009 playoffs, which is one fewer than he's had in his last 143 regular season games - a span of more than three full seasons.
Win one game. Do it four three times.
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On correction for you: The slap pass on Ovechkin’s 5-on-3 goal was definitely a thing of beauty, but it was from Alexander Semin. Green was driving the net at the time the shot was taken. Check out video C on this page. The writeup on that page has it wrong, too.
Great win. Love reading your posts and comments on this blog. I have to agree about Varly though. This is a wonderful story and let’s ride the wave as long as we can. But it is hard to believe that he can keep this up. Like probably everyone reading this post, when the softie went through in the 2nd period I thought, "Here it comes…" Kudos to Varly and Caps for their response.
Here’s my question to those of you who are much more educated in the hockey world than I: didn’t the Pengs seem off yesterday? They looked to me more like a team that was feeling the Caps out – and you could say the same thing about the Caps. Just like we’re not playing the Rangers and their life sucking ways, the Pengs have to readjust their game from Filthy. Can we really expect for Malkin to be a no-show for 2/3 of every game? How many more odd-man breaks can we give them before they start scoring?
We have some things to fix before Monday, but loving life today. Go Caps!
Two things:
to be fair, Malkin (2 assists, -3, 6 SOG in 3 VC games) has been shut down here by a variety of defensive pairings including yes, Jeff Schultz. For yesterday you can thank Poti and Jurcina, who saw the most even strength time against him.
And agreed re: Varlamov. I still think the team is taking advantage of the fact that there isn’t a “book” on him, per se. With that said, I’d be happy if said advantage lasted for a decade or so.
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.
I think it’s more integral we stop Malkin than we stop Crosby. I think I’m in the minority on this, though.
I'm so sick and tired of the refs explaining the calls like this is the NFL.
For what it’s worth, I’m with you there.
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 May 3, 2009 10:10 AM EDT up reply actions
I think Malkin is the key to the Pens offense also. He didn’t become the league’s point scorer for no reason. Everything goes through him. Stop Malkin first.
by RedskinFan4Life on May 3, 2009 10:38 AM EDT up reply actions
I’ve been idly wondering whether the D has become more effective because they’re trying to protect Varlamov, because they have more faith in him, or because of some other unrelated reason, the timing of which was coincidental?
by CapitalCentre on May 3, 2009 9:10 PM EDT up reply actions
When you’re not worried that easy shots will go in, you tend to play with proper positioning. When you’re afraid that any shot against has a decent chance of going in, you work so hard to deny the first shot that you leave yourself open to dekes and rebound chances. To my eyes, the Caps have confidence that Varly will make the initial save, unlike Theo, therefore they keep their gaps and clear rebounds rather than going all out to deny the first shot.
Who cares if Steckel becomes a 20 goal scorer as long as he can keep up clogging the neutral zone and using that great reach on the PK. That man makes a huge impact even with no scoring.
So to be clear, you wouldn’t want a third line goal scoring center who could be a body in front of the net while continuing to be one of the better PK forwards (and faceoff men) on the club?
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.
I’d love for it to happen, but I’m thinking out of Steckel his ceiling is 15. I’d love to be proven wrong. I’d be more than happy with 10-15 goal range.
I'm so sick and tired of the refs explaining the calls like this is the NFL.
easy baldy, I think Mix was paying appropriate tribute to the more unheralded parts of his game that are really good right now. He outplayed the MUCH more heralded third line C across the dot. And may the next time be the last time I hear how friggin’ awesome Jordan Staal is.
from the house that Red Jesus built
I think Staal contributes more defensively than offensively at this point. Then again, he is only 20 years old. He could be scary good, and soon.
fyi here is J. Staal’s line through 7 games in this year’s playoffs, good for 176th in pts.
