Recap: Senators 2, Caps 0

Everytime I think the reffing in this league can’t get any worse, a night like tonight comes along to prove how little I actually know about the NHL..

Unless Holtby gets called up. But, then again, he hasn’t been sharp himself, as of late.

My initial thought, too.

But I’d hesitate to ride him hard right after he comes off the IR and during the mostly meaningless part of the season.

I say go back to Varly, too, but there’s still a question of whether Holtby’s actually coming up or not.

agreed. Let Varly work the cobwebs out, and let Neuvy ride his cold out on the bench (or stick Holtby there if need be)

Friday night.

Will we see some reorganized lines for tomorrow’s game? First of all, will Fehr be back or not? Generally, as of late, it seems that we’ve been better off with Backstrom and Knuble on separate lines since Knuble and Johansson have been so productive together, as of late. So do we leave our combinations the way they are until Ovi returns or what?

When I see a blown goal/no goal call I get terrified. Permanent mental damage, that streak did.

I guess the NHL officials for this game are part of the government sponsored BOB program (as in Business Opportunities for the Blind.)

I used to work at a party store. We had that costume up during Halloween.

Speaking of Pens fans, should I post on the Tampa Bay Bolts site and offer them my support when they play Round 1 against the Pens?

He likely didn’t see much of the hit; all he saw was a teammate fly into the boards, and lying down on the ice. With so little time to assess the situation, he just dropped ‘em and stood up for his teammate. Yes, Hendricks was bloodied, but I think he’ll be alright in the end.

Still, you guys are absolutely right: Totally clean hit, and totally unnecessary fight. In fact, better than a clean hit, a good one: Hendricks waited until Wiercioch was looking before hitting him, which is more than some other players do. I’m glad Wiercioch is okay, and I consider it a learning experience for him: Always expect someone to be ready to hit you.

Things don’t ever auger well for us when Auger is one of the officials.

If one guy calls it a high stick, the presumption is that he saw the play. How the other three who didn’t see it can overrule him is a crime.

Auger is flat out a bad ref.

The reffing in the NHL in general is atrocious.

two of the worst in the business, without a doubt.

Wow!!!The officating was abysmal bad and onesided, you could almost call it match fixing.

Don’t forget Arnott, if only for the +Sasha synergy.

…Ovi is practicing with the team on Monday? :D

And Tampa Bay has been effing up, as of late. Hope Carolina can beat them again tomorrow.

We’re still 8-2-0 in the last 10, and won 11 of the last 13.

Was the reason we lost in reference to no ice girls or the Panther goalie you pictured? Forgive me for being dense tonight.

let me help you understand in three simple letters: N. H. L.

One thing before I leave. What is the “actions” button for?

He is legitimately below average.

You were most fortunate to have missed that one.

Basically, the Caps looked OK for the first half of the game. Not great, but not terrible either. They were generating chances that Anderson kept turning away. Nobody could finish. Standard Caps game. And there were a few bad calls, but nothing terrible.

Then in the second half, we were exposed to NHL refereeing at its head-scratchingly worst. There were at least three calls during the course of the game that weren’t just the wrong call, but defied reason.

When the Caps play Ottawa, they should be able to win even with the refs against them. Of course, tonight Ovechkin, Green, Arnott and Fehr were out. That’s a pretty solid foursome to put out for overtime. Add in the fact that Neuvirth was sick and Varlamov wasn’t sharp in his first game back (by the way, how bad is Ottawa if they can only score one legit goal and one bullshit kick-his-pad-out-of-the-way-and-then-kick-the-puck-in goal against a shaky goalie), and this was a pretty depleted Caps team that still skated Ottawa to a draw, and to be fair, was the better team out there if not for Anderson.

I’m babbling.

The point is that this was not good hockey all around, and the tear-your-hair officiating just made the game that much more painful. The call on Bradley really was beyond terrible. Wiercioch received the puck next to the goalpost and quickly fired it off toward the boards at the blueline, but not quickly enough — Bradley came and finished a check on him. Point of contact was clearly Bradley’s left shoulder on Wiercioch’s right shoulder/chest/collarbone. Wiercioch wasn’t ready for the hit (kid’s 21, and this was his 3rd ever NHL game), and he went down spinning and his head and shoulder hit the boards. Mind you, his head hit the boards after his body hit the ice prone. He was a shaken up.

The hit happened at the goal line next to the goal, 5 feet at least from the boards.

They called Bradley for boarding.

What the hell?

Everybody on Facebook…

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephane-Auger-Should-Be-Fired-From-The-NHL/262502970880