Recap: Devils 3, Caps 2 (SO)
by J.P. on Nov 12, 2011 9:48 PM EST
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Back when the Capitals and Devils were Patrick Division rivals, home-and-home series weren't the rarity they are today. But nowadays, having 120 minutes of gametime scheduled over a 27-hour span is something of a throwback treat for traditionalists - all the more time for teams to adjust to one another and for animosity to fester, often generating a playoff-like feel during the regular season.
That wasn't necessarily the case in Washington on Saturday night as the Caps and Devils met for a second-straight night. But if a tight game is any indication of teams adjusting to one another, these squads certainly accomplished that, as a shootout - which the Devils won - was needed to settle the score with the teams level at two goals apiece after 65 minutes.
Ten more notes on the game:
- Not four minutes into the first game after his well-publicized benching, Alexander Semin took a penalty. For tripping. In the offensive zone. On the power play. You can't make this stuff up. It didn't seem to impact his ice time, though (he did miss some time with equipment issues in the first)... and it didn't seem to inspire him to make amends much, either.
- One minute and change after the Semin penalty expired, Mathieu Perreault was interfered with at the Jersey blueline with another Devil in possession of the puck. Luckily for the Caps, the referees must have missed it (and thus didn't blow the play dead), allowing Troy Brouwer to thieve the biscuit and go in on Johan Hedberg all alone before beating the Devs' netminder and staking the Caps to a 1-0 lead.
- According to the score sheet, Anton Volchenkov took his first of two tripping penalties at 14:10 of the first. Jason Chimera went hard to the net and deflected John Carlson's bomb from the point past Hedberg at 16:10 of the period. That's not a power-play goal, but it might as well have been, as the Devils clearly hadn't gotten back into their set defense yet with Volchenkov having barely been sprung from the box. Fun (but not really) sidenote on that goal: it was initially credited to Carlson, with a secondary assist to Roman Hamrlik. When it was changed to Chimera's goal, Hamrlik was stripped of his first assist of the season (unbelievable as that is)... for the second time (he'd had an assist taken away earlier on which became Cody Eakin's first NHL point).
- Coming into the game with just five healthy defensemen (both Mike Green and John Erskine were scratched), Bruce Boudreau skated Brooks Laich as his sixth blueliner. One by-product of that decision was losing Laich for even-strength faceoffs, so when, half-way through the second, there was a draw immediately to the right of Michal Neuvirth following a Jeff Halpern shift (which followed a shift by Nicklas Backstrom), Boudreau was essentially left with a choice between Perreault and Marcus Johansson to take the faceoff. He chose Perreault, who lost the draw clean and the referee was retrieving the puck from the Caps' net moments later. It would be Perreault's only D-zone draw of the night.
- Really? Two second period shots on goal (one on the power play and one from 50-feet out)? With a 2-0 lead after one period, the next goal was going to be huge - if the Caps scored it, they could've all but put two points in the bank. Instead, they let the Devils back in with two second-period tallies. And from the time Jersey scored their first goal to cut the lead in half until the time the Caps registered their next shot on goal, 14:18 elapsed off the clock. Not exactly the "killer instinct" Caps fans were thirsting for.
- Only four forwards - Alex Ovechkin, Chimera, Brouwer and Backstrom - had shots on goal through two periods (they combined for seven SOGs, with Chimera accounting for three of those). That includes 7:17 of power-play time and 25:11 at fives. Halpern and Semin added third period shots, but by the time the clock ran out on overtime, the Caps had just 11 shots on goal from forwards over an even 50 minutes of even-strength and power-play times. Atrocious.
- Seems as if the stingy hit-counter in Newark last night was more than compensated for tonight, as Ovechkin was credited with 11 hits. As a point of reference, he'd been credited with just 23 entering the evening. Maybe someone got a whisper in their ear that Ovi needed some hits.
- The makeshift D-corps got even makeshiftier as Hamrlik skated just three second period shifts and nary a one thereafter. As a result, Dennis Wideman got huge minutes - 33:06 - and a golden chance to win the game in overtime, and Carlson was just under 27 minutes.
- Is Seminitis contagious? The Caps got minor penalties from arguably their four most skilled skaters tonight - Semin, Ovechkin, Backstrom and Johansson, only one of which came in the defensive zone. Gotta be better-disciplined than that.
