Recap: Caps 2, Islanders 1

Rec’d for an impressive turnaround.

Link

This injury bug thing is getting old fast.

Bad first, bad third, good second. PP looked miles better, though, and this whole PK thing is spooky.

If they’re down to Schultz, Erskine, Alzner, Carlson, Sloane and Fahey…well, it’ll be interesting.

If Konopka wasn’t so guano crazy I’d kill for him to be a Capital. Fighting is good, but he’s just kind of too out there to be trusted.

I covet the hell out of that guy; he was making sharp plays all over the ice, he looks really smart. He’s a UFA after next season, two, after a four year contract at league minimum. I bet you could really make some value-over-cap-hit hay with that guy.

I’ll say this about NYI: damn they have some speed on that team. Grabner especially looked like a good waiver wire pickup for them.

And as CP alluded to in the GDT, considering they were without Streit, Tavares and Okposo they put up a good fight.

Do we have an OT hockey thread?

If not I’m going to make one. I want to see if ?ANA is as bad as they seem.

Also the overtime of the TBL/MTL game (’Ning scored twice in last ten minutes to force OT, and have outshot the Habs 45 – 23.)

The rock-solid Rink Recap beat me home from the game. That’s serious coverage (Tyler Sloan take note.)
Anyone see what damaged 52?
I heard Jurcina whooped 1.5 times. Something about “Larry Murphy, Sergei Gonchar, and Jurcina” does not parse for me.
That lazy, immature Michal Neuvirth. How I hate him.

Neuvy interview on CSN . . . in hardhat.

Watching the Isles postgame vid. Man, those guys mumble.

I thought about making a snarky comment that the problem with the Pepco Energy ServicePP in the post season was that it was a Pepco power outage. However — since the Constellation Energy Services PP is picking up where the other left off…

Man I hate VS. Mainly because it’s not possible for me to get VS in my dorm. Same thing with NHL-N. Gamecenter is nice, but blackouts suck. Of the next 13 Caps games (including this one), 10 are blacked out for me due to either NHL-N or VS. Grumble grumble torrents should be up faster.

Some thoughts:

1. Ovie, despite 4 goals, does not yet seem to be himself. He seems to be trying to do too much at times.

2. The Caps better figure out how to break low cycles. The Isles had them pinned in their zone for long stretches, just like Ottawa did the other night.

3. Neuvy, Schultz, Green and the boys on the fourth line are keeping them in the last two games. Without them, we’d be 1-3, not 3-1.

4. Flash seems to be a bit schizo with his play. Brilliant one minutes, horrific the next. He needs to get consistent quick or MP should take his place as 2C.

5. The though of dressing Erskine, Sloan and Fahey for the next game if Green is injured will make me cry. One of them as 6D is tolerable, but this shows that we are desperate for depth on the blue line. GMGM should start looking around for an upgrade pronto.

6. Getting out played for most for two games in a row and winning both is a great sign. This team will coast through a lot of games this year to get a good record, but winning when they don’t deserve to is what separates great teams from merely good teams.

Goodnight Mrs. Neuvirth!

Bruce said in the press conference after the game that he thought Nicky and Ovie needed a break from each other. He said that they were pressing too hard, looking for the other guy instead of just playing their game. He wanted to separate them so they could get back to playing their game.

Mike Green has a stinger.

By the way, since it was discussed pre-game, it was a sellout after all. The only question is how many tickets Ted had to buy.

I have to say, that may have been the worst game Carlson has played as a pro in either the AHL or NHL. His very first cross-ice pass was tipped deep into the Caps end and almost resulted in a goal 20 seconds into the game. Then he left his man open in the slot which resulted in the first goal, then a bad penalty, then some weak clears and finally he got beat badly late in the third and needed Neuvirth to bail him out. It’s going to happen with a rookie defenseman, but it just shows how good he’s been that we’re so surprised when he actually looks his age.

I have to say, as much as the last two games have been disappointing in their quality (at least from the Caps’ side, as the Isles certainly brought it tonight), I’m kind of pleased that the boys are getting a lesson in winning the hard way.

It can’t always be pretty, wide open wins where they finish up 3-4 goals on the opponent – these gritty, close, tight-checking games where a single goal decides the outcome are a welcome change. And while it’s probably a little too early to really get into playoff mode, a few tough games like this early can’t hurt the team down the line. They have to learn how to win in different ways.

…of course now they can go for some of those big blowout wins again, my heart can’t take a lot of these in a row ;)

But we should be 1-3. This team has some serious work to do.

If you’d told me before the season that the PK was keeping this team’s head above water in the early going, I’m not sure what my reaction would have been.

The team looks disjointed 5v5 and 5v4, tonight’s goal notwithstanding. The defensemen are having a hard time getting the puck to the forwards on the breakout, leading to lots of d-zone and neutral-zone turnovers, resulting in huge 5v5 possession imbalances.

Right now, the Caps are skating by on great goaltending, an outstanding PK and the fact that they’ve got more skill up and down the lineup than the teams they’ve been playing. A decent dose of luck hasn’t hurt, either.

Erskine and Sloan were again turnover machines. Alzner and Carlson didn’t look great, but they also look like they’re pressing and trying to do too much (Carlson in particular). Could it have something to do with playing with turnover machines as partners? Probably.

Semin and Laich are 2/3 of a great second line. The less said about the final part of the trio, the better. The Great #2C Experiment isn’t working out so well.

