Recap: Caps 6, Canadiens 5 (OT)

It’s taken me awhile, but the lightbulb finally went off tonight- the reason a guy with A+ skating skills like Chimera is only a third line player: his C+ at best puck handling skills.

100% agree with every bullet point. Except for the missing one about John Carlson being Gawd. :)

What a roller coaster.

A fine job on the recap. Distilling a War and Peace of a game into a reader’s digest version that will lead many to dig into further analysis and go back to the original source.

Part of me is glad I missed this game. I don’t think I could’ve handled it. Great recap, btw.

Whew
For the record Chimera Steckel and Bradley need to be a set line just like Ovechkin Backstrom and Knuble
Great recap, there was no need for a Carlson bullet, because every Caps fan knows of the epicness now.

Go vote!

wow love the nicky.ovi presser all questions to either of them ovi fielded to nick “no you answer”

Rec’d for the Flash thoughts (of course) and the last line.

“Watching” the game here in the STL with this group across the globe makes it so much better. Sorry I didn’t begin earlier. My eyes are beyond red at this point.

Have a great Sunday – and see you all Monday night.

(Cue debate about Theo and Varly all day tomorrow.)

Backstrom’s agent should be sending Ted a photocopy of Crosby’s contract with nicky’s Name in it.

Flash is just a nullity at this point.

Green looked bad on more than just the third goal…he looked lost out there on D, and he kept firing into shin pad.

It wasn’t only Fehr’s forecheck that shone tonight. His goal was very sure, and timely. He also had a couple of great backchecks and pulled Green’s Life from the 52 at least once.
What’d you think of Laich’s trashing of Markov in the third? It wasn’t a Ruutu or anything, but it was dirty. It was dirty and I liked it (especially as it went uncalled). Sue me.
That Nick Backstrom. Used to be such a nice kid — kind of a secret, and relatively affordable, too. Those were times.

Put this in the OT thread, but is a Tom Poti hat trick a cleared puck and a fight that gets him and an opposing player off the ice for 5 minutes in the same period?

But the best part? Poti sitting in the box on the crucial third-period penalty kill that came as a result of Alexander Semin’s tripping minor.

Nice.

You know what Flash did do? Early third, he dumped the puck and chased it in himself. That already is more than Kozlov ever did. As long as Flash doesn’t show up in a bad way, I’m cool with it. He’s not relied upon.

Corvo I thought had a strong game. I think he and ShaMo really worked out the spacing on the rush (Green and Schultz always got caught too deep) and he had some nice keep ins and is able to get the puck through.

Green played 5 more mins than Ovie. Too much, I think. Or rather, too uneven there.

What happened to BMo? Did he get hurt or something?

I mentioned this at the end of the GDTs, but my big observation is probably the only thing I can say to coach hockey, and that is the game changed with the Caps started to skate. When they started moving their feet, the bounces started to go their way. When they stood around and watched, they got crap bounces. Now, they got crap bounces in situations that went their way in the regular season (e.g., Green’s clear on the habs 5th goal) but things changed when they started skating.

Also, the penalty kill during Poti’s major was just a brilliant momentum continuer. That penalty by Semin could have easily killed off any momentum.

“when they play like that (giving full effort) they are the best team in the NHL, for 40 minutes they were the worst team in the NHL…They try to win without trying…Surely they’ll learn from this and play better.”

- Everyone’s favorite former Lightning coach and part-time ESPN analyst.

Just saw Knubles Knights on the Television!!!!

bq.“Score the goal.”

Backstrom gets additional badass points for the smartass comment too. I think that was the moment I realized we were really going to win.

I was at a family event all day. I get home and my DVR didn’t record the game. Awesome.

That bullet about the Poti fight is just gold. Could not have said it better. Gomez sucks.

Green looks like crap around the net. Still. So much for Leetch in ’94.

Theo gets another start.

Carlson is ridiculously awesome.

…still waiting for Backstrom to take over a game.

Wore my Ovechkin jersey that I got as a gift a while ago. I had gone to three other games with it, the pens game in january, then the two losses against the lightning and flames. Those last 2 had me worried, I thought it might be a bad idea to wear it tonight since it had lead to bad games from us. I wore it to the game tonight, and after the 4th goal i took it off, then we proceed to come back from behind and win the game.

The jersey is going to be given to someone else who will never go to a caps game. Tonight was a fantastic game. Time to replace the jersey with a 19 or 74 jersey!