- Considering the impressive bounce-back game his fellow countryman had last night, it was Neuvirth's turn after a rough outing against the Stars, and he was very solid. While the Caps sort out their blueline, offensive schemes and power-play, it'd be nice if strong goaltending was once again a constant.
And so it's off to Nashville after taking three of a possible four points from the Devils, but looking a bit less impressive than that might indicate. The Caps have work to do.
Game highlights:
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A helpful reminder to keep uour thoughts to talking about the game. Cool? Cool.
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by Bald Pollack on Nov 12, 2011 9:53 PM EST via iPhone app reply actions
Fun first period! Shame about all that stuff that came after it. I don’t really care about the Devils, but damn, do they play boring-ass hockey.
Such a speedy recap! And a brain twister! (Or a flat-out liar. ;) )
I actually thought during the game last night the Devils were playing a more dynamic style than they have in the past.
by Murshawursha on Nov 12, 2011 10:03 PM EST up reply actions
The feeling I got from this game is
that when the team hits the ground running, it just has to keep the momentum going at some point.
9 SOG in 1st period, 8 SOG’s for the rest of the game.
Not fully grokking the coach’s choice to hold a 90-minute bag skate on Wednesday and then shorten his bench by a full line in both back-to-back games. Hope Beags is better soon as it looks like Cody should really be back in Hershey.
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by Acer Jonesy's Laughker on Nov 12, 2011 10:02 PM EST reply actions
We’ve gotten so spoiled.
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by CapitalCentre on Nov 13, 2011 12:19 AM EST up reply actions
Am I the only one not concerned about this whole shots deal? Well, I am concerned about that, but I don’t think it was for letting up too much, but rather, getting shots blocked. The game was slow—that’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re up, right? I feel like they didn’t get on their heels, had the Devils on their heels for a couple of stretches, and played a slow game pretty decently. If Ovechkin and Semin didn’t have, by my count, all but one shot attempt off the rush blocked, that shot counter would’ve been in the mid-20s.
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They went 20+ minutes without a shot on goal. They went 14 minutes without a shot on goal once the Devils halved the lead. The totals were pathetic and the distribution atrocious. I’m not sure how it was all okay with anyone.
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by J.P. on Nov 12, 2011 10:15 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs
Yeah, I know shots get blocked, but 20+ minutes without getting one on net for fuck sake? That’s not ok.
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Why? Stuff happens. Sometimes shots miss or don’t get through. The Caps weren’t getting stuck in the neutral zone: they had the puck in the offensive zone quite a bit, they cycled, they attempted shots. I feel like this was the one time in 100 where you play like that and end up without a SOG. Quick count, I got 17 attempted shots in the 2nd. Out of those, I’m estimating normally ~8 are on goal. This time it was 2.
In other words, I think this was a fluke of a one period sample and if the Caps play like that again, they’re going to get more shots on net almost every time.
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by red army line on Nov 12, 2011 10:29 PM EST up reply actions
I guess what it comes down to is I’m not going to bother fretting over something I see as non-repeatable. I’m not happy about 2 SOG, but I’m not worried that this might happen again anytime soon.
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by red army line on Nov 12, 2011 10:39 PM EST up reply actions
It wasn’t just a one period sample – they had 6 SOG over the final 39:15, most of which was played tied. Of course, they weren’t giving up many shots, but the Caps simply played the Devils’ game and didn’t adjust and find a way to get pucks to the net. You can call it a fluke, I can call it a failure, but the bottom line is it wasn’t good enough.
I do agree that it’s not likely to happen again – a simple look at the number of periods they’ve played with so few SOGs will tell you that. But it’s still a failure, IMO.
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Due to circumstances, I’m willing to write this one off for now. Once they lost Hamrlik they were basically down to four regular D and Boudreau had to sit MP85 and Eakin cause they’ve regressed to what we thought they’d be (shocking). So basically rolling three lines and two D pair on the second night of a back to back.
It’s not like the Devils generated a ton of shots either. This game was just very “meh.” How about the NHL not schedule home-and-home games on consecutive nights?
Shit. If I’m past Kolzilla in my displeasure with the effort, I need to reassess my stance.
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If I were you, I’d be scared as well. Given my normally polyanna, overly positive approach, I would be very, very frightened if it happened to me.
