Perhaps the Caps’ holiday party was last night — they played the first 40 minutes like they were hung over (or as my friend put it, “It looks like they’re still drunk!”).
- The first two periods were awful, with the exception of Ovi’s pretty goal and a few nice passes by Zubrus. The shot count after two was 29-9… shots never tell the whole story, but shooting 9 times in 40 minutes is a symptom of the Caps’ overall poor play this night.
- A 40% PK success rate killed them. The Caps came out flat and stayed that way, even on the PK — they were slow to the puck and couldn’t seem to get in the passing lanes.
- It’s amazing what a difference John Erskine makes, with not only his own play but the impact he has on Steve Eminger. The Heward-Eminger pairing tonight was dreadful. Sure, Heward got a goal, but his tentative and sloppy play caused at least two goals going the other way. It’s understandable if he’s a bit gun-shy with his recent injury jinx, but he was Gonchar-esque in the worst sense of the word, even down to his untouched fall that led to a Tampa goal. Get well soon Johnny!
- Missing Bradley, Brashear, and Erskine made for a totally different team tonight. Boyd Gordon played hard, as did Ovechkin (as per usual), but the hitting was practically non-existent until the final frame. With a team as fast as, well, Lightning, playing the body is critical. Mini-mite Martin St. Louis victimized the Caps yet again; he seemed to have open ice the whole night.
- The third period was exciting — the Caps finally woke up at the same time Tampa was lazing about and overconfident. When your #1 goalie has a season save percentage of .878 you should never sit back like Tampa did, and it almost cost them the game.
- Even down 5-2 when the third period started, I hadn’t given up all hope, which is a wonderful change from last year. This team can score in bunches; despite their putrid play to that point, their third-period flurry came within inches of a stunning comeback. Let’s hope Coach Hanlon makes it clear to the team, however, that a comeback would not have been necessary had the team played hard all game.
In the end, 20 minutes’ good effort won’t win games. The fact that the Capitals were in it in the third speaks more to Tampa’s weaknesses than to the Caps’ strengths. But it’s only one bad game — how they bounce back against recently vulnerable New Jersey on Friday should indicate whether the Tampa game was an aberration or whether their hot streak is at an end. Let’s hope it’s the former.
6 Comments
Definitely missed the physical play of Erskine and Brashear. I’d imagine the lack of energy during the first 50 minutes of play was in large part due to them being absent from the bench and the ice.
Still, despite playing such an ugly game, they came within a post and a defenseman’s boot at the goal line from a “lightning” fast comeback, which indeed is a shocker. From an entertainment perspective, its a breath of fresh air that we have the offensive talent to threaten a comeback – in years past I would have started switching to watch other games, deeming it a certainty that things could only get worse.
Speaking of other games, how sweet was it to watch Andy Murray get his cellar-dwelling Blues to whip up on the Pens on “national” tv?
I think you are remiss in not mentioning the fact the Caps were *soundly* booed at the end of the second period, and, IIRC, during the first PP of the third. I am hoping the booing woke them up somewhat. (For the record: I wasn’t one of the booers. I make it a point not to boo my favorite teams…but I was thinking about it last night.)
Good points Pepper & Victor. Vic, you’re right, the booing was quite noticable. I, like you, refrained from booing but did seriously consider it.
More fun than the Pens’ butt-whooping last night was today’s news that the casino deal has fallen through… Maximum Schadenfreude!
Lord help us, has Erskine become Reekie to Emminger’s Gonchar? Remember, Gonchar looked completely lost whenever Reekie wasn’t out there. I certainly hope that’s not the case, but good God he looked bad last night.
And OrderedChaos, just start singing, “Kansas City. Kansas City here I come.”
Totally not related to the game but -
though I hate the Pens with a passion, and love to beat them, I’d be sad if the team moved. Honestly. They’ve broken our hearts a lot, but their fans (at least in assessing the very few times I’ve been to Pitt, and those with whom I chatted there between periods, etc.) have been knowledgeable and excitable, but not jackasses, like we all can say we’ve seen and heard from various teams’ supporters parking themselves in Capital Cent(re) / Verizon Cent(er).
The rivalry, and thus the edge-of-your-seat, extraordinary build-up, for us Caps fans, at least as far as I’m concerned, is based on the Pens qua Pens. For me, I think it would be muted if the team moved. So, would you be upset if the Pens moved to Kansas City, Oklahoma City (I guess not Kitchener-Waterloo anymore), Hamilton, Winnipeg, or anywhere else? I would be.
As an aside, I’ve been to the MTS arena in Winnipeg, and its a really cool space, all interior-passage connected, if a tad small seat-wise. And they seriously support the AHL team there. Heck, they even have a ONE HOUR pre-game on the radio.
Coach Hanlon seems to agree with the impact of Brashear’s and Erskine’s absence:
“I honesty believed we missed Erskine and Brashear. It’s not than anyone took liberties with us, or that we were afraid. Those are just two big, mature NHL guys who weren’t in our room.”
Post a Comment