0G, 1A, 1pt, (-1), 4PM’s, 22 shots, 0.0 shooting pct
he is a very good 20 yr old player who logs time in 3 phases. And Bylsma realized about two shifts into the game that there was NO way his line was going to check our top line. In fact, Pierre McGuire’s question to Bruce referencing the Staal line checking 8-91-25 during the early in-game report was answered with a devious smile and, “We think that’s a great matchup.” The Rangers were supposedly better than the Caps down the middle last round, and the Pens are definitely more ballyhooed at the Center position this round, but I believe in Bruce’s belief in Dave and Boyd.
by the way, anyone want to tender a guess on what Nyls is thinking about right now?
from the house that Red Jesus built
1) Some broadcasters were saying that the “soft goal” was actually partially deflected by Gordon on the way to Varmalov? That said, the save on Crosby more than made up for any error real or otherwise. The most impressive aspect is his apparent unflappability in the face of adversity
2) meanwhile on the other side, Fleury looked shaky. Giving up juicy rebounds and saved by the iron behind him on 3-4 occasions.
I find sometimes it's easy to be myself
sometimes I find it's better to be somebody else
At the game I thought it was tipped, but from the replays I don’t think it was. It reminded me of Alzner’s first goal, in Toronto. The guy skating through the sightlines was just enough of a distraction to let it slip through.
Weak spot
early guess on Varly’s weak spot is torso high on the glove side. He’s let 2 (or 3? can’t remember) get through his glove that he “should” have had.
Also has a fair amount of work to do coming out of crease to play dump ins, but that seems like something experience will help with. And IIRC, the international/european rinks are not only wider but have more area behind the net, so perhaps there’s a real learning curve on the goalies’ ability to play the puck in the NHL vs. elsewhere.
It’s possible it was deflected, but Varlamov didn’t think so:
After the game, Varlamov expressed his dissatisfaction with Mark Eaton’s goal, saying that he had a full view of the puck, it was never deflected and it was purely his mistake.
# Mike Green’s slap pass to Alex Ovechkin on the five-on-three goal: a thing of beauty.
prior to the puck ending up in the back of the net, I was mad at them for making ‘one pass too many’.
I was wrong.
It’s amazing how not standing stationary can help your PP. Green drives the net, the D is forced to react, that opens a passing lane and once you get the D moving to respond to the pass you open everything up. Hopefully we learn from this and stop playing like 5 statues on 5 on 3s.
That’s exactly what I said to my buddy after they scored. Green’s movement helped collapse the triangle, leaving the passing lane open to Ovie. It might not show up on the scoresheet, but it’s a very, very important play.
Just to finish out the causal chain for you:
The top Defensive player on the triangle had to move over to take Green. Then the Dman down near AO collapsed to the slot to take the shooting lane. That left AO open backdoor.
When the other team has fewer players it is much harder for them to adjust when you make them move. I hope Green keeps feeling better each game this series. He’s looked better ever since the middle of the Rags’ series but I don’t think he’s 100% yet.
It’s also worth pointing out (as Pensblog did) that Green’s movement (and contact) may have prevented Staal from getting in the Backstrom/Semin passing lane. Images via Pensblog:
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Noted.
Now someone can relay the word to those boys that hockey is played at live speed. Not in still frame shots. Go watch the video clip of the goal and you will see that Green tries to skate right in front of Staal and Staal actually initiates contact. I guess those guys are so used to the Pens being able to draw PIMs at will (See: Staal blatantly holding Jeff Carter’s stick to draw a PP in game 2 v. PHI) that they have forgotten what an actual PIM is in The Hockey. Nothing about anything Green did prevented Staal from stopping that goal.
What Green did was what most people would call “legal interference” – he went to a spot, possessed the ice en route, and in doing so, prevented an opponent from going where he may have wanted to go.
And Pensblog wasn’t griping so much as pointing it out. I think they called it borderline. Whatev.
Oh, and if hockey isn’t played in still frame shots, why did we have that endless conversation about Brash’s hit on Betts? :)
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I don’t read Pensblog so I don’t know what they said. I’d rather huff dog farts than read that site. My dig at still frames was not specifically limited to the Pensblog use of them, either; note my lack of use of still frames as evidence in my arguments.
Good start!
