[AP Recap - Game Summary - Super Stats - WashingtonCaps.com Postgame]Well, the initial adrenaline rush that accompanied the coaching change has worn off leaving the same Caps team trying to learn a new system. The result? What we saw Wednesday night. A few thoughts on the game:
- If Tomas Vokoun catches with his left hand, the Caps win that game. Period.
- He doesn't, and they didn't. Period.
- Neither Chris Clark nor Alex Semin were available for the shootout. Semin's injury would appear to be that same ol' ankle, and he's day-to-day, and Clark's malady wouldn't seem to be significant.
- Both Vokoun and Olie Kolzig were awesome through overtime but beatable in the shootout (I wonder what the highest combined total in a shootout is).
- It was awfully nice of Brooks Laich to wear the #21 in honor of Sean Taylor. It was nicer still to see Shaone Morrisonn honor Taylor by hitting everything that moved early on.
- Speaking of Laich, if you want to see what his shootout move looks like when it's successful, it's #6 here (and I could easily go another 35 games without seeing the Caps in one of those skill competitions).
- Last word on Laich - he's always a good guy to talk to, and last night was no exception. Check out his post game interview (warning: MP3).
- It took the Caps more than ten minutes to get their first shot of the second period, meaning that in the other 55 minutes of hockey, the team fired 33 shots on goal (11 of which came off Alex Ovechkin's stick).
- The Caps won a paltry 44% of the game's faceoffs, with Nicklas Backstrom going 0-for-8 and Viktor Kozlov only slightly better at 1-for-6.
- If only David Steckel could lift the puck.
- Another 30+ minutes of ice time for Tom Poti, and a hair over 30 for AO as well.
- Why can't the Caps get players like Richard Zednik?
- Finally, if a picture's worth a thousand words, this one that KB took in the locker room post game says it all:
Next up, the Hurricanes in Raleigh on Friday night. Then the Panthers. Again.
Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:
Michal Neuvirth was named to the Czech World Junior team.... Happy 58th birthday to #7, Yvon Labre.
Daily Awards
- Hart: Mike Knuble (G, 2A, +2, 3 SOG)
- Ross: Mike Knuble, Pat Kane, Milan Hejduk (3 points each)
- Norris: Andrej Meszaros (2G, 4 blocked shots)
- Vezina: Tomas Vokoun (32 saves on 33 shots against in shootout win)
- Richard: Andrej Meszaros, Martin Havlat (2G each)
- Calder: Pat Kane (3A, +2)
- Aiken: Johan Holmqvist (3 goals allowed on 10 shots against in just 40 minutes of work)
11 comments:
Well, that's it. I'm officially depressed. I really thought this was going to be the year we made the playoffs, or at least were battling until the end. Another day, another loss to the Panthers, one of the worst teams in hockey (I say "one of" because we are now officially the worst). There is just no excuse for this, and I'm tired of hearing excuses. Four years of this garbage now. Enough is enough.
Ovy needs to step up his game. He's only on pace for about 87 points this season. We need more offense from him, which will create a chain reaction for everyone else. He has less assists at this point of the season than he's had his past two seasons. More assists means more people are scoring meaning he's getting more points and the team is more than likely winning more.
Yes, and if only Gretzky had "stepped up" his game too. Imagine!
#2 in the league in goals; on pace for 56 isn't good enough?
Since we keep losing, it's obviously not enough.
You can pin a portion of the blame for the Capitals woes on just about anyone other than Ovechkin and Laich (...maybe Morrisonn).
Ovechkin is at .68 goals per game; the rest of the team is at 1.64, and about .1 per game, per player.
He's putting up points; he's doing his part; he's had game where he outscored the entire opposing team but you cant expect it evry night
classic caps - i believe you have it backwards.
The more of a threat the REST of the team is, the more chances AO will have at scoring an/or creating opportunities. At this point the opposing D swarms him by the time he enters the offensive zone.
Semin looks like crap, btw. Hope thats an injury/rust issue and not a motivational one. His passing is beyond ugly.
i've mentioned this before, but other players on the team are pretty bad at getting into scoring positions. how are our playmakers supposed to rack up the assists???
unless that was blatant sarcasm that i missed....
1) AO is one of the few guys who can look in the mirror and say he's doing his best night after night. Kolzig, perhaps Green/Backstrom despite their rookie mistakes at times may be the others.
2) NS is correct that IF the Caps had a more balanced attack(or an attack made up of more than one player) Ovechkin could probably get even more opportunities than he already is.
3) The fact that he continues to get any goals/points is amazing under these circumstances
It's amazing that AO gets "ANY" goals?! As ever, Fauxes vacillates between the obvious and the incredible.
Hard to blame Ovie when he is predominantly surrounded by scrubs. Nylander was a mistake. Kozlov was a mistake. Most of our drafts prior to Ovie were a mistake. Maybe if we can draft top 5 another 3 or 4 years we'll be good by 2015.
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