ROCK THE RED

Are we sure John Carlson is actually a rookie? I mean, kid is playing way above his years. I hope NHL players get royalties from their jersey sales cause I know my next jersey will be a Carlson and I’m sure I’m not alone.

This is one of those Washington Capitals Signature Games. No other NHL team today simultaneously frustrates and awes the way the Caps do. I wonder if they’ve set a record for 3-goal comebacks in one season.

For the second straight game Green contributed no offense and failed to tie up his man or pick up the puck on a crucial 3rd period goal. He’s got to be much better. Same with Semin, who was too floaty and turned the puck over too much in the offensive zone.

Loved the line about Poti being in the box for the PK. That was exactly what I was thinking at the time.

Fehr had another great game, contributing some great forechecking and making life tough for the MTL D in addition to his goal.

Loved seeing AO with a sweet assist to Backstrom for the 4th goal, then Baxter taking a page out of AO’s playbook for the OT winner. Such a nasty shot.

And Carlson was fucking killer. I can’t believe he’s only 20.

Caps are in Halak’s head.

Tell me if I’m wrong, because I’m going with yes.

I gotta say I’m enjoying being civil yet disruptive over on Eyes on the Prize.

this win was such a relief

Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2010 23:41:32 -0400 [11:41:32 PM EDT]
From: Nikolaos <xxxxx@umich.edu>
To: Ted Leonsis <washingtoncaps@aol.com>
Subject: Nick Backstrom

Dearest Ted,

I’m sure you’ll agree that Nick Backstrom is now commanding billions of dollars in his upcoming free agency. I’d just like to make the offer to you that if I land a well-paying job between my May 1 graduation and the conclusion of his contract negotiations, I will put up as much of my own money as I can to keep him in a Caps sweater.

Thanks for being so awesome! S’agapo, file mou!

-Nick

I just got back from the game. I have no voice. It was awesome.

John Carlson is the greatest man in the history of mandom

Eyes on the Prize just closed comments… lol… does that mean we win?

For the record, Knuble didn’t interfere with Halak. Even the Versus morons said so. Obviously this closes the book on that controversy. What’s next? Let’s bake a pie.

Ok, so I normally sit in section 421, but tonight I thought I might have to babysit my grandson because the father of my future son-in-law was in the hospital as he was having trouble with his pace maker, meaning my daughter, future son-in-law and most of the family would be in the hospital with him.

The great news is that he was able to go home this afternoon, and the family was home, so the baby stayed home as well. Turns out his pacemaker was programmed incorrectly…oy! But I had an issue as I had already sold my ticket. So I went onto the Caps Ticket Exchange and bought a ticket in section 411. Great people in that section too! :)

Anyway this is the kind of game that will get me put into the hospital.

Some notes:

• John Carlson, hero of the game, American hero, Awesome: The Next Generation, is younger than my daughter. What a shot… looked like a shot from a young Sergei Fedorov.

• Glad to see that Nick and Ovie are back on the scoresheet.

• Poti’s last fight was in 2004, and it was also against the Montreal Canadiens. I guess when you grow up near Boston, you learn to hate the Habs and it’s built in.

• While pullng Theo was the right choice in that he let in two pretty bad goals, Varly didn’t really stand out either. Not that the goals were particularly his fault, but 3 goals on 20 or so shots isn’t all that great.

• As good as Halak was in Game 1 he was as bad tonight. I don’t know if the Caps have figured out how to beat him consistently, but if Halak thinks they have something and tried to adjust, then the Caps have him beat.

• Kostitsyn…nice hat trick. This is the second straight Game 2 that the Caps have been in where there’s a hat trick on both sides.

• Free lunch Monday at Glory Days! :D

So now it’s on to Montreal. Here’s hoping the Caps can use the momentum and come home up 3-1.

As much as it’s already known by everyone about the playoffs, I do like this quote from Poti (found on PuckDaddy):

“Maybe after the fight, we turned it around a little bit. Everyone started to kick it into that extra gear. That’s what you have to do in playoffs sometimes: Do what you wouldn’t normally do in the regular season.”

big time comeback maybe this will propel the Caps to beating down the Habs next 3 games

I think Theo deserves to play again in the playoffs, but it’s too risky to play him next game – even though Varly wasn’t phenomenal either.
Also, now I really wish I’d been able to get a Carlson t-shirt when I was at Kettler on Thursday. When they were interviewing Carlson after the game I tried to get a U-S-A chant going but I don’t have a voice left, so no one heard me.