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Intriguing line-up fun going forward. 44, 52, 4 are all day-to-day. Boudreau doesn’t appear to trust 50 or 85 for any extended periods of time. That led to some heavy line-juggling, because 26, 22, and 15 are more in favor logged more minutes. (Their PK time doesn’t account for the whole difference.) Add to that apparent salary cap issues (per @Whyno) before the game that may be limiting call-ups, and the Caps have some issues. And, I haven’t even mentioned known challenges with 28.
They have off until Tuesday, but then they play a game every-other-night for six games. I hope the three days allow at least two of 44, 4, 52 to heal, pushing 21 back to forward, and 85 or 50 to the nachos.
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What does Whyno think the cap issues are? McNeill makes less than Eakin. I understand that they weren’t sure on Erskine until close to gametime, but are the Caps not much better with Laich at F and McNeill on D than Laich on D and Eakin getting six minutes?
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Green’s injury is considered day-to-day, but the Caps may not have the salary room to call up another defenseman. According to Capgeek, the Caps have $1,175,327 of long-term injury allowance (not real cap room but an exception because of Tom Poti).
But because this is the last year of the collective bargaining agreement, bonus overages from last year count against this year’s cap. The Caps have not released their bonus overage, so there is no way of knowing what their exact allowance is.
If Green is out an extended period of time and the Caps need to call up another defenseman, another roster move could be coming, such as placing Jay Beagle and his $512,500 cap hit on long-term injured reserve. Sean Collins ($525,000) got banged up in Hershey on Friday night, though Dmitry Orlov ($900,000) and Patrick McNeill ($525,000) could be options.
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They could easily LTIR Beagle and send Eakin down and throw a big fuckin’ party. Not seeing where the issue is.
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If they had put Beagle on LTIR, they would have had room for McNeil or Orlov tonight. That would have kept 21 at forward and 85 or 50 eating nachos. I was surprised, frankly, that they didn’t do that. And, knowing now how few minutes 85 and 50 logged, I’m even more surprised.
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Think someone speculated Erskine may have been a last minute scratch…so no time to bring anyone up this time, maybe?
Perhaps, but the media seemed to know well before warm-ups that 21 would play D, like it wasn’t a last minute thing.
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The decision making is odd to me…if they knew Erskine was out, why not bring someone up on a back-to-back? If they didn’t know Ersk was going to be out tonight, but they do know the guys are going to be tired on back-to-backs, why are they skating 85 and 50 for only 5 minutes each?
Bag skates, depleted team, having a F move to D, Hamrlik out in the 2nd and 3rd, and hey, what the hell, let’s do something even crazier—skate 2 of our available guys for 10 minutes TOI total.
Am I missing something? It’s not like this was a must-win. I’d think you’d have a better chance throwing the young guys out to reduce the burden on others, and it’s a chance to let them (well, Eakin at least) prove themselves. Am I missing something? To be fair, I didn’t watch most of the 2nd or 3rd.
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Capitals goal scored by #22, Mike...
by KNUUUUUUUUUUBLE on Nov 12, 2011 10:47 PM EST up reply actions
Yes, Bruce said they didn’t know Erskine couldn’t play until 5:30.
by jopierce on Nov 12, 2011 10:40 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
It was past his bedtime.
Capitals goal scored by #22, Mike...
by KNUUUUUUUUUUBLE on Nov 12, 2011 10:41 PM EST up reply actions
But at the same time, the beat reporters were talking about how heavily he was icing his “surgically repaired shoulder” last night. So… they couldn’t have had McNeill here just in case?
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by jopierce on Nov 12, 2011 10:57 PM EST via iPhone app up reply actions
Well – consider the Bears were home last night and are home tomorrow night, he could have made the drive, just in case, and then driven back.
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Of course. The only question, then, is why didn’t he?
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Per @Whyno:
Boudreau said decision to make Laich D instead of call-up was because Laich has done it, added he didn’t know till 5:50 Erskine was out.
This does not not justify McNeil taking a drive and watching an NHL game on an off-day. I’m perplexed as well.
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Right, I read all the spin. I still have a hard time believing that Bruce Boudreau thinks Laich on D and six minutes of Eakin is preferable to Laich at center and 15 minutes (or whatever) of McNeill. Maybe he does. Who knows.
