Friday Caps Clips: Round 1, Game 2 Game Day

"They really want us to win, but at the same time they’re nervous because they know what happened last year. I can understand that."

Last year? Oh, Karl. For all your savvy and stalwart D, you really are new around here…

Great question. I think that repeating in the East despite a mid-season system transformation is a really impressive accomplishment, and that B4 belongs in the Adams hunt for pulling it off. Due credit to GMGM for massaging the roster to fine effect, but that’s some serious coaching.

You’re right – poor word choice. I changed it.

The comments have some pretty great puns. Remind me of things in here. Thanks for the link.

Yup.

IE

There’s your problem. ;)

The chances from in tight were particularly encouraging. Hopefully that continues.

Also encouraging: the Rags’ 1st line really did well against the Caps’ second line. The Rags’ first line has been broken up, with AA to the 4th and Christensen to the first.

Schultz was on the ice for 10 chances-for and 5 against. Just sayin’.

Great post. I especially like the first chart because you know that after he uploaded it, he said to himself, “Fuck, I left the cursor in that one cell before screen-grabbing it… oh well, fuck it.”

Seriously, though, great stuff.

This is why even when it was 1-0, I wasn’t overly worried about “Le Habs 2.0”

17 of the 21 Caps chances coming from up the middle and around the net.

both of their goals were quick strike situations.

Accurate, but misleading. The first goal started on a controlled breakout from behind our net. Green made a great stretch pass up the middle when the Rags forecheckers pressured the two normal outlets; Rags D collides, sending AO and Semin in alone, goal. It was a full ice rush (weird how little we’ve seen of that this year), not really a counter-punch. The second was a classic failed clear goal. Both happened pretty fast, but that’s the end of the similarity as I see it.

All else being equal, if you have something else that makes it unequal in your favor, that is good for you. Duh.

…perhaps if they’d used one of their own measures, a normalized GVT. I keep wondering about that “replacement” player in the GVT measure.

Depth is important, unless it’s not, except on those occasions when it is.

On the Caps particularly, I’m not convinced by the total numbers they show. The “depth” players were, for a long part of the season, MP, MarJo (in the early stages of a learning curve, note), Hendricks, Chimera, Fehr, Steckel, Bradley and Gordon. Not a lot of GVT there. Getting Arnott and Sturm has a cascade effect of making the third line more dangerous, and also more manageable. The 4th line becomes more of a typical energy line.

By examining the collective GVT of a team’s top line vs. its depth players, we can see which teams get the most contribution from their grinders.

Washington 95.1

They have WSH “top line” as having a total of 95.1 which by my math would incl (in alpha order):

Alzner
Backstrom
Carlson
Green
Hendricks
Knuble
Laich
Ovi
Schultz
Semin

So there’s one issue: Hendricks over MJ90 as part of the “top line,” when I would classify Hendy as a “grinder.”

I have similarly conflicted attitudes toward depth. It has its value, particularly in the playoffs where injuries can be so influential. Where people err on depth is in believing that it’s a substitute for having elite players. . . it isn’t. Chicago had great depth last year, but they don’t win if Toews, Kane, Hossa, Sharp, Keith, Seabrook and Niemi don’t play well. Guys like Bolland, Versteeg and Kopecky are nice to have, because they can exploit the opposition’s weaker players in limited ice time, but they’re not capable of driving the bus, so to speak.

In related “hockey game or erectile dysfunction?” quotes, Torts after Game 1:

“…It’s not adversity, it’s finding a way to be better for longer.”

Oof, bullet FAIL.

um lots of yelling during that anthem rendition. very cool to behold, though.

If only there was a way to find the answer to that question without asking it publicly…

reply fail

Agree or disagree?

Too early to tell IMO. The game was fast paced (at first) but it seemed more like a game where they were feeling each other out.

Then again, I think a lotta game 1’s this round seemed like “feeler” games. Definately a lot of low scoring affairs: PHI vs BUF, MON vs BOS, our game, VAN vs CHi

If those are my only two choices I have to disagree…. but with caveats and addenda.

Agreed that the Rangers were allowed thru Neutral and to cycle the puck.
But also looked like the Caps were not going to give up passing lanes, or chase the puck just because the NY had possession. Basically, the way I interpreted Caps D was they were content to allow point “blasts” (hehe I said blasts) into traffic as a route to puck possession, rather than losing a man in the slot or along the wall by chasing after the cycle. This is in no way to say I think this was smart, but it did seem intentional.

To me, the Caps looked comfortable even when the Rangers had the puck (as in no panicked skating, very little blown coverage, no ranger in the slot was allowed a stick on the ice, centers and D didn’t leave their men in dangerous areas to chase after the puck lose in the scrum that sort of thing). It appeared that there was a team game plan of, “No matter what, they don’t get the middle of our zone” as opposed to, “We must get the puck out now.”

Subjective evidence to support this is: high percentage of ES NYR shots attempted from the blue line.

Their strategy, to me, was to spend as much time in the Caps end, hope to get a couple ugly ones, and then let Lundy do the rest. It almost worked.

Agree that this was the NYR strategy. Agree that it almost worked. But I also think this is exactly why BB et. al. took a, “Nobody gets the middle. Not for any reason.” approach. You have to get to the net with some control of your stick to get an ugly goal, and I only saw that happen twice, and on of them Ovi scored.

