Saturday Caps Clips: Opening Night Jitters; Devils @ Caps Game Day
by EmilyB on Oct 9, 2010 8:32 AM EDT
in Caps Clips
Email
Print
Your savory Saturday home opener links:
- Recaps and other assorted musings on last night's loss from us, Vogs, Masisak, Carrera (blog, gamer), Caps365 video (players, Boudreau), Frankovic, Peerless, RMNB, Puckhead's Thoughts, Hoffman.
- Previews of tonight's home opener from Vogs, NHL.com, In Lou We Trust, LIR and RLS, and be sure to check out our SB Nation partner In Lou We Trust for coverage from the other side of tonight's match up.
- Details are still sketchy, but Thrashers goaltender Ondrej Pavelec is reported to have regained consciousness at an Atlanta hospital and will remain there at least through this morning. We wish him a speedy and complete recovery. [CBC, ProHockeyTalk, Puck Daddy]
- Are the Caps tough enough to win
their season openerthe Cup? [Baltimore Sun] - The moment is of the essence. [OFB]
- About those defensive pairings, Coach... [Caps Insider]
- Meet John Collins, the man behind the Winter Classic. [Washington Examiner]
- Visual evidence that Sheldon Souray is, indeed, a Hershey Bear (or at least that he's doing media scrums in front of their logo). [RMNB]
- Dale Hunter and his London Knights are keeping it all in the family. [London Free Press]
82 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I don’t think it is a stretch to say that the boys looked defensively challenged. That was disappointing to watch – no energy. I was actually kind of happy for Craig Ramsay, who had his team ready and skating circles around the Caps. Ughh. I don’t even think they needed the galvanizing effect of rallying around Pavelec – thank god he’s ok.
All I saw was the Thrash bringing the puck in with speed effortlessly, while on the other end our guys would dump it in and watch the ATL blue line collect the puck and bring it out. No sustained pressure.
Around the League: Chara
First Bergeron now Chara, Bruins about to or have come to terms with Chara
He’ll be 34. I think.
I’m amazed at how the Bruins continue to play fast and loose with the salary cap, by the way. With this deal and the Bergeron deal they now have almost $50 million already tied up in 16 guys next year. If – IF – the salary cap doesn’t drop at all that leaves them with about 9 million to sign the remaining 7 roster players, including either Ryder, Stuart and Sturm or guys to replace Ryder, Stuart and Sturm. Fascinating.
If anyone needs me, I'll be at Kettler.
Calling mulligan. The Pavelec collapse could have ended the game 2 minutes in, and probably should have—I hope that kid’s LT future is not impacted by this, and he’s up on his skates soon.
One shot from line 3 just isn’t going to cut it, but otherwise impressed with Marjo with Chimmer (who has to bury that one chance he had). Not enough minutes.
"I don't care about winning the division or winning the President's Trophy. I just care about getting to the playoffs." --GMGM
I was collecting scoring chances during the game and the final tally has MarJo outchanced 9-4 at even strength. We’ll see if that trend continues (and who’s on the ice with him), but I thought he was pretty invisible after about the 1st 10 minutes and not in a good way.
"Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful" George E.P. Box
by Knee high to a duck on Oct 9, 2010 12:31 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Are you recording and publishing those, by any chance (a la Olivier) ?
by red army line on Oct 9, 2010 1:43 PM EDT up reply actions
I was thinking about it, but I don’t have a good place to host them. I’d love to see some other folks record them independently and then we can average the results at the end of the season.
"Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful" George E.P. Box
by Knee high to a duck on Oct 9, 2010 3:39 PM EDT up reply actions
I’d love to do it too, but time difference means I’ll be missing lots of games :(
So do you just record the time of the scoring chance and then look at shift charts to see who was on the ice?
by red army line on Oct 9, 2010 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Nope, timeonice has an amazing widget; if you click here, you’ll find a form. Once you’ve recorded all the chances from the game, go the NHL’s website and click on the box score; the last 5 digits of the ID number in the URL is the game number as far as timeonice is concerned. So once you’d done that for last night, you’d enter 20011 in the game number box and it spits out an amazing report. I’ll see if I can dig up the link to what I did last night.
"Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful" George E.P. Box
by Knee high to a duck on Oct 9, 2010 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions
Wow, that’s amazing. I think I’ll give it a go for the games I can watch (starting tonight, hopefully).
by red army line on Oct 9, 2010 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions
"Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful" George E.P. Box
by Knee high to a duck on Oct 9, 2010 4:15 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
Holy shit, this is great. If I’m reading this correctly, Tom Poti got killed. 3 chances for, 7 against? Am I misreading?
Lockout talk makes me want to go out and choke an old lady - Elliotte Friedman
You’re reading this right, by my count, Poti got trucked. Unfortunately, so did MarJo.
This is highly subjective and I’ll bet the results change if we have more people recording and average the answers.
"Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful" George E.P. Box
by Knee high to a duck on Oct 9, 2010 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions
Mackan and Chimera both were -5 but somehow Fehr was even.
Lockout talk makes me want to go out and choke an old lady - Elliotte Friedman
By a quick eyeball, Brads was on the ice for a 25/90/10 line for a lot of chances against.
"Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful" George E.P. Box
by Knee high to a duck on Oct 9, 2010 4:26 PM EDT up reply actions
I’d note that this is subject to all the same contextual stuff that Corsi is; zone starts, teammates, competition, yadda yadda yadda.
I’d also note that I think I was more liberal with scoring chances at the beginning of the game and stingier at the end. I expect to get more consistent as the year goes on and I keep doing this.
"Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful" George E.P. Box
by Knee high to a duck on Oct 9, 2010 4:16 PM EDT up reply actions
Something that looks like it could develop into a goal – a shot from the slot that makes it through is pretty much always a chance, one-timers, a pass through the crease that doesn’t quite connect (or does), stuff that makes you edge forward in your seat if the Caps are making it, or stuff that puckers your sphincter if the opposing team gets it.
"Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful" George E.P. Box
by Knee high to a duck on Oct 9, 2010 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions
That was mostly just plain ugly. While not panicking, I am concerned about the PP. They have to fix it! Last season we had some ugly losses in the first few games, so I hope they are getting those out of their system. Ovi still concerns me, though. He may have had a lot of shots/attempts, but something is missing, still. This game will be remembered for Pavelec and I hope he has no long term problem. Watching him collapse, I was worried about a stroke or something, which would be highly unusual in one so young, but it does happen.
The Ovi problem seems “obvious” to me.
When he gets serious, or angry, he has a tendency to grip way too tightly and do it all himself.
We saw that in the last game prior to going to see his sick grandfather – flying around aimlessly – and in games where the cause is lost late in the game and he’s flying around like a wrecking ball chasing whoever has the puck all over the ice.
If we imagine/recall Ovi scoring what image do we see of him?
It’s not the same image we saw of Crosby after he scored the famous Olympic goal is it?
Ovi needs to play happy, not angry. In general.
IMO
I took something. I can see things no one else can see... Why're you dressed like that? - Jack Burton
It wasn’t an enjoyable game to watch — in some respects, it looked a little too much like Game 7. Especially the PP. But I think with three home games coming up in the next five days, we’ll see how they respond.
Pavelac’s collapse was scary to watch. I have a co-worker who had her first seizure last spring, and what I saw reminded me a lot of how she described it. I hope Pavelac’s okay, and that he’ll be back on skates in good health soon.
Anyone get the feeling that the Caps are making sawdust (or graphite dust) with their gloves?
I’m as upset about Montreal as everyone else, but hockey is still a game. It doesn’t seem to me that a team that is having no fun playing it is going to succeed much. Feels to me a bit like they’re all too tight.
