Comments on: A Character Win, But Haphazardly Done

By: hackhamster

hackhamster — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:21:14 +0000

“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.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:50:36 +0000

I was hoping that the Philly game sans Feds wasn’t a fluke. I guess I was wrong.

By: Shirl

Shirl — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:28:38 +0000

And Feds is out sick right now. I think this is part of the problem, though not all of it.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:12:16 +0000

Isn’t that Fedorov’s job?

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:20:58 +0000

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.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 19:11:59 +0000

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.

By: billd

billd — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:40:55 +0000

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?

By: anonymous

anonymous — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:20:23 +0000

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.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:17:00 +0000

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.

By: Jessie

Jessie — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:43:00 +0000

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…