Hell, maybe I’m just going a bit Pollyanna, but it didn’t look like the Caps felt threatened when NY had the puck, and it sure seemed like when the Caps had the puck, they felt they could out play the Rangers’ D.
Anyway, that’s what I saw. However…

For tonight, I’m hoping that the Caps spend a bunch more time in the Rags’ end, and generate more chances off of zone pressure and rely less on transition (while still capitalizing in transition, where they obviously have an edge).

That right there is what I want to see tonight.

I disagree with you. The Rags are a good team, they are going to make some plays. I thought we really limited their quality chances and with a couple exceptions didn’t get pinned in our zone for too long. The Caps aren’t in a trade-chances mode anymore. They were patient and trusted their skill to prevail, which it did. Last year the team would have visibly been rocked by those two quick crossbars and/or the third period goal against. I was real happy with what I saw the other night (other than bullshit standard definition).

First, agreement LOL.

Second, probably remembered he hasn’t paid him back and needs to. Something tells me Ovie isn’t a cheapskate.

What’s more surprising: what Semin said or that he said anything at all?

Does Sasha drive Arnott to work? Wonder where they stop for coffee and snacks on the way. Wonder what radio station they listen to.

There was an article the other day about Arnott getting a ride home from Dulles w/ Semin after the last Florida game. They were trying to point out Arnott’s ride choice was due to his trying to draw Semin out of his shell.

I’m going to wager that Arnott doesn’t volunteer gas money.

Then again, Washington’s apparently changed him. So who knows?

Either way, funny stuff.

The sitting for a game would come from the elbow use, I assume. Hard to tell from this angle, but he does seems to get that left elbow up into no-no territory. One would think they’ve reviewed it, but could a suspension still come?

north-south hit on the man with the puck and he gets shoulder?

after the Stoll hit on White last night that went uncalled I don’t know what to expect to be called as boarding anymore

Bit lucky, yeah. It looks like it’s on the shoulder and not in the numbers and not 100% lateral….but the WOJ is temperamental and merciless, so avoiding a spin is always lucky.

This is another one of those plays that at full speed looked like a solid clean hit to separate the man from the puck, but when slowed down and reviewed it still looks solid just not so clean. I think the left elbow "push away" at the end makes it look worse than it really was, but agree that this probably could have gone either way if it was reviewed for a potential suspension (1 game max).

But it’s playoffs so anything short of a real injury isn’t going to be given attention. I’m real interested to see how the NHL handles Stoll.

This was nothing like the shot Dubinsky gave Green last time we saw the Rags in the playoffs. That was downright brutal and malicious.

I can’t see that being suspendable. He came in from the side and hit him shoulder-to-shoulder. I could definitely see Campbell looking at it though, and who knows how it goes from there.

Could have been called for boarding, but I see nothing else wrong with this hit. Classic guy with his head down and therefore in no position to absorb the hit. Doesn’t look like Erskines elbow or shoulder made contact with his head and it certainly wasn’t a blind side or back pressure hit.

In the context of Game 1, that’s not even remotely close to a penalty. In the context of a normal playoff game, a penalty maybe. In the context of a regular season game, that’s a game or two off for Erskine if there was an injury. In the context of the rulebook, that’s a charge, elbow with a splash of boarding.

Caps definitely lucky not to have Erskine sitting for a game

Really? I look at that and it seems like a textbook clean hit. Erskine leads with his arm to the Ranger’s shoulder and his feet never left the ice. The NY player hits his head against the glass, but that’s because it was so close to the boards. In fact, I don’t think Erskine even touched the guy’s head. To me, it was a perfect non-call. If the NHL starts eliminating those kind of hits, I fear for the game.

I think he’ll be sitting for a game, maybe two. That’s a brutal hit. If Ovi’s hit on Campbell last year deserved 2 games, Stoll’s hit is easily 4, which after applying a generous playoff discount, works out to 1-2.

brutal.

I have NO IDEA how the refs missed that one.

Kypreos says he has a phone hearing this afternoon.

Ought to be at least two games. He had FOREVER to see that White had his back turned. He came in with a full head of steam and then, to add injury to injury, drove through with his elbow to the back of White’s head.

Yeah, kudos to Mirtle for actually having the guts to buck the trend of just looking at points in deciding ROY. I’ve always believed that voting for the Rookie of the Year should be weighted two to three times in favor of defensemen over forwards and goalies because of the difficulty in playing the position.

My only problem with Carlson for Calder is that while Subban (who I’d love to punch in the face) seemed to gain more confidence and get a little better as the season wore on, Carlson plateaued and seemed to lose steam.

Also, just like how I thought Crosby’s rookie season was more impressive than Ovechkin’s because he’s 2 years younger (even though Ovechkin had a better year and deserved the Calder), Skinner’s season was the most impressive because he’s just so young.

Sounds like Holtby needs to get his hands to stop shaking. Letting up 5 goals to CAR’s AHL team is no way to make your case, boy.

Didn’t watch the game, and don’t care. Holtby had a front row seat for Neuvy last year. One goal lead in the third, he has to make it stand up.

That is unbelievable .. I hope she doesnt mean he has ice on his leg.

WTF???

Ovi cracks me up – via Tom Gulitti:

Ovechkin (from bench) to Wideman: “How is it, baby?” Wideman: “Good”

Short memory, no doubt. I wasn’t there – how did it compare to the last five minutes of game 7 vs the Rangers two years ago?

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the crowd in Anaheim on Wednesday was probably the worst playoff crowd/atmosphere I have ever seen. Embarrassing.