It’s one of the reasons I wish Perreault was still on the team — that guy doesn’t give a damn and would just play his game with joy. He’s remarkably consistent that way. It might be a better fit for the kind of energy the team needs right now than their quiet, serious, workmanlike 20 year old third line center.
Atta dinnin stick a who!
I think there may be a stick-crushing vibe. I dont really mind. Last year’s Caps played a lot of games, frolicking to 5-3 wins that should have been 6-1 routs. If they’re going to be a little less playful, and a little more prone to contest every inch of the ice, maybe some graphite dust is a byproduct of that transition?
Hopers gonna hope…
There's no 'i' in "team". But there's a 'nap' in "champion".
Then again, my buddy was talking to me about some comments Paul O’Neill recently made on the radio in NY. He said that when the Yankees were just starting to become good in the Mid-90s they had a ton of pressure from the NY fans and that the pressure put an extra edge on their game and he thought that was a reason they were so successful. Everyone handles pressure differently and I don’t think you can ever really know how someone will handle it until after the fact.
Lockout talk makes me want to go out and choke an old lady - Elliotte Friedman
I definitely think that was the problem with Ovi. He’s at his best when he’s enjoying himself, and he did not look happy or like he was having fun last night. I’m all for him stepping up the maturity level a bit as captain, but I wonder if he’s now taking things TOO seriously.
"Do you see my fist? It was fists like these that built quaint Canadian cities out of the harsh Canadian wilderness, etc. etc."
Not in Seattle anymore.
by SeattleCapsFan on Oct 9, 2010 2:44 PM EDT up reply actions
Now that we tried Bruce’s silly experiment, can we go back to 52-55, 74-27, and 3 with… whoever.
I am a hockey fan first, and a Caps fan second.
Poti-Carlson was a successful combination last year, not a “silly experiment”. The issue is that there is no good partner for Alzner. Green and Schultz should continue to get top minutes, Poti definitely should be 2nd pair, and neither Erskine or Sloan should be 2nd pair. That leaves either Carlson or Alzner as 2nd pair, and Carlson is the better of the two there.
Never underrate the power of the hissy-cow.
by timmyv38 on Oct 9, 2010 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
I don’t think changing the defensive pairings would of helped at all, like was said in the recap the only D who looked like he was a Cap was Erksine and he’s no Doughty.
Bruce Boudreau when asked about Brooks Laich's return to the lineup, he said: "He just adds another dimension to our team. If it was puzzle, he just fits that thing. He completes us."
Brooks Laich completing everything from teams to tires and everything in between.
I just thought they looked out of sync all game. We know 74-27 have chemistry, and 52-55 play well together… why not roll with it?
I am a hockey fan first, and a Caps fan second.
by iwearstripes on Oct 9, 2010 10:45 AM EDT up reply actions
Because 3-4 has left some terrible memories in our minds.
The guy is Peter Schumpmaker. Lord knows what a schump is, but you can bet your bippy his ancestors made them. What he's doing is far worse than crafting fine schumps.
by Steckel Me Elmo on Oct 9, 2010 11:13 AM EDT up reply actions
I think this is part of it. They scored with such abandon last year, it seemed like they’d forgotten they had/have to work at it. Also think they are going to get an honest effort from the opposition most nights, after the Pres Trophy season, and that’s going to take some getting used to.
I’d surely rather they be flat now and work out any issues that need it, as opposed to March and April.
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
If the season goes horribly, and I don’t think it will. But if it does, I think Bruce’s system has to go. People were paying attention with how to play against the Caps in the playoffs. Someone like mark french who actually adjusted and helped win the cup if the season turns ugly and they need a new philosophy.
I doubt it’ll happen, cause they’ve only played one game and the caps are awesome.
Just one game with a really bizarre start. There’s no way I expected that game to be meaningful after it looked like someone could have died out there.
Chalk this up as a preseason game and hope Pavelec is alright and it was something stupid like dehydration/heat stroke. The season opens today with hopefully good news coming about Pavelec.