Chimera and Fehr are 2/3 of a great third line. I haven’t looked at the stats, but I imagine their Corsi and Zone Start vs. Zone Finish stats are looking pretty good. It feels like every time their line is on the ice, the puck ends up in the offensive zone. Over time, that adds up to goals.

I was dubious as to Steckel’s ability to play a more aggressive PK, but I’ll admit he actually looked good tonight. If he can continue to use his reach to pressure players and disrupt passing lanes, he’ll be a net positive.

Neuvy had a great night statistically, but his rebound control looked bad again. He’s looking tired, Bruce, it’s time to give him a rest.

I can’t believe that Florida waived Grabner. That team needs all the offense it can get. Holy crap is he fast. It’s also interesting to watch a team that isn’t carrying two AHL-caliber players as regular defensemen. I literally hold my breath each time Erskine and Sloan are on the ice. Jurcina isn’t great, but he’s clearly an NHL defenseman.

they would put carlson and alzner together. It seems like perfect harmony, a stay at home defender in alzner and a bit more of an offensive mind in carlson. they are young and should be playing together for a long time here, just as they have been in hershey the last couple. erskine is really only tolerable as a 3 pairing d man. sloan is my least favorite player in the nhl. dude you are playing just defence now, switch your number already. 89 is the worst. he is triflin.
this does kinda leave poti out to dry with erskine as a second pairing. which is why we need to acquire a d-man that would work well with poti at even strength. preferably a big mountian of a man that will clear the crease and stop leaving green to do all the dirty work when its clear hes not built mentally for that. god bless, he’s trying but can we just get someone like a sutton/gill type. then we would be set and able to roll three 3 lines at our opponents just as we do up top.

Finally home…I must say as an avid Varly supporter it’s impossible not to give Neuvy the respect right now. Yes for the 2nd game in a row he had some rebound control issues…but he made the big stops when he needed to. I agree at ES we were chasing the play for most of the 1st and 3rd periods, 2nd we looked much better. As far as the final result looks, we definitely owe it to Neuvy and the PK for getting us points we maybe should not have gotten in this homestand. That being said, the Isles were fortunate tonight we didn’t bury more chances, and the iron was Rolo’s buddy all night. Stone Hands is still Stone Hands.

Was glad to see the PP goal, as some already posted it was Semin’s patience and puck possession that helped create the space that facilitated the winning goal. Backstrom looked more like himself although still not all the way there. Agreed on Ovie seeming to “pick his spots” more. Although maybe that’s cause he’s still pressing some and having a chance or two roll off or through the hole in his stick. He looked dangerous many times tonight and probably should have had at least one more.

Carlson did not have a strong game, and I noticed how many times all of our D were having issues getting clean breakout passes through to the forwards. Also we had issues holding pucks in tonight…I didn’t take special note of the ice tonight but guys like Carlson and Green who normally keep pucks in were letting everything by them tonight.

Flash is just doing nothing for me anymore. MP please?

I’ll take the points though, for all the goals maybe we should have given up we should have put a few more home as well. I’ll take the positives of Neuvy, the PK, and the PP finally scoring and hope some of the negatives would be solved if we didn’t have to see Sloskine dragging the rooks down.

I hope Neuvy gets to rest on Saturday, whether Varly is ready to go or not.

Another interesting fact of the night….the Pens have had 3 home games and lost all three…new building isnt working out so great for them so far!

and noticed that the Caps were outdone in faceoffs every game. That’s worrying me.

At the end of the season it will still say the Caps won this game. Wasn’t their best effort this season, but it sure wasn’t as bad as the Atlanta game either. Anyway:

1) I loved the addition to the opening video with the quote from Marty Brodeur about the Carlson goal. Imagine, playing for a team for almost 2 decades and winning three Cups for them and saying that the Devils don’t play in front of crowds like that… wow. I hope this is a permanent addition.

2) Speaking of the board… no “Unleash the Fury” video despite the game being tied at 1-1 at the last TV time out… huh?

3) For the first period, it looked like both teams were skating on slightly chilled oatmeal (which is gross, by the way, heat it up first.). I liked that the Caps held the Islanders to 6 shots on goal (anything under 8 is great work) but getting on 5 was bad, and I think the Caps holding them to 6 was more the Islanders not doing their jobs either.

4) There were some close shots for the Caps in the second and third, including a post by Green, a cross bar later on (Chimera, I think… ) plus a shot that Ovechkin whiffed on that just slid past the far post…. the score could have been deceptively high for the Caps.

5) Neuvy has been outstanding so far. Don’t want to jinx him, but he’s picking up where he left off in Hershey, where he was the starting goaltender for two straight Calder Cups.

6) It only took DJ King 3 minutes to get into a fight…. ok. I loved when Trent Hunter skated after him after getting hit cleanly by King…was Hunter serioously going to try to go with King?

7) It’s never a good night when two of your defensmen are just playing badly (Erskine and Sloan). It can become contagious, as Carlson was a bit off (although he made a nice pass to Ovechkin on the game winner) and Alzner, though efficient as usual, was not quite as efficient as he usually is. A strong game from Green and Schultz though…they’re turning into one of the top pairings in the NHL.

8) No idea what Green’s injury was, but perhaps it was related to the stick he took to the chops from Trent Hunter. Kudos to Hunter there, staying with Green to make sure he was ok. He knew he got him bad, and rather than just leaving him he stayed there, presumably to apologize for nailing him.

Anyway, as I said above, they don’t take away the points because the team wasn’t playing well. Good teams win when they play well, great teams find ways to win when they’re not playing well.

This is a great team here in Washington.