Couch Coach

Now this was a good game. Not perfect, but so much better than the last 3 that I am inclined to be pretty impressed.

The AHL contingent looked good. Alzner seemed to play just fine, making him and Carlson look like they are worth the hype. So maybe the Caps don’t need to be in a rush trade up the defense. Carlson is especially green, but he clearly has some big potential.

I did look into Finnish defensemen that might be good for the caps. Unfortunately there are not many at all. Timmonen from the Flyers would be the only real choice I see. And he has a phat multi-year contract and even if he didn’t I doubt the Flyers are in any hurry to trade him. Certainly not for “Circles,” there’s no way he’d fit into their style of play either. So then there are like 2 Finns that are defenders that might be available but they bounce back and forth to the AHL on their own clubs… I don’t even remember their names because watching Carlson and Alzner made me think it would not even be worth the time to bother.

And Pothier was looking sharp and has been doing pretty well for himself… S. Morrison is ok on the balance. Mike Green makes a load of giveaways every game but unlike Semin in a rut, he generally seems to make more things happen then he messes up. Maybe in a year or two he’ll settle down into more focused stye, who knows.

Erskine is probably one of my favorite defensemen but he has not been playing to well overall. I like that he always steps up to the scrum though. Poti, I have not seen much I liked from him. Sloan, who knows, it’s cool that he plays both ways but I’m not sure he’s the strongest defender.

Jurnica has been doing better and he’s pretty cheap. Schultz must have some skills I guess, I see him out there in penalty kills and stuff.

Well enough ramblings, I bet things will keep changing as the season goes on anyways. This kind of speculation brings me back to nhlnumbers.com and looking at salaries and contracts and then I start wishing the Nylander thing was resolved to that the Caps could at least keep a consistent AHL group together… Then I get mad. Enough of that, time for some turkey.

I see a lot of comments that the Caps are not consistent. This could not be further from the truth.

They have gotten very consistent at blowing leads, taking penalties in the third period, and generally not finishing games off with any vigor. Even with 7 regular player out they are able to stick to this gameplan.

Tonight was a perfect example of this. Wow they had the Senators down and out at the end of the 2nd. But it turns out no one showed up to play for the third period. Ovechkin and Clark joined all the others in getting ridiculous 3rd period penalties. Green had more giveaways than Costco serves food samples. Including the one at the end which led to the goal.

Wow, I thought the Montreal game was bad but the Toronto game was even worse. I don’t think I’ve seen the Caps play worse anytime recently then in this game. Why even bother to list what went wrong. Seven injuries, but still.

Varley was ok, at least there was that. He got skooled in the shootout, but still a solid game for him at least.

Carlson has looked good, but he does seem green. (No pun intended.) Neuvith didn’t look so hot against Montreal but the guys him front of him were not too impressive either, so I don’t care so much about it.

Watching a bit of the Detroit vs Dallas game with Dallas up 2-1 in the 3rd. Detroit CLEARLY had a goal and the whistle CLEARLY blew about 2 seconds after it was in the goal yet it was a no goal. Even after replay. With the explanation that the whistle killed the play. What the heck is replay there for if in the replay everyone can hear the whistle and see the puck yet it still doesn’t count?!
Then again, it wasn’t the Caps so what do I care!

Quote from Inside Hockey:

http://www.insidehockey.com/columns/4962

“Unlike previous reports throughout the media world stated on Wednesday night, Capitals have confirmed that Michael Nylander (Washington Capitals) will not be going to Russia this season. Nylander has a no-trade clause and the Capitals will retain Nylander for the remainder of the season. Nylander was a scratch on Saturday and he will remain on the roster, according to the Capitals.”

The Rangers tried all kinds of tricks, but were unable to get Gaborik the hat trick he was shooting for. Sean Avery punched Varlimov in the face, but managed to not be seen, drawing a penalty on Erskine for shoving him afterward. It was an interesting game, and in the end the Caps managed to hold things together and even score an empty netter for some icing on the cake.

It was definitely not welcome news that Laing broke his jaw blocking a shot however. The Caps may need to open shuttle bus service to Hershey soon. That is going to take a while to heal obviously.

And so will Bradley’s face - he took a pounding in a fight early on. But clearly he bottled up that rage to then streak at lightning speed up the ice, split the defense and score a NHL On The Fly highlight reel goal. Wow, that was impressive.

Green and the rest of the D looked ok as a group. The Caps got closed in a box in 5-on-5 play a number of times, but played it pretty calmly and then came back with a series of lightning attacks. They had a hard time stopping Gaborik when he would roll in the zone hot - but who wouldn’t.

And Ovechkin, he is back. He scored an amazing one-time slapshot from way out. He skated all periods and even seemed to hit his stride more in the third period. That’s great news.

Laich and B Morrison were plugging away all game. Flash was not as hot as recently but he was definitely putting the effort in. Clark missed about 3 short range shots as he took over the goal crashing role from Knuble. He put some effort in it, but man that Knuble is a hard act to follow.