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I think they’’re doing what they can to evaluate what Eakin has at this level right now, even if it means sacrificing short-term results. Might be it’s time to shelve the experiment for a while.
There was one play that summed it up for me – he was coming down the left wing and simply got stifled along the boards by the D. Didn’t have the strength (maybe the desire) to keep his legs moving, just bug-on-a-windshielded.
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Eakin’s definitely a work in progress. He’ll get more playing time some other time, right now it’s just welcome to the NHL mode.
Capitals goal scored by #22, Mike...
by KNUUUUUUUUUUBLE on Nov 12, 2011 10:59 PM EST up reply actions
Yup. I’m not particularly disappointed. And I think he can be effective, right now, against a more run-and-gun team. But the past two nights, he’s just been… out of his element. Granted, small sample size within those games, since he was given limited opportunity.
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This goes back to decision making confounding me. If BB says the point of limiting TOI for 85 and 50 was to give them the best chance to win, then doesn’t having a backup D available, just in case make more sense, you know, so Laich could actually play F and take D zone draws so 85 and 80 don’t have to ? And then 85 or 50 could be on nacho duty instead? Does not compute.
Here’s your logic options:
1. Really thought 4 was going to play until it was too late.
2. McNeill or Orlov are banged up, like Collins, but no one knows.
3. Hoped 50 or 85 would step up and justify more minutes.
4. Thinks 21 at D is a better option than a call-up.
5. Isn’t ready to put 83 on LTIR and did have some hidden salary cap issues preventing a call-up.
6. What Emily says below.
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Thanks, I just had to watch a RomCom, my brain is frazzled.
I’ll go w/ 6, I guess. But really, I blame Poti.
It’s always good to go with Emily’s opinion, when faced with options.
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by STLSpidey on Nov 12, 2011 10:59 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Bears just played their own back-to-back, with a ugly OT loss yesterday. Dunno how much help McNeill really could’ve provided, on this particular day.
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And a wrong point, sorry. They played Bingo Wednesday, and WBS Friday. Not b-2-b.
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by EmilyB on Nov 12, 2011 11:11 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
You had us at "Bears . . . "
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Yeah, I was just about to gently correct that point.
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Whyno just tweeted this:
Laich said he found out this morning that he’d be playing defense. Boudreau said decision wasn’t made until 10 to 6.
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Hmmm. Sergei Kocharov needs to ensure that they get their stories straight.
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It was not good hockey. Not from either side.
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I watched the first, went to watch a movie, came back up to DVR the rest, but my TV had a replay of the shootout on when I turned it on…so I didn’t bother watching. Guess I’m glad.
We have it on DVR too since we were our son’s game last night. But something tells me I’m not going to want to watch this one.
by capsyoungguns on Nov 13, 2011 8:32 AM EST up reply actions
At least I have the prospect of watching Pacman open up a can of whupass on Marquez in a couple of hours and forget about this debacle. But I guess a point is a point.
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by ExPatCapFan on Nov 12, 2011 10:56 PM EST up reply actions
Semin looked a bit gunshy after that penalty, I noticed him holding back his stick when a guy was right in front of him with the puck on the boards.
Capitals goal scored by #22, Mike...
by KNUUUUUUUUUUBLE on Nov 12, 2011 10:18 PM EST reply actions
Good – saved the Caps penalty killers.
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It was fun for a bit in the 1st when Semin appeared to have gone off for equipment repairs. Speculation was that Bruce just banished him altogether after Semin got out of the box.
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Please. Bruce tried the benching and… nothing. He’s already back to pumping 28’s tires. He knows nothing works so might as well not even bother.
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There was no way the speculation had a shred of credibility or credulity. Had Boudreau truly banished Semin during the game, that would have been the end of his time with the Caps, IMO.
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It’s been 1 game since his benching. And I really thought the dude dived once he felt Semin’s stick, which would be smart for teams to do nowadays.
by David C. Rothman on Nov 12, 2011 10:44 PM EST up reply actions
J.P., I know in the past including in the last week or so you’ve advocated that if this team continues to underachieve, you’d like to see how they perform for another coach before blowing it up. On an individual level, do you feel the same way about Semin? Could another coach get more out of him? Is this a case where BB’s hands are tied by upper management with how he handles Semin? Or is this simply what Semin is, for better or worse, and it isn’t going to change regardless of who is coaching?
