Comments on: Capitals / Panthers Live Knee-jerks – 2 Dec 08

By: todd

todd — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:39:01 +0000

Mulletman,
I agree on putting too much pressure on the young defensemen but I’m not sure how to get around the ice time during PK or otherwise. With only two Ds healthy from the opening roster there is going to be a requirement for them to be on the ice all game, every game. They’re working hard and doing the best they can but it takes time – look at how much more comfortable Sloan is after only 16 games in the bigs. Until the regulars are back the rest of the team has to be much more cognizant of the situation at the back. I thought Alznar played well but it was almost too much to watch him after that play – he was crushed after getting beat on the first goal and then skating in the second. Even a vet would get down.
I hope everyone’s up-to-speed tonight. They need to play hard from the drop and win a big game.

By: OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)

OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:01:51 +0000

Agreed regarding the boos. With rare exceptions, boos should be reserved for the refs’ bad calls and for the other team.

By: MulletMan

MulletMan — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:25:50 +0000

I was not surprised at the Steckel pass in front of the crease hitting Alzner’s skate. Alzner has done nothing but impress me since being called up, but why with all the minutes he’s been playing are they taking a chance on breaking his confidence by playing him on the PK? Give the man a little time to really feel comfortable in the bigs before dropping him in the box of quicksand. Seeing him look to the ceiling after the puck hit his skate was depressing.
The crowd…1 Where was everybody, that place was pathetic last night. If the fans don’t show up, where does the team get the home rink jump from? 2. I understand that the caps really didn’t show up for a very good part of the game, but still, the boos…they are still the home team and is in a very respectable position in the conference.
All in all, it left much to be desired, but could have been far worse. They will bounce back and maybe this is what they needed to kick start a nice winning streak.

By: Jessie

Jessie — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:55:48 +0000

I’m gonna have to agree about the “prancing,” although it’s definitely not just Nylander. This entire team has a tendency to play way too cute, as Boudreau would say; they need to just shoot the puck. Those last few minutes of the game were great, and we fans know that that’s what a good game is like for the full 60 minutes. It’s really a shame that Green’s and Poti’s true value to the team had to be uncovered in this way…

By: todd

todd — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:17:38 +0000

A few items from the game.
First of all, the crowd. They can announce 16K sold seats all they want but Verizon was about 30% full, at best, last night. The Caps are the only division champion in town, tickets are very reasonable, and the crowd last night was embarrassing.
Second, Steckel. It’s not “unfortunate”, it’s moronic. Who clears a puck across the crease of his own net—-ever? This wasn’t a puck that was five or six feet in front of the goal and Alzer just happened to be dancing around kicking up his dancing shoes, it was two feet in front of Theodore and sent across way too hard. That was the worst play of a horrible Caps performance.
Third, the veterans on this team need to step up. We’ve got Alzer and Lepisto on D (five NHL games between them?) and Sloan with his 15 games as 3 of our 6 defenders. You know what? The Caps have always been suspect on defense and are now even more so – the vets need to get back on D and help out the kids at the risk of foregoing the high-octane offense for a week or so. The offense will be fine, but for right now it can’t overcome the lack of defense, even with Ovechkin trying to do it all.
Lastly, Nylander needs to stop prancing around and shoot the puck. I think everyone’s trying to be a bit fancy out there and I’m calling Nylander out for being especially full of his own stick “skills”.
Players will be back and hopefully we are enduring our entire injury bug in one fell swoop.
How about a crowed in Verizon tomorrow night? How about some defense and hitting.

By: Flying Cloud

Flying Cloud — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:09:13 +0000

Thanks for that. Better than radio. Despondent, I turned to Universal Sports (Channel 807 on Cox Cable, Fairfax Co.) and watched the first of the 2-man bobsled events for the 08-09 World Cup. Bring on the bobs! Tonight is 4-man at Wirtenburg. If I’m still in despair this evening I’ll forego Center Ice and watch the Big Sleds instead. In the meantime, the Caps will get over this. They’ve had perfectly awful nights before — part of growing up, you know. I’m not terribly happy with them right now, but I would never boo them, even if (when) they stink up the place. Especially now when they are mostly hurt and trying to play through it.

By: pepper

pepper — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:01:01 +0000

Nice description of the key points Empty. I get the sense that this was a particularly difficult game to live blog as a fan.
As an out of towner, I guess I can be happy that, instead of listening on radio, I spent the evening dining with friends at a nice local spot and then hauling back an Xmas tree, sold very easily to me by an enchanting and fetching woodsy girl with a Quebecois accent.

By: Jessie

Jessie — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:00:02 +0000

same thing happened last year during playoff game 2: the big screen asked people to text in their answers as to which cap would score the first goal for the caps. the caps were shut out that game…

By: OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)

OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:19:43 +0000

Definitely a down game for the Caps, but one likely overdue given the injuries and their unbeaten streak at home. Still, I hated seeing their 9-0-1 record on the big screen when the Caps were up 1-0 . . . I’m not particularly superstitious, but that felt like a jinx.

By: Jessie

Jessie — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:47:26 +0000

i had an awful sense of deja vu at the game tonight: the same energy, same reactions as the night glen hanlon was fired. Terrible night then, and tonight was terrible as well. Our defense was nonexistent, our offense couldn’t hold onto the puck, and our goalie loses it whenever he makes a mistake. This was NOT the Theodore i saw play on friday, and it was definitely not the same team. To lose your home streak because of a phenomenal opponent is one thing, but to lose it because the team collectively decided to leave their skills and brains in the locker room is another entirely. Incredibly disappointing showing from a group of guys who can do so much better