Perreault didn’t score but made a handful of great setup passes, got a shot on goal, and won 5 of 7 faceoffs in 8:50 of play. One of his passes was a saucer pass between the goalie and the d-man that landed on the other side of the crease almost on Ovechkin’s stick.

So overall a solid effort, and it was impressive that they stayed calm and recovered from a 1-0 deficit early on. Well done all around.

Caps go from a 2 goal lead at the 5-minute mark of the first period to a 5-2 loss.

Game started great, Flash and lil’ Perreault both banged goals in, Green assisted on both. The second goal was on the powerplay which Semin drew with a rush into the offensive zone. And Perrault scored that second goal because he was out on the powerplay unit, which was interesting to see. Wow, what’s not to like???

Well the whole rest of the game as it turns out. The rest of the game was a slow, sinking descent into all of the things you don’t want to see the Caps doing. New Jersey’s methodical play ensures that you get to see it in almost slow motion detail, like a rabbit being strangled by a python. NJ took one, and only one, penalty and you just got the feeling they were not going to take another one. (And they didn’t.) They didn’t make many other mistakes, and looked like a team riding high on a big winning streak.

The Caps defense started to crumble bit by bit from period one. Mistakes and bad passes at both ends of the ice started to happen. Theo looked ok overall but he wasn’t making the clutch saves. And the offensive efforts sputtered to nothing. By the middle of the third period the Caps looked like they just wanted it to be over.

Some notes:

-Laich and Laing kept hustling the whole game. They were not the only ones but they definitely stood out.

-Perreault made some excellent passes to start drives out of the Caps end, showing he can do more than just tape-to-tape it in the offensive zone. He also set up Clark perfectly in the slot, and was generally kicking ass even though he was only on for 13 minutes. When he gets checked he can go flying like a ragdoll, but he pops right up and keeps going. He does get knocked around because of his size but frankly no more than Semin (who is not small) which leads me to…

-Semin… Semin, Semin, Semin. Looked so good for the first 8 minutes and then kind of cracked into pieces. One of the NJ goals was a direct result of Semin passig the puck directly to a NJ defender TWICE IN A ROW, like within 20 seconds he did exactly the same pass putting it on the stick of the center coming back. The second time NJ didn’t hesitate and it went the other way and right in the Caps net.

-Green could benefit from having ye olde slap shot in his inventory. He played pretty well actually so this is not a criticism… but I did notice that NJ just kept him out of his wrist shot zone, and those wrist shots from 35 feet don’t look very dangerous. Plus, when he decides to shoot instead of pass it means he needs to come way down into the zone to get close enough and he’s pretty deep by then. Either way he did ok and these notes are nothing specific to this game really. I am glad to see he looks even more solid after that injury.

-Not having Ovie and Knuble is walking uphill a bit. It is double clear how effective Knuble is with his net crashing when he is not there to do it and you can see the difference.

-Bobomite

Nice game, real solid stuff. Defense looked good. Perreault got another point, 5 in 5. Green scored a sweet one. Semin drew a good penalty in the first and Backstrom was called for cross-checking! Very exciting.

Varley played cool as a cucumber. One major bummer tho - Knuble got injured.

-Bobomite

Pens are in a bit of a slide. My thoughts are they are missing Malkin and Gonchar. When Gonchar went down last year, you could tell he was missed. I think with Malkin out, it shows how important he really is to them. Crosby is in a slump. Could it be he needs them?? My thoughts are if Malkin wins the points race or comes close, he may be league MVP… If he comes back and the Pens rebound in a big way, how can he not be their most important player??

Wow, well Semin had 11 shots, almost 3 times as many as then next shooter in this unusual game. He scored his first one 8 seconds into the game which was so surprising that I thought they were still showing highlights. I was still opening my beer!

Theo then let in 3 goals in a few minutes and was pulled. He didn’t look great but I will say that one of those was a bald-faced breakaway that was a bit unexpected.

Then from the the Caps tightened it up for the most part and kept plugging away. They were in the lead by one until they took a couple of back to back penalties late in the third period, an unfortunately common sort of situation.

Overtime was pretty strong for the Caps but they didn’t score. Then the shutout was nuts, 11 rounds… The shooters started all looking a bit nervous but honestly the goalies were both pretty sharp. Varley made a really funny save that left him drifting into the net and had to grab onto the poles to stop from going in… but he did.

Then Chris Clark nailed on in and Varley made one more stop and it was over.

Edge of the seat it was but, overall I was not blown away… The hustle of the last 2 games was just not evident at all. They looked flat footed, and the defensive play ran hot and cold.

But it’s hard to not like a win, and the shootout was really damn funny to watch. Perrault didn’t score but man he looks cool and collected out there. Green was shaky at times but coming off injury I reckon he did just fine.

For hundreds of years, Finland was a battleground between Russia and Sweden. There are forts and castles built all over Finland by both sides. Much blood has been spilled. All those centuries of warfare gave birth to Finland.

In the NHL, the Finns are known as tough and logical players. They are the glue that binds at times. No one can point to a silly, frivolous or showboatin’ Finn. Sometimes they don’t deliver but they are always on the clock.