No, I’m not as wed to the idea of Semin outlasting Boudreau.
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Where’s the wisdom in shortening the bench on the backend of back-to-back games? When we were 7-0-0, one of the reasons cited was our ability to roll 4 good lines.
At this point, Semin’s head is being fucked with. I’d bet good money Jersey was told to dive if Semin’s stick was in the vicinity. Teams will be smart to embellish knowing that Bruce my bench him and/or refs will call everything on him. Ticky-tack calls on him lately. Oh and by the way, Jersey’s 2nd goal doesn’t happen if the (second) high stick on MarJo is called. It wasn’t, Marjo didn’t have his stick, and hence a hole in the Caps D, tie game. I thought the boys battled hard all game, not a horrible loss at all.
by David C. Rothman on Nov 12, 2011 10:29 PM EST reply actions
It must boils down to Boudreau’s lack of confidence in 50 and 85, and belief that the minutes he’s giving to others are better.
Oddly, I remember that earlier in the year, Boudreau spoke of how important it is to roll four lines early in the season to keep players fresh. He just can’t leave well enough alone.
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From where I was in 405, it looked like the same move on both the Semin penalty in the first period and the Wideman penalty in the third. On the replays, both looked like the NJ Devils players had “lost” an edge on the ice, and sold the call.
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They were diving all night. Most of the time the refs didn’t call it, but they were diving so freaking much they were bound to get penalties.
Capitals goal scored by #22, Mike...
by KNUUUUUUUUUUBLE on Nov 12, 2011 10:55 PM EST up reply actions
If Eakin’s playing less than 10 minutes a night, he’s better off in Hershey. It’s especially true if he’s only playing 5:11.
That’s probably where he’s heading.
Not anything on Eakin, he’ll grow, but he’s only had a few games in the NHL.
Capitals goal scored by #22, Mike...
by KNUUUUUUUUUUBLE on Nov 12, 2011 10:38 PM EST up reply actions
Varly is currently posting a spectacular .571 save percentage.
Capitals goal scored by #22, Mike...
by KNUUUUUUUUUUBLE on Nov 12, 2011 10:46 PM EST up reply actions
On the plus side, that groin’s holding up.
Also… OT. So let’s stop.
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Hey, Hammer wasn’t on ice for a single goal against tonight. Progress!
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Hamrlick is a spy for Montreal. I thought we’d already established this.
Capitals goal scored by #22, Mike...
by KNUUUUUUUUUUBLE on Nov 12, 2011 10:48 PM EST up reply actions
So the Caps are 8-0 with Green, and 2-4-1 without.
Not encouraging.
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He’s not related to Andy Greene, BTW.
Capitals goal scored by #22, Mike...
by KNUUUUUUUUUUBLE on Nov 12, 2011 10:53 PM EST up reply actions
I’d hate to see Boston’s record without Chara, or Detroit’s without Lidstrom.
by David C. Rothman on Nov 12, 2011 10:53 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah, but if we’re dependent on the availability of Glass Man to win games, we’re screwed.
Capitals goal scored by #22, Mike...
by KNUUUUUUUUUUBLE on Nov 12, 2011 11:00 PM EST up reply actions
Eh, just bad luck lately. Two most recent injuries were due to getting hit in the head with the puck.
by David C. Rothman on Nov 12, 2011 11:11 PM EST up reply actions
Green is injury prone--that's a fact.
He’s injured a LOT—and he’s no chara or lidstrom, for damn sure.
by slipperyice on Nov 12, 2011 11:37 PM EST up reply actions
With Green’s track record for injury being the way it is and, unfortunately, that’s been the way it’s been in the playoffs, maybe the Caps need to make a trade for another serviceable defenseman just so they can have the depth to withstand the inevitable injuries. While I hate the idea of consigning decent defenseman to the press box if everyone’s healthy, maybe we need to stock pile defesemen. Maybe do the 7 defensemen thing, if we had enough bodies. Our bottom 2 forwards barely get any work anyhow
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by ExPatCapFan on Nov 12, 2011 10:59 PM EST up reply actions
I have Green playing 21 games this post season over four rounds: 10G, 12A, +8, 8PIMs, 2GWG, including 1 OTGWG.
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Do you accept PayPal, Spidey?
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by ExPatCapFan on Nov 12, 2011 11:11 PM EST up reply actions
If that happens, pay me later.
