Friday Caps Clips: Shot Down

Dale Hunter 7, Canada 1.

So, flukiness of the loss aside, I was not happy that after Semin’s quick strike, the Caps’ PP proceeded to get trapped in their own zone for over a minute. That was terrible looking.

The way I look at it, losing the point last night kinda evens up for getting that point in New Jersey a few monfs ago the Caps had no business getting.

“Even Steven”

Scott Gomez finally scored a goal?

Was hoping to see Hendy in the shootout.

The team REALLY misses Backstrom in overtime. He is sublime in 4-on-4 play.

Pavelec really steps up against the Caps. A career .909 / 2.93, he’s 5-2-1 in his last eight outings v. Washington, allowing just 10 goals in that time and turning in the following Sv%

.941 (win)
.964 (loss—1GA)
.892 (loss—in OT)
.969 (win)
1.000 (win)
.978 (win)
1.000 (win)
.938 (loss-allowed 1 GA)

And no goals from half court.

Can we realign already?

It’s getting so that I look forward only to see Orlov play. If the Caps win along the way it’s a bonus.

Thought from last night’s game — Tobi Enstrom is one small dude. MP must have an inch and 15 pounds on him. He looked like a mite out there.

If I’m not mistaken, last night was only the 2nd time since 1/19/09 that the Caps played a game with no even-strength goals (2/21/11, 1-0 @ PIT being the other). That’s happened eight times, by my count, since the lockout.

I was really happy with how they played… until the final few minutes…

The PPGs were excellent. Defense was good all game.

Semin’s line was was smoking. Imagine if that was our 2nd line where it belongs and it played like that all the time. Or at least, most of the time. Matty P as legit 2C (when paired with two good wingers)

hmmm

NEW YORK — Nobody is saying it, but it seems clear Mattias Ohlund will not play this season.

The Lightning defenseman has not played a regular-season game because of two bum knees, is not skating, and GM Steve Yzerman acknow­ledged Thursday there is no timetable for him to do so.

*}

Ohlund, 35, who has four years left on a seven-year, $25.25 million contract, had arthroscopic surgery on both knees over the summer to clean out what the team called “loose bodies.” He has not skated since mid November and declined to comment.

The injury sucks, and you feel bad for the guy, but holy mother of… that has to be in the running for one of the worst contracts of the last five years. Even if Ohlund was healthy, he was slow and on the wrong side of thirty. Who gives him that kind of term?

Oh, right. Brian Lawton.

The Moore shot on Fedetenko was awful. Five games minimum

Dale Hunter on Byfuglien’s goal last night:

"You get beat by a long shot that hit a D’s stick that goes in. It’s one of these hockey plays that happens in hockey. It goes for you sometimes, it goes against you sometimes."

In other news, Dale Hunter is a hockey coach who coaches hockey.

Tough, tough loss but, as discussed, it looks like the Caps have some spunk back which is great news. Perhaps a shout-out is due to the current top 6 d-corps. Penalties (and accidental puck deflections and shoves) aside, I don’t think there were any major defensive breakdowns as there have been in many recent games. Orlov’s eye-popping development , 74’s regression ‘back to’ his higher level of play, and Sarge’s stability may be rounding out what should be a decent top 6 for the playoff run.

Stumbled onto this pic today… Greenie with a couple members of the NOVA Cool Cats Special Hockey Team. Arlington Fire hosted the Fairfax Fire in a charity game to benefit the Cool Cats. The event raised a couple thousand dollars for the Cool Cats, which is awesome, because they pretty much embody everything that is right about hockey.

Stop me if you’ve heard this befo… oh wait. You have.

Hockey player suffers setback in concussion recovery, Boston Bruins edition.

Well, this is a good sign.

backstrom19
Casino night tonight:) Should be fun! #capsnight

Since the All-Star break the Caps played 6 games. The record is 2-2-2 for 6 pts out of a possible 12. They have the same record at home as on the road.

28 games remain on the schedule. 13 home and 15 away. 56 possible points.

Caps need 32 more points to make the 93 point cutoff for the playoffs.

8 before the trade deadline. 2 home and 6 away. 16 possible points.

If current trend continues the Caps will pick up 8 pts before the deadlline. That will give them 69 pts total with 20 games remaining.

In those last 20 games the Caps need to get 24 of the 40 available points. Good news is that there are 11 home games. Bad news is 10 of those 20 are against current playoff bound teams. Half of the remaining games are against playoff teams.

The Panthers have 29 games to go, and a lighter schedule facing only 12 playoff teams and 15 games at home. But they have been very lucky this year (-16 goal differential) and have benefited greatly from the loser point. Their luck will run out, but the Caps may not catch them.

The Caps are looking up at OTT (63 pts) and TOR (62). TOR has been playing well and seems to be in good shape. OTT, not so much. They have 25 games left (3 fewer than the Caps) and 12 are against playoff teams and 12 on the road. They haven’t played well of late (3-6-1) and their goaltending is bad (combined .895 SV%/3.14 GAA). There is almost no chance that they don’t drop out of playoff contention and open up the 8th spot for the Caps.

I don’t think the Rangers should be too comfortable. Their scoring is pretty anemic – only 4 skaters are in double digits for goals. If King Henry goes down – so do the Rags. His SV% is one of the top in the league – and has actually faced more shots in fewer games than TVokoun.

We may talk about the lack of offense from the Caps, but they’re actually doing pretty well in terms of balance. The Caps have 8 players in double digits for goals (and MP is one away). More than the Bruins and Devils (7 each), more than the Pens and Sens (6 each), and the Leafs and Panthers (5 each). The only team with more is the Flyers with 9.

Nick appears to be getting better – at the game last night and going to Casino Night as well – and he needs to hurry back. The Caps miss him. It was only last night that Ovi passed him in total points.

But if the Capitals packaged Knuble in a trade that included defenseman Jeff Schultz and a draft pick or a prospect, could they get what they really need – a gritty second-line forward like Tampa’s Dominic Moore or Carolina’s Tuomo Ruutu or maybe the Islanders’ P.A. Parenteau, each of whom are expected to be available as rentals?

How about Ducks veteran Jason Blake, another UFA-to-be? Is there any gas left in his 38-year-old tank?

who I vaguely remember as being a Cap. Briefly. As in one practice and I’m outta here.
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