The Washington Capitals have a mix of guys from all over. Canadians by the dozen a sprinkle of Americans, and a real strong contingent of Russians and Swedes. Maybe a Dutchman or a Froggie here and there.

I say the Caps need one Finn. They need one guy with skills that can speak-a de English (Finns learn English from grade 3) and also check, and score. Injuries? Play through.

And the best part is that the Russians and the Swedes will not let a Finn outdo them. They will rise up to the occasion, and that is what synergy is all about.

-Bobomite

Missed most of the game due to a night out. Looks like the offense was there but the defense was shaky.

Not sure I like how Boudreau said something about Ovie and he’ll see if Monday or Tuesday if it’s getting better… Hope that doesn’t mean they are seeing if it heals or if it needs something more drastic…

Deserved its own post…
Hopefully, someone will actually pick him up! I can see the Rangers doing it… If they have cap room. Or Edmonton. Could the Caps get that lucky??

Didn’t watch the first 2 periods due to the spongebob movie debut… But I did watch all the 3rd. Sloan really stepped in when being moved back to his natural position. I thought he was the better defenseman in the 3rd.

Again, a broken record… Penalties in the 3rd almost did them in again. The S. Morrison 5 minute major was anything but! I have seen way worse boarding calls go for a lot less. But regardless it was yet another unnecessary penalty.

Two more injuries may not be such a bad thing depending on how serious. I suspect if Green’s is more than a couple games worth, he may be put on IR so they can bring up someone like Carlson. Not sure if they can bring someone like him up unless he is on IR due to the salary cap. But this is an opportunity to see some depth from Hershey in the early part of the season. Get the injuries out of the way now!

Lets see what this back to back brings tonight…

-daggone

It’s hard to remember a time when Backstrom and Semin were regular first line guys. Even on line 2 they stunk up the joint. Even before Semin took 3 really bad penalties he was showing his usual colors these days - missing the net, stopping skating and giving up when the puck was loose and generally playing like a librarian that wandered onto the ice.

Knuble took a bad penalty but one starts to wonder if he’s one of the few forwards really playing an end to end game. His physical style definitely adds to the overall picture, and so I honestly don’t mind if he messes up sometimes. B Morrison was having a weak game but he has been pretty solid, so it’s hard to hold it against him. It was his second game against his former team. I guess he doesn’t have the Brett Favre gene.

Overall the game started out pretty solid. For 40 minutes (as per usual) there was a lot to like and some things not to like. Then the last 20 min comes… The defensive effort did look solid for a long time, I was quite impressed. The 2 AHL guys Sloan and Perrault were doing some good things out there. David Steckel put in a nice solid game

And I have to say - Varlimov did a really good job with what he had to work with. He made a ton of awesome saves, and I would not say that any of the 3 he let in were weak. One was off Mike Green, the result of some hustle and not a mistake. The other two were just nice, fast, accurate shots.

Flieschmann continued his run of greatness. He had some great shots, scored, and was also seen delivering some nice backchecking hits. I liked him last year but this year he’s really stepped it up a notch. Laich didn’t cash in, but he was definitely plugging away. Ditto for Knuble, lots of work, more often than not it was 22 both crashing the net and making a good defensive zone takeaway. He did get a penalty but is was almost a good one. And he hustled so much the whole game that it’s hard not to like what he brings to the table.

But man… Backstrom and Semin. They should get moved down to 3rd line or maybe Hershey for some conditioning. Or bring Nylander in and put those two on a line with him. They are like a 2-man milque-toast party on the ice. Missing the net, not hitting, not hustling unless they had a breakaway. Questionable passing for Backstrom. I have heard him called the quarterback a number of times but he only does that when conditions are perfect, and no one is on him. Take OV away (and the 3 guys he pulls to himself) and Backstrom is all exposed and not so impressive. Also, at about the halfway point NJ dig in and made a much more solid defensive effort. Backstrom fell off the chart then, I didn’t even notice him playing anymore.

I know 28 and 19 are both very skilled players, but they are neither changing their game to a more balanced style OR producing the goods on their cherrypicking efforts. I saw both of them miss the net more than 10 times total, get smashed on the boards, multiple giveaways, and just coast back up to the blue line on defense for no reason I could see. They both need to pay attention to NJ, the Islanders, and Knuble, and take some notes.

Props to Jurnica who is playing better than I ever would have expected. He’s not perfect but he gets some good plays in. And Mike Green had a better game than usual, goaltending (and making the save) on an open net and also making 3 solid one-man rushes to boot. He also had some iffy plays but he was clearly TRYING to do good all game unlike some of the Caps out there.

The second best thing besides a balanced game play attempt, was Perrault. The saucer pass to Sloan for the goal was awesome. That hairy little Frenchman has some mad skillz yo.

And a last note to Chris Clark who stole the puck at the blue line to get the first goal and cause he got in a fight. He did nothing else of note the whole night but I’ll give him a point for those efforts.

And a last, last note - Gabby DID take some time from his book signings to adjust the team approach, and I liked that too.

-Bobomite