A spirited debate sprang up among some friends about the Capitals’ netminder. One vociferously denounced Jose Theodore as the team’s Achilles’ Heel; another strongly defended Theodore and pointed to defensive breakdowns and bad bounces/deflections.
If forced to endorse one of the two opinions above, I’d lean toward the latter… Theodore, known to be a streaky goaltender throughout his career,
did manage to have both hot and cold streaks within a single game. But shaky defense rather than goaltending was the culprit in allowing Carolina a point in the standings.
So, besides Theodore of course, what two Capitals were on the ice for all eight goals scored? Alex Semin and Mike Green. On a night when they combine for 6 points, one could forgive a few defensive lapses… but it’s something to watch, moreso for blueliner Green, as the post-season approaches.
For the first Carolina tally, Mike Green was marking the player with the puck; as the puck-handler peeled right, Green seemed momentarily lost, tracking neither his original target nor the player coming up the other side (who quickly popped the ‘biscuit in the basket’, ¬©Craig Laughlin). Then on another Carolina goal, Alex Semin was unable to prevent a clean break in on Theodore. One can’t blame Semin for failing to defend well, as that’s hardly his role. A more interesting question would be, why was Alex Semin the only Capital in the camera shot — the only player hustling back on defense? The fourth Carolina goal initially seemed a frustrating softy, but on closer scrutiny was redirected into the top corner on its way in — hardly Theodore’s fault.
The key is, Theodore came through when it counted the most: Hit OT performance, particularly with the Caps down 4-on-3 after another terribly-timed penalty, was terrific. And his two shootout stops were equally impressive, particularly his perfectly-timed poke check on the second Carolina attempt (thanks to Semin & Ovechkin, there would be no third Carolina shot).
Last night’s win — while exciting, important, and offensively impressive — was an uneven and at times sloppy effort. The team played with heart, but were seemingly disorganized on defense and offensive back-checking. Theo yielded a few juicy rebounds, but also made some stellar saves. A balanced scoring effort managed to offset (barely) a weak defensive one.
Methinks Coach Boudreau will be putting the team through heavy defensive drills as they head back out on the road… because games like this one, while producing an important two points, won’t cut it in the playoffs.
14 Comments
Without a doubt, Theo should have been given the hard-hat. He’s gotta get some more love and more protection. He was a beast when we needed him to be, and will continue to rise to the occasion as long as we do. But a deserving Cup team can’t rely solely on any goalie to protect its leads. That lack of teamwork and consistent effort will have us out before Round Two. We’ve still got some growing up to do. Just sayin’…
was anyone watching the same game as me? the third period was horrible they went from having the canes knocked back on thier heels with our offensive agression to playing a total defensive game and just trying (unsucessfully) to hold on to the lead, then seamed content to settle for 1 point and take it to overtime. If you are winning a game being offensive you should never switch up your game and “ride out the rest of the storm.” We let them back in the game, and came close to giving it away!!!!
Johnny, trust me, that’s what I’m talking about in the article — a team that didn’t stay focused and a lazy late-game effort that allowed Carolina a point they didn’t deserve.
Mo Kentoff, dead right, nicely said.
THANK you for getting back to Capitals posts!
And thank you for not piling on Theo, I know letting in 4 goals looks bad on paper but anyone who watched the whole game can see he was left hanging a bunch of times by the rest of the team.
i think this is really, at this point, all about habits.
this team’s defense, when it works together, is phenomenal (nashville, anyone?). the only problem is, that phenomenal defense is a new habit for this team. they are not used to playing it, and mid-game, they get scatter brained and resort to playing individual games, which of course results in penalties and theo left out to dry
hopefully, by the playoffs, the defense we know this team to be capable of will be present all 60 minutes of every game, rather than perhaps 40 or 45. if that happens, we’re looking at a VERY deep playoff run…
Well said, folks. It is possible that the change to a defensive style was some playoff practice. Just giving it a go for a period? Experimenting with it? I don’t like to think that it was laziness, just trying a different look? I for one would rather they kept their foot on the pedal and blew the doors right off of either of the next few games. Once in a while you gotta burn some carbon out of your engines.
On the NHL on NBC during the 1st intermission they just talked about how Theodore is “scrambling” and “on his knees” all the time, then showed highlights of the Capitals game @ Minnesota. Do they know what they’re talking about? At least Mike Milbury said Theodore is capable, but may not get it done.
seems to me there was a goalie named Hasek that spent a lot of time scrambling, on his knees, on his head, on his butt and anything that worked, He has three or four rings. Those guys on NBC/NHL always seem to find something wrong with us. eh?
I also remember a guy named Brodeur that’s done pretty decently in the NHL to say the least. The smartest thing they said is that Theodore is small, which he is. There have been several goals he’s let in where if he was a couple inches taller he’d have stopped the shot. To name two: Bell’s PPG for OTT against DC late in the 3rd on VS, Crosby’s goal @ DC in the 1st on March 8. Looking at the other top goalies only one-Tim Thomas-is under 6′2″.
Anyone else think Ovie needs to be in front of the net on the PP from now on? Green the top guy, Backstrom and Semin in the circles, Laich and 8 in front? 2nd unit I think already tries something similar. That seemed to work in the playoffs last year, and we can’t afford to risk 4 games again trying to figure that out this year.
I believe the loose play and mental breakdowns are the direct result of the lack of a mature, experienced captain who is not hurt for long stretches of the season. Period.
Isn’t that Fedorov’s job?
And Feds is out sick right now. I think this is part of the problem, though not all of it.
I was hoping that the Philly game sans Feds wasn’t a fluke. I guess I was wrong.
“Anyone else think Ovie needs to be in front of the net on the PP from now on?”
I think the PP is the last thing BB needs to tinker with right now: they are at 25% for the year so far, #2 in the league, and 30.6% since the All-Star game (which is simply just ridiculous). Jeez, they were 3 for 4 in the Carolina game. It might be a bit unrealistic to expect the Caps to score EVERY TIME they have the PP, or to have Ovie score even more from the front of the net than he does from the left circle. Besides, tough as he is, the abuse he’d take positioned down low would eventually hurt his game in other areas.
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