Recap: Flyers 5, Caps 4 (SO)

So far, no one here tonight has said “trade him”. But I recall an awful lot of times last year that whenever Semin had a bad game, the clarion calls to “trade him” or “let him walk and take the draft picks” got really loud.

Right. This isn’t “OMG Semin sucks! lulz!”, it’s “Semin’s going to be a guy to watch this week because it’s going to see how he responds to having a couple of bad games given his history.”

You know, Becca, I appreciate your reasoned and moderate responses. I’m also glad you don’t use blocked quotes because they are totally obnoxious.

I am sick and tired though of “martyrdom” used around here for any comment supportive of a player or questioning someone’s criticism. I daresay that if another player without the contributions of Sasha had a not-so-good game following a game where the whole team stunk, he would not be questioned for the beginning of a slump. Semin may have had 3 penalties, but he also was taking shots and had 2 takeaways in addition to his assist on Fehr’s goal (it was his work getting the puck out of the defensive zone and all the way down which started that play). He was engaged. No, it was not his best game so far, but most have been pretty terrific and he’s bound to have some let downs. I just think he should be allowed that before people start yelling “slump!”

I find it interesting that Ovi does not even get a bullet point in this. We are 20 games in and he’s practically invisible every game, despite the points he has. That is all he has done and it’s not nearly enough given his talent and the money he is paid. He’s like a hit and run artist these days. It concerns me.

Email sent to SB Nation for a mega rec button.

Torts-esque, almost.

I agree with this, I thought the refs were mostly consistent. In my opinion, we saw two very good offensive teams causing one another to take penalties because they couldn’t keep up defensively.

Had a REALLY drunk flyers fan next to me. She was drunk before the game even started. Drove me crazy.

of having a “hot ticket” team. People are using their tix for investments, selling the higher priced games off at a profit. Redskins fans have been doing this for years culminating in the Pittsburgh Steelers Monday night game last year that was majority Steel Town fans. I’m not going to blame this on the bandwagoners (who I mostly enjoy) but on the opportunists like my neighbor who has season tickets and sales each one off. Still, as a season ticket holder since the Phone Booth opened, I’ve seen much worse. The “Booooch” calls reminded me of the “Moooose” calls from Pitt fans in the playoffs years ago. Horrible memories. The thirty or so Flyers fans around me got an earful of “Chicago has the cup” every time the Flyers scored, and “Booooch” every time the Caps scored. They were mildly amused. No violence needed and they were able to take as much as they give. I once put a name plaque on a blank Caps jersey about nine years ago that read “F#*K the Flyers” and wore it to a game in which my section was majority Flyers fans. About half of them made it a point to tell me how much they like it.

I wonder if you sat near me.

So, people who wont routinely spit on or fight with fans of other teams are “sissies”? Whatevs. Every single “let’s go flyers” chant tonight got drowned out with ‘flyers suck’.

It’s gotten to the point where I’d prefer Carlson. At least experiment with it a few games…and roll out 2 sets of forwards. Question is where do you position them. Semin and Ovie would both seem to play the half wall, although slightly different styles to each. I’d like to keep Backstrom with Ovie and throw maybe Knubs or Laich out there with them. I’d probably like to see 8/19/22 and 28/21/16 for my 2 sets of PP forwards. Green is going to play the full 2 minute PP shift we know that. Not sure I want Carlson doing it but I’d like to see it for a game or two, or maybe have Ovie shift to point if there is a stoppage. Half the reason he gets so gassed playing the full 2 minutes on the point is the constant retrieving since we seem to have a hard time entering the zone and setting up so much.

I’ve been wanting to see 8-19-28 52-74 on PP1 for a while.. watch all those one-timers Stamkos rips off from the left wing on power plays, and tell me Ovie couldn’t do the same thing? Besides, if you’re not going to play with a PP2, you might as well overload the first?

I think the answer is pretty easy: get Carlson in the rotation. Ovi has 104 PP TOI for the season, 50% more than the next cap. His Pts/60 5-4 is not tops on the team. No surprise as he’s gassed at the end (and playing with the less talented 2d unit). Carlson has 30 min of PP TOI for the season, most of that coming when Green was out.

I’m not crazy about Ovi playing point b/c he doesn’t keep the puck in particularly well and he leads to more SH rushes than a more responsible player would (even Semin qualifies in this case), but if he’s going to stay at the point, I do think the easy answer is a 3 man rotation at the point Ovi, Carlson and Green, where I’d be perfectly happy with Green and Ovi getting more than 1/3 the time each but no 2 min shifts.

I actually thought he looked better tonight than he has since Calgary. He’s still floating like a manatee in his own zone (a really disturbing development, he’s not moving his feet at all as he glides towards the slot and his stick is waist high), but he’s putting more sprints to loose pucks and strong rushes/plays together in a row. He had some horrendous luck with rolling pucks last night (the breakaway was on its edge the entire time) and a broken stick that would have at least forced Boucher to make a good save off the one-timer, but otherwise he was playing much better than he has in a week.

WORD!

If I remember correctly, his old trainer has relocated from Moscow and lives elsewhere now. Wonder if that had something to do with the change.

Ovie’s old trainer didn’t work out well for him last season in the playoffs so I’m not buying that as a reason for his poor play. I believe the glut of distractions, plus a lingering hangover from last season’s disappointments in the Olympics, Stanley Cup playoffs and World championships, plus his sensitivity to criticism about the Campbell hit and his two suspensions, all this added up together has taken its toll on Ovie’s psyche.