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Well, more to the point. What does it tell you abought the Pacquio-Marquez fight. If you tell me Marquez wins I’ll make a fortune here betting on him and split the winnings plus vigorish.
Don't put your beer in the microwave, eh. It'll boil.- Bob McKenzie
by ExPatCapFan on Nov 12, 2011 11:17 PM EST up reply actions
Bruins without Orr?
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by ExPatCapFan on Nov 12, 2011 10:58 PM EST up reply actions
___
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by J.P. on Nov 12, 2011 11:02 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Always nice to see DC native Lynda Carter in the recap… or anywhere else.
Winnipeg? Winnipeg??? Oy! (And now it's official...)
by MikeL-Pivonka on Nov 12, 2011 11:32 PM EST up reply actions
What did you guys think of Laich on defense?
I’d rather have him as the 3C but I though he was fine as a fill in….
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by thebreakawaygoal on Nov 12, 2011 11:14 PM EST reply actions
He did a fine job doing what was asked of him.
What was asked of him should never have been asked of him.
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As much as there is some ugly aspects to this game, at the end of the day the caps earned 3 of 4 points in this mini-series.
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.
___
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by J.P. on Nov 12, 2011 11:29 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
That the Caps power play from tonight?
Winnipeg? Winnipeg??? Oy! (And now it's official...)
by MikeL-Pivonka on Nov 12, 2011 11:33 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Any comments during the game on the ice quality (or lack thereof)? Oof. Seemed more like Ice Capades than a hockey game at times.
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Great recap JP. I was out at a concert so I missed the game, but after reading that, I’m not sure I have to watch the replay. Excellent detail and analysis.
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Observations from Section 421
zzzzzzzzzzz…snort…oh, it’s over. Good… you can’t get naps much better than that.
1) Nifty piece of stickhandling by Brouwer on the goal. And Brouwer is growing a nifty 1980s moustache for Movember…
2) I thought I hadn’t seen much of Perreault after his “faceoff” attempt led directly to the Devils goal. Yeah, just one shift after that, and it lasted 3 seconds. Ditto for Eakin. Not a good night for those guys.
3) The call on Wideman for triping on Zubrus… come on. Zubie isn’t that good a skater… I think Wideman leaned on him and over he went.
4) Speaking of Zubie, he showed some serious effort in the OT… wish he had shown more of that effort when he was in DC.
5) I know that Bruce was frustrated, but man did he shorten the bench in the third. Yes, the Devils also are on back-to-backs, but that’s tough on the second end of a back to back (What happened to Hamrlik… didn’t play at all in the third…)
6) Moose Hedberg is still the only Devils goaltender to beat the Caps in the past two seasons… yeesh.
7) You know, Joel Ward did not look out of place as AO and Nick’s right winger… I could get used to that, although I’m still hoping to see a reunion of Laich-Chimera-Ward in Nashville on Tuesday.
And with that ugliness the Caps hit the road, looking for points in a strange trip (Nashville-Winnipeg-Toronto). Here’s hoping they’ll come home with a bunch.
Winnipeg? Winnipeg??? Oy! (And now it's official...)
Legit question about the game notes...
NOTES: Boudreau, who was coaching in his 322nd career game, is trying to reach 200 wins in the second fastest time, behind Don Cherry, who needed 341 games in the era before overtime. Since the shootout was introduced in 2005, only Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle has reached 200 wins, doing it in his 374th game. …
If Boudreau just coached his 322nd game… and Cherry took 341 games to reach 200 wins, and it took Carlysle 374… how does that put Boudreau at 2nd fastest if he doesn’t take 342 games to get to 200?
How does this math work?
I assume they’re doing some sort of fancy calculation because Cherry did his 200 wins before overtime was part of the game (i.e., pre-the 1983-84 season) – what are they taking out? I’d have to go through a whole lot of stats to find out how many of those 200 wins are overtime wins, but I’m betting it’s more than 52 of them…
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I think “behind” means “the guy he’s going to pass” here.
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I believe in next year.
by red army line on Nov 13, 2011 12:01 AM EST up reply actions
So who holds the record, then?
