Well, I’d write it off as the normal fluctuations of a young team, except it’s against Pittsburgh, and the Caps choked, hard-core, against relatively equal opposition. On the way to their 4 – 0 lead, they did all the little things — finishing checks, screening, making the simple pass. In losing it they pretty much did the opposite.
Worst loss of the season, and that includes the Anaheim game.
Pittsburgh is a good team, and not the one you remember — they have two all-world players, but they have added plenty of grit to the mix. They don’t have enough skill or grit to come back against a 4 – 0 deficit without help, however. It was far and away Hanlon’s worst-coached game of the year (gut feeling or no, Chris Clark does not belong on the shootout list). Kolzig was sub-par, and Alexander Semin could have put the game on ice before the Pens’ comeback but couldn’t break through.
In the very brief positive notes, Ovechkin was a beast (ask Orpik how he ended up on his bottom on Chris Clark’s second goal), and for a significant portion of the game, the Caps were buzzing.
In the end, the Caps folded to the team they always fold to. Next on the schedule is a trip to Atlanta on Friday, giving the team three full days to think about this one.
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5 Comments
Ugh. SO painful being in the Phone Booth last night to see the Penguin fans’ well-deserved jubilation. I do not want a new generation of Caps players to develop the same snake-bitten can’t-beat-the-Pens jinx that their former comrades had.
One awful loss does not “ownage” make, but still, it’s a bad start.
I can’t agree that Hanlon coached a poor game simply from his choice of shootout participants. Experience has shown that the obvious choices (e.g., the Alexs) have just as much a propensity to score as anyone else. We saw a pretty SH breakaway not long ago from Gordon – almost anyone is capable of scoring in a shootout.
What continues to bug me is how the team can play with such confidence and skill for 20 minutes and then fall apart. Is it a lack of mental focus? Is it that many in the locker room believe that if they play dominantly enough in the first period that their work is done and they can coast the rest of the way? Obviously that won’t work.
I know that when I see the Caps skate to an early lead, and especially last night, I sometimes find myself wishing the game would fast forward to a 2pt conclusion. Perhaps many of the players on the ice share that feeling.
One unrelated point / question – do you think Hanlon, or any coach in the league, would say something in the locker room to the effect of “this game is really important to our fans, they hate the Penguins [or insert other rival] and are dying for us to crush them. As great athletes and entertainers, you’ve got to ensure that we hold this lead for our fans”?
We’ll see how they come together on Friday. A win in Atlanta and a must-win against a potential lottery pick winner in Philly will restore my faith in this team contending for 8th.
1. It must mean that the Caps are getting better, because I’m upset about the loss.
2. I think a lot of it had to do with it being their third game in four nights, because they started skating in slow motion in the middle of the second period.
3. Even so, they still should have won.
4. My favorite moment was the Caps’ third goal. Ovechkin simply said, “NO! This puck is MINE!”
By the way, there’s some good video of the Laich-Ruutu fight on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8aoxLbfM-A&eurl=
I agree that Hanlon had a horrible night. When you see that your team has lost its mental edge and has basically stopped playing, the coach has to find way to make adjustments (Pittsburgh’s rough play and fights seemed to jolt them out their sleep). Hanlon was not able to bring back the team’s fire and agressiveness from the first thirty minutes of the game.
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