Knee-jerk Reactions
- The Caps’ puck-possession, as predicted, was impressive, especially early. Outside of a solid Atlanta shift around the 12 minute in mark and the later 1st period power play, the Caps maintained the puck and put a lot of pressure on the Thrashers.
- Brent Johnson had a good game, but yikes. If you are going to play the puck out that far as a goaltender, make sure it’s a definite play. Risky plays of the puck are bad, bad news usually.
- Backstrom’s debut was exactly as a lot would predicted: smart, dependable and productive. He won’t grab headlines, but he’s going to be turning in veteran efforts sooner as opposed to later.
- Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk looks like a dedicated hockey athlete, something that I think may have been in question for some people at points in time. He showed a solid sense of using his teammates, and when the puck was on his stick, the Caps had to pay close attention.
- Congrats to Bryan Little, who gets his first NHL point. Not a Caps player or prospect, and it was off a bad angle, but I’ve had people let me know this might be a player to keep an eye on.
- The Caps didn’t fold after a two-goal lead.
- You’ve heard it from elsewhere, but man, the new NHL boxscores aren’t very good. The old ones were fine, and I’ve not seen a rational explanation as to why they were changed.
- You could see the sweat stains on the Thrasher’s uniform systems. Sadly, this has become a real issue. Luckily, Sidney Crosby will save us.
- The Caps looked lifeless on their 5-on-3 power plays, and seemed content stay on the perimeter and blast away. I’m not necessarily against that, but against a goaltender who is seeing the puck at least okay, you’d like to see some close-in passing if you aren’t going to move yourself. A silver lining is that the Caps at least earned some 5-on-3 time.
- As someone who doesn’t really buy into the Kozlov/Ovechkin chemistry, I may need to eat some crow. There was a clear sense that where each player knew where the other was, especially on the cycle.
- Mike Green? Lovely. Big confidence, including playing the puck well while it’s on the blueline with poise.
- Credit Atlanta, they really played the body in the third.
- Erskine? Hey, big guy, bombs away.
- Maybe my favorite moment of the night was Alex Ovechkin making a diving stop on a breaking Atlanta forward. Hard to not like that.
Hey, no complaints here. Getting a win, showing strong possession skills, and not folding like lawn furniture after a two goal lead? It’s just one game, but it’s a welcome entry to the 2007-2008 season. Everyone have a beer and enjoy.
Stumble it!
5 Comments
I would enjoy a beer, but I’m beyond furious right now. I just drove to Jersey this morning for a client, then down to Maryland to my parents’ so I could leave first thing in the morning for D.C. for the game and some museum-hopping.
I go to print my TicketFast order… and there is apparently a problem processing my tickets. TicketMaster is closed right now and not answering calls. They haven’t emailed me back. The glorious Saturday that I have planned for ages is at risk.
GRRR!
Reg Dunlop thought they ran the table tonight. Good work Caps. Hurricanes next.
That was old time Caps hockey getting a majority of goals from D man bombs from the points.
Its quite a thrill to see all that’s been seen and read and heard about the progress in pre-season turn into a 2 point night to start the season.
My one negative comment is Flash - he seemed to get knocked off the puck far too easily for my liking. He wasn’t terrible, but not the kind of game I want from my first line right wing. I recall one nice dish to Ovie, that was about it.
I’m focused on him just because I’m still in disbelief that he’s worthy of top line duty. I can’t wait to eat a big juicy crow over it, but for now I’m predicting Clark as a top 2 line regular once again real soon, and Steckel more often inserted into line 3.
I have to say I agree with Pepper. I may be wrong but I was amused last night in the pregame show when Reekie touted Captain Clark as a regular 30 goal scorer. No offense to Clark, but you take him off Ovie’s line and I don’t see him putting up those numbers this year, hope I’m wrong though.
Yeah! knee-jerks 07-08!
Good job as always Empty.
You can serve me up some of that Kozlov-at-centre crow - he was very good last night.
Good pick up on the lack of traffic and letting Lehtonen see the puck on the 5-on-3 too easily. Good point. I thought they played the short 27 second 5-on-3 well, but your right, they still weren’t getting traffic in front on Lehtonen.
The Caps dominated so much early that I think they got ahead of themselves in second period - weren’t fighting the little battles the same way like they were expecting things to come easily. They started working again after the Atlanta goal though.
Kovalchuk has really matured. My opinion of him changed late last year, somewhere along the way he’s become hungry to win, rather than hungry for stats.
Little’s gonna be good one.
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