I’ll reiterate by way of reference to the long list of observations I wrote about early in the Rags series when despair had taken over this board. Good game by the Caps, but we got more than a little lucky to come away with the win, especially given all the 2 on 1’s we gave up to a highly skilled and fast group of fwds.
Areas to improve upon (there’s some overlap here):
1. Giveaways
2. Two on one’s
3. Way too cute clearing the puck from our defensive zone and too unwilling to dump and chase from the neutral zone. PIT was very successful playing the passing lanes and standing up the puck handler on those attempts to puck handle into the offensive third. Must adjust to this. I know dump and chase isn’t the style of the first two lines, but good things happened when they, especially Ovie, mixed it up with some dumps.
4. Dmen must skate hard to get the icing call! This is inexcusable.
I sure like being ahead in the series more than being behind! Really enjoyed yesterday’s game, especially some of the small stuff like Ovie’s back to back faceoff wins.
Agreed on Varly. As long as the memory of Jim Carey lingers in my brain, I won’t crown him the next Cam Ward. I’ll enjoy every solid save, but won’t be surprised if the Pens find a way to solve him. Still, it is getting harder not to believe. As for the game, those 20 odd giveaways and countless odd man breaks by the Pens are a real point of concern. Yet, when you consider that they made that many mistakes AND stil won, you’ve got to smile. If the Caps tighten up defensively and hit half as many posts, well….
I think its okay if Varly gives up soft goals. Those can actually encourage him to play better than if the other teams score good goals. If it were good goals, those can be more damaging to his psyche than a soft goal that is easily correctable.
by RedskinFan4Life on May 3, 2009 10:42 AM EDT reply actions
Varly
Varly is going to be VERY good, even better than he is. I base this on his physical abilities, his poise and the fact that even now, before spending a year with Prior, he has basic skills as instinct (his ability to go from challenging a shooter to hugging the post is advanced for his experience). He certainly has work to do on puck handling (as I understand it he lost a big game due to a mistake in this area and is reluctant to repeat the mistake), rebounds and some positioning.
One of the irrational arguments I hear is that the Rangers did not pose a real offensive threat and that he will have to face a higher scoring team in the Penguins. The most goals he let in in the Rangers series were three and he had two shutouts. He did in fact do his job and responded to a team that is not offensively talented by not allowing goals. Yesterday he limited a high scoring team to two goals (and it should have been just one) with at least three great saves. Though the data is short he has, by any metric, done exactly what is expected of him (yesterday maybe even more).
I am not relying strictly on his highlights to come to this conclusion either. I thought he was under rated in the NYR series, and is only now getting his due because of the media spotlight on his spectacular save, something he won’t always do. He is not great yet, but I see no reason not to believe in his innate ability to be great.
I hate Pittsburgh. And the Pens too.
One of the irrational arguments I hear is that the Rangers did not pose a real offensive threat and that he will have to face a higher scoring team in the Penguins. The most goals he let in in the Rangers series were three and he had two shutouts. He did in fact do his job and responded to a team that is not offensively talented by not allowing goals. Yesterday he limited a high scoring team to two goals (and it should have been just one) with at least three great saves. Though the data is short he has, by any metric, done exactly what is expected of him (yesterday maybe even more).
I wouldn’t categorize it as “irrational” when, simply put, the Penguins score more than the Rangers, and do it with more skilled players, and the prevailing opinion seemed to be that it would be interesting to see what he could do against a team that has scored almost as much as the Caps have.
I would say that the “cautious optimism” phrase would be one to exercise, with varying degrees on the former, of course.
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 May 3, 2009 12:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Let me see if I can explain what I mean with my limited communication skills…
Given the data of a single series Varly’s ability to perform at a high level against the Penguins is often based on the fact that he performed at a high level against the Rangers, IN THE NEGATIVE or at least is considered QUESTIONABLE. That isn’t logical. Imagine if Varly had faced the Penguins first with the same results he posted against the Rangers. Would all questions about his play then be answered? Of course not, because the data is insignificant. Since we didn’t know how he’d play (or will play overall) against the Penguins the data from the Rangers series is insignificant. Saying, “He played well against the Rangers, but the Penguins have more firepower” implies a connection that isn’t valid. He is either going to do well against the Pens or he is not, Rangers not withstanding. While he will certainly be tested more and face more shots, his success can only be measured by the current series. As a contrast, I don’t see anyone making the case that Ovechkin’s performance against the Rangers should be used a precursor for assumptions about his performance against the Pens, regardless of defenses of either team.