Human existence being an hallucination containing in itself the secondary hallucinations of day and night (the latter an insanitary condition of the atmosphere due to accretions of black air) it ill becomes any man of sense to be concerned at the illusory approach of the supreme hallucination known as death.
But you would have expected the Pavelec thing to take more out of the Thrash than the Caps.
Lockout talk makes me want to go out and choke an old lady - Elliotte Friedman
That’s what I was thinking – I’m surprised to see so many people dismissing the loss as being partly due to Pavelec, as scary as it most likely was for the Caps (and for all of us to watch) it had to have taken more of a toll on the Thrashers. I’ll say it again, major respect for Atlanta for going through with the game and playing as well as they did after that.
If anyone needs me, I'll be at Kettler.
when something like that happens, teams tend to respond with one of the two extremes. Obviously, Atlanta went with the “we’re gonna kick their asses!” response.
Pledge Drive 2010-2011: SO KIDS CAN!! Help build a playground
Alternate Captains
Who were they last night? I know Chimera was one, and Knuble wasn’t. Is this going to be a season long thing or are they going to alternate them?
Mon dieu! Il y a un hache dans ma tête!
by OvechKING on Oct 9, 2010 12:37 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
Just read that Pavelec has a concussion, but it may have been sustained when he fell. This guy from this site is supposed to be interviewing him later today.
I'm rockin' the red... shoes!
Hmmm. Tarik (!) reported on today’s morning skate:
You perhaps knew me better as "Your Nation's Capital." Same great commentary, now with 100% more transparency!
Oh. I see. He’s covering while Katie attends a wedding:
https://twitter.com/TarikElBashir/status/26856396319
You perhaps knew me better as "Your Nation's Capital." Same great commentary, now with 100% more transparency!
Katie probably had to wait for the morning flight back from Atlanta.
Pledge Drive 2010-2011: SO KIDS CAN!! Help build a playground
In the comments on his Neuvirth post they’re jumping all over him re the G&M thing (some fair questions, one or two pretty absurd rips). He hasn’t responded.
"This guy is an android. He's not human....Oh my goodness."
not surprising, as I don’t think Tarik ever waded into the comments (and can you blame him?)
Pledge Drive 2010-2011: SO KIDS CAN!! Help build a playground
I think the NHL tried recording that for a few seasons before the lockout, but I don’t think we have that anymore. We have Corsi and Zonestart, so you can try those, via behindthenet.ca. Timeonice normally has blocked shots for/against, missed shots for/against, and shots for/against, but I don’t think Vic Ferrari has started up the scripts yet for 2010-2011.
by red army line on Oct 9, 2010 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Dougeb
I was in the GDT thread last night but left before a lot of the closing discussion. I’m not a regular or anything, but I just wanted to say that I respect the way you stepped back and took in the comments/reactions you were getting and adjusted your tone/comments in response.
Welcome.
"This guy is an android. He's not human....Oh my goodness."
Any word on the goalies tonight? Does Neuvy get a rest or another shot? I assume Brodeur will be in net for NJD.
Lockout talk makes me want to go out and choke an old lady - Elliotte Friedman
Sounds like Neuvy’s in again tonight (at least according to Tarik)…and it’s hard to say w/ Marty, I wonder whether they’ll actually stick with their “no really, we’re not going to try and play him 82 games this year” claim. Back-to-back games, and the first one goes to OT? Tough call.
If anyone needs me, I'll be at Kettler.
I didn’t see a ton of the NJD game last night but Marty’s stat line doesn’t look great. Then again, neither does Neuvy’s so I don’t really know. I thought Brodeur went down a little early and left the top of the net open for the GWG but it was an OT 2-on-1 so it’s hard to fault the goalie. He’s always relied on his reflexes and I just don’t see how he can keep doing that at his age. He’s no doubt a great goalie, but I think he’s lost that fear edge that he used to have on people (like Tiger Woods and Federer used to have as well).
