Game 11 vs Capitals - Thoughts from the morning after

[Lesky]

Caps getting "hammered"

Sweet win! But maybe start covering Ovechkin on the Caps PP?

[RxBandit66]

1) MAF is at or close to top form.
2) Oates is toast.
3) Despres is looking more and more like the real deal.
4) Sutter is settling in nicely.
5) Paul Martin is a black hole this season, swallowing up scoring chances by the opposition on every shift.

[penny lane]

It’s good to have you back Sid!
2nd period jinx broken.
Most fun; sutter and cooke impersonating gene and rdjn!
Fleury rebounding since 2003.
I’ve never seen Brooks skate better.
Gene's goal just wicked skill.

About the caps; over coaching; or coach at wit's end by changing goalies in the 2nd.
How much patience does T Leonsis have?

Be well K Letang.

Onto to NJ; are they in the big storm circle?

[Idoit40fans]

Yesterday people at work were asking about the game, and i confidently said the pens would roll over the caps. I was worried that i was goign to eat my words after the first. Then one of my work friends came over just before the Pens scoring started in the second. I was laughing a lot.

[Lesky]

How could we let this happen?

Washington, which lost in regulation in Pittsburgh for the first time since Feb. 18, 2007. The Caps had been 9-0-1 in their last 10 visits.

[RxBandit66]

Yeah that was the oddest goalie-switch I've seen to date...and a good way to kill a young player's confidence. Oates is obviously searching right now, but the fact is that the Caps have goaltending issues. At one time there was more scoring in the league, and they could create chaos on the ice and feed off of it. But now, teams and coaches (like Jacques Martin in 2010) have figured out how to stop these guys and they never have been able to adjust.

[Digitalgypsy66]

I had to give my son a bath and get him into bed, as the first period ended with the Pens down 1-0. I figured they would grind out a 2-1 win. I returned, midway through the 2nd period, and they were up 4-1. Wow!

That last powerplay was sick. Passing at will, it looked like NHL on Rookie settings. The Caps PK looked terrible.

Has anyone called for Letang to be traded yet?

I liked Bobby Bo yapping and running Ovechkin.

Engelland gave him way too much space on that PPG. He probably wouldn't have been out there if Orpik wasn't in the box, though.

One last thing about Orpik: After the game, I read Japers Rink, a Caps blog, and he/she/they are as even-keeled a group of Caps fans as I've ever seen on the Internet. In