I hate Pittsburgh. And the Pens too.
Given the data of a single series Varly’s ability to perform at a high level against the Penguins is often based on the fact that he performed at a high level against the Rangers, IN THE NEGATIVE or at least is considered QUESTIONABLE.
Game 2 start aside, I personally don’t recall questioning his ability to perform at a high level. I question his ability to stand out in this series, against a team with more offensive firepower, as much as he did in the last series.
Imagine if Varly had faced the Penguins first with the same results he posted against the Rangers. Would all questions about his play then be answered? Of course not, because the data is insignificant. Since we didn’t know how he’d play (or will play overall) against the Penguins the data from the Rangers series is insignificant. Saying, "He played well against the Rangers, but the Penguins have more firepower" implies a connection that isn’t valid.
The only thing I’m doing is remember to take into account the skill level for said teams, because not doing so lacks a full perspective. If all things are equal, and he sucks arse in this series (God forbid), does it become invalid because of this series, or because the Pens have two of the best players in the world?
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.
I recognize your point and agree with it. I am NOT in fact responding to any given statement, but to an overall meme particularly in the media. I guess, given the response, I may have missed the mark on a few of these points. I still think we are making two separate arguments and that both a legitimate, but more than that I don’t think this issue is that important.
I hate Pittsburgh. And the Pens too.
Gotcha.
Let’s focus our anger where it’s most important:
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 May 3, 2009 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Yesterday he limited a high scoring team to two goals (and it should have been just one) with at least three great saves
I love the fact the Caps finally have a goalie that fans are comfortable with. But I have to disagree with the statement “and it should have been just one”. Are you implying that he shouldn’t be held responsible for soft goals?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m nothing short of thrilled with the way Varly is playing, but he should be held to the same standard as every other player/goalie on the team.
No I’m not implying that at all. I’m merely saying that the other 99 times out of 100 that would not have been a goal AND he should have stopped it. That second goal was an anomaly even if it was inevitable. He is responsible for the goal, but he should have stopped it.
I hate Pittsburgh. And the Pens too.
You could use the same logic to explain The Save and then you would conclude that he still would/should have let up 2 goals. He got a freakishly rare goal against and a freakishly rare save.
I could use that logic but I’m not. If I accept that he is capable of making The Save, I also accept that he is capable of stopping that goal. I’m not trying to change reality, I’m merely saying IF he had made a save he should have made the score should be 1-3. By extrapolating your perfectly reasonable thesis you could potentially say all games COULD be 0-0 or 22-35 (with those numbers given as the total shots). I am simply using that one misplay.
I hate Pittsburgh. And the Pens too.
I don’t know if anyone is going to come back here and read this, and it’s not worthy of a FanPost, but I was just having a conversation with my boss about this. We decided that it would be really cool for someone to create a stat that would kind of be a goalie +/- that would work like this: you get a plus for every amazing save (i.e., saving a goal that probably should have been in) and a minus for every softie (i.e., letting in a goal that probably should have been a save). Of course, this would be very subjective in many cases, but it would be nice to see which goalies are the best at making more tough saves to compensate for softies.
by Scott in Shaw on May 4, 2009 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions
I too found myself in blissful disbelief hearing Varlamov’s name announced as the first star of the game, against the Penguins, in the second round of the playoffs, not yet even three years removed from his selection at the draft.
It’s unreal. Yet, real.
couple questions...
1) How does Erskine adjust his game to compensate for the Pens speed?
2) I missed a lot of the game yesterday because of work, how did Clark look and how was that 4th line in general?
Clark was a step slow and took two penalties. Boyd Gordon only took five draws all game, which was curious. Eric Fehr spent some time on the top line, but didn’t do much at all.