Lockout talk makes me want to go out and choke an old lady - Elliotte Friedman
He’s no doubt a great goalie, but I think he’s lost that fear edge that he used to have on people
Completely agree. No question that he’s still among the elite but you don’t go into games thinking you can’t score on him. Unless you’re the Penguins.
And I didn’t really see any of that game last night, either, so I can’t speak to how he looked. I just wonder about starting a 38-year-old on back-to-back nights coming off an OT loss, you know? And yet if I had to put money on it I’d bet Brodeur’s in goal.
If anyone needs me, I'll be at Kettler.
ILWT’s preview has a quote from Maclean along the lines of “it’s doubtful Hedberg is starting this weekend.” I guess we’re seeing Brodeur, then.
by red army line on Oct 9, 2010 3:20 PM EDT up reply actions
Not terribly surprising. He tends to do well against us so I expect a tough game for the offensive players. Hopefully last night pissed off some players and they come out fired up.
Lockout talk makes me want to go out and choke an old lady - Elliotte Friedman
In their recap the theme is basically “our skaters f’ed up with lots of stupid turnovers,” which I think bodes well for the Capitals.
by red army line on Oct 9, 2010 3:24 PM EDT up reply actions
Last night wasn’t too fun to watch but I’m not worried
I think the caps are just trying to adjust to some new strategies. You can try out some new methods all you want in the training camps and preseason, but you never really know how hard it will be to adjust until you get into some games that matter.
I don’t expect the caps to burst out of the gates the next couple of weeks and wouldn’t be surprised to see them floating around .500 for a while. I actually wouldn’t even mind. You can’t be successful until you make some mistakes
Was it last year that we were discussing the efficacy of bag skates, or was it two years ago? I recall it was early in the year and I recall it came as a result of a couple of desultory performances.
I’ll be keeping tabs on the score via mobile access, so I expect detailed reports in the recap and comments. F&B, KHTAD, I’m lookin’ at you here.
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?
Will do, but I’ll only be at my computer for the first half of the game. How good is your phone at accessing mobile comments? Can you realistically get through a long GDT? On my phone anything over 100 comments becomes unworkable very quickly. GDT sized threads aren’t even an option.
I broached this last year but it never caught on, I suggest that when we have the new threads for each period the first comment (or one of the first comments) should be a recap of the period before. That way people that want to know what happened but don’t want to scroll 500 comments can get an idea of how the last period went.
Lockout talk makes me want to go out and choke an old lady - Elliotte Friedman
I’m going to be busy writing a paper and recording scoring chances, so my involvement in the GDT is going to be pretty minimal.
"Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful" George E.P. Box
by Knee high to a duck on Oct 9, 2010 4:17 PM EDT up reply actions
Many moons ago I used to pray we were .500 at the end of October, so again I’m not in panic mode at all. I think we need to just get into a rhythm, and hopefully having the lines stay (relatively) stable some guys find a groove. I think in about a week or so we’ll have a good idea of what’s what and who the lightning rod is (justly or unjustly)
Here’s hoping for an icy-cold building tonight….
Refs allow play to continue....
By “many moons” do you mean just 3 years ago? Can you believe that?
"Do you see my fist? It was fists like these that built quaint Canadian cities out of the harsh Canadian wilderness, etc. etc."
Not in Seattle anymore.
by SeattleCapsFan on Oct 9, 2010 4:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Japers' Rink
Related FanShots on Japers' Rink
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recent FanShots
The Vault
In Association With
Latest Puck Daddy - NHL from Yahoo! Sports
- Why the Devils and the Kings are evidence the Capitals shouldn’t trade Alex Ovechkin
- Eulogy: Remembering the 2011-12 New York Rangers
- Stanley Cup Final: 5 keys for New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings
- Friday’s Three Stars: Devils head to Final; Brodeur, Kovalchuk the difference in Game 6
- Devils eliminate Rangers in Game 6, ending fear of the past, setting course for the future