Photography: I Rock the Red
Twitter: @IRockTheRed
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by IRockTheRed on Nov 13, 2011 12:48 AM EST up reply actions
Since it looks like Eakin belongs back in Hershey, and Matty P isn’t impressing, might it be worth a shot to call up Sjogren? I haven’t been paying much attention to how he’s doing in Hershey, but at least he’d be more reliable on faceoffs than Matty P, right? And he hopefully wouldn’t get pushed around like Eakin.
Why not. I also haven’t paid close attention but I seem to remember hearing some Sjogren praise.
by capsyoungguns on Nov 13, 2011 8:29 AM EST up reply actions
Due to cap space problems, it would be hard to call up anyone right now, unless they put Beagle on LTIR. But, if we call up anyone, it would probably be a defenseman, either Orlov or McNeil since defenseman is our more immediate need. Eakin would probably go back to Hershey, in any case, especially if Boudreau doesn’t see fit to use him for very many minutes per game. (I love the kid but maybe he needs more seasoning.)
But, assuming enough cap space, Sjogren would be the more logical forward to call up.
Rocking the Red for teams on the banks of the Potomac and at the Gateway Arch and Singing the Blues about Hockey.
I think Eakin needs to go back to Hershey. If he does and Laich keeps playing D, then they are still short a forward. What they probably should really do is call up a D or two and Sjogren. Unfortunately that probably isn’t possible. I don’t want them to hurry Beagle back, it sounds like he is not ready to play yet anyway. It’s frustrating to see the team go with the bare minimum in players. Not that I want DJ King back though.
by vtcapsfan99 on Nov 13, 2011 11:49 AM EST up reply actions
Beagle is getting close to the requisite time needed to be “eligible” to be put on LTIR. If he’s doesn’t look to be back soonly, he could be put on LTIR, retroactive to the day after his injury. This would free up a little bit of cap space, enough to call up one person.
Rocking the Red for teams on the banks of the Potomac and at the Gateway Arch and Singing the Blues about Hockey.
I’m starting to feel sorry for #28… he’s having one of those “I can’t do anything right” spells. Reminiscent of Kovy last year, when he totally botched that SO attempt without getting a shot off and skated off to jeers. At least Semin made it all the way to the net, but you could tell from the move that it was player severely lacking in confidence. He needs to get a couple of goals to get his mojo back. I haven’t seen a lack of effort from him at all this year, he’s just been cursed with terrible luck. His passes are going awry, he’s stepping offsides on rushes, he’s of course picking up ticky-tack penalties…it’s all going wrong. Let’s all hope he gets it going soon.
On the SO…sick one by Ovie, no? Can’t remember the last time I saw Ovie score on an shot in the SO and not a deke. And Hedberg is one of the toughest SO goalies, numbers wise.
He saw Hedberg backing up too quickly giving him far too much of the net. I don’t know if he intended to shoot or deke originally…he didn’t go super wide like he has been the last year or so either. Maybe he just took what the goalie was giving him. Either way was a solid finish.
Everything ends badly...otherwise it wouldn't end.
by Davethecapsfan on Nov 13, 2011 11:07 AM EST up reply actions
Join the club in feeling sorry for #28. Nothing he does has gone right this year, (I wonder if he’s of a Brain Type where sports do not really come naturally for him since he can look pretty awkward at times. He learned hockey at an early age so he acquired the necessary skill. And also can play soccer. But if he taken up the game later in life, it would probably not have been pretty.)
Rocking the Red for teams on the banks of the Potomac and at the Gateway Arch and Singing the Blues about Hockey.
This team needs to dig deep. Because with all of the mounting injuries, select players under performing, rolling three forward lines, and having bag skates into a back-to-back with the worst ice possible… this fan base just isn’t going to take many more of these horrible 3 out of 4 point weekends.
They’ll be lucky if we don’t riot without the 50% pizza or free wings every night, and they can be damn sure we’re prepared to go all Vancouver after the humiliating experience of actually WINNING the Cup with the way they’re playing.
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by Dimagus on Nov 13, 2011 9:43 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
I think past history shows this team isn’t that good with three out of four anything.
/Montreal’d
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by Bald Pollack on Nov 13, 2011 10:21 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs
When they only get 1 out of 4 they seem to dig deep though strangely enough.
/New York’d, /Philly’d (although OT wasn’t kind in the end)
Everything ends badly...otherwise it wouldn't end.
by Davethecapsfan on Nov 13, 2011 11:09 AM EST up reply actions
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