As for Ersky, he doesn’t need to adjust much at all – he was a beast yesterday.
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Agree with you on Clark. He only had 5 minutes or so of TOI, so evidently BB didn’t like what he saw either.
Disagree with you, though, on Erskine. He let several guys get around him to spring odd-man breaks. While he did play strongly in the corners and in front of the net, he’s a problem waiting to happen. He’s just not fast enough to keep up with the Pen forwards, so he needs to give himself a cushion of space.
I had the same reaction on Erskine. He plays hard, he plays smart, but his lack of speed is a problem when he doesn’t compensate for it. As long as he does a better job of realizing that he’s not all that quick and that the Penguins forward are and play accordingly, he’ll be fine.
4 minutes in the sin bin and 5 on the ice. Not a good sign. Hopefully, Clark has more giddyup in the upcoming games.
There were a couple iffy calls on the Caps, meanwhile the Pens got called for two PIMs where the Ref was left with no discretion. Maybe by the letter of the law the Caps PIMs were all PIMs but you can’t tell me that if you are calling it that tight the Pens didn’t deserve another PIM or two. I thought Fedorov’s first PIM was pretty iffy too but I never got to see a good replay (thank you NBC). 4 PIM each for our two biggest and most playoff tested leaders? Not a good sign.
The replay on Fedorov sure made it look like it was a hold, but then I feel like the refs missed a penalty committed against Fedorov (interference) just prior to that play. On the other hand, Mark Eaton took a high stick that cut him and no penalty was called on the Caps. C’est la vie.
I was talking about Feds’ interference with Staal for their first PP. It looked to me that they just got a little tangled because they were skating into each other’s paths. I would have classified that as incidental contact. The call that infuriated me was the no-trip call on Bradley. Less than a minute later Erskine takes his trip. Erskine’s was pretty clearly a trip but it should never have come to that because Brads clearly had his feet pulled out from under him by a Penguin stick.
He’s quite literally taking Brash’s spot.
by d_fens_65 on May 3, 2009 2:44 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
The First Goal Against
I don’t blame Erskine for that pinch. We weren’t out-numbered in the neutral zone and backing off would have given Guerin the puck with a free lane to the zone or at least a free dump. We had people back to help. After watching the replays I thought that Erskine made the right read, he just couldn’t tie up Guerin quick enough. He also got very little help from Potsy and Semin behind him. Potsy is known for his skating and he looked scared of Crosby. He backed in way too far and did nothing to even keep Sid wide.
I totally agree – Pothier misplayed that terribly.
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Game 7 Hangover
The Caps came out in game one the same way they came out in game seven versus the Rangers. They looked nervous and sloppy, but they were opportunistic, and their goaltending kept them in both games. I mentioned this earlier, but it bears repeating: the Caps’ defense plays differently in front of Varly. They allow the first shot and work to clear the rebound. It decreases the number of second-chance goals. in front of Theo, they work so hard to deny shots that they get themselves out of position.
Personally, I think the same problem afflicted them in both games: after six games of playing against a rather passive Rangers team, they were caught off-guard by aggressive forechecking, leading to turnovers and odd-man chances. Hopefully, this proves to be a temporary problem, and I think it will be. The Caps were not out-shot very often this year, and this was the first time in five games that the Pens out-shot the Caps.
I think the Caps are feeling fortunate to have come away from that game up 1-0. Before the series, most observers felt that the Pens had the advantage in net, and slightly better role players. The Caps definitely got the better performance in goal, and roleplayers Flash and Steckel both scored, offsetting the Pens’ unexpected goal from Mark Eaton.
For game two, I’d like to see the Caps come out with greater intensity and sharper puck movement, particularly in their own end. With the last line change, I think Boudreau has to find a way to get Backstrom away from Staal – he OWNED Backis in the faceoff dot (won 5/6 head-to-head). Puck possession, and therefore faceoffs, will actually matter in this series. I’d also like to see the Caps work hard at keeping the puck deep and pressuring the Pens’ defense. They demonstrated a willingness to cough the puck up if pressured and the Caps need to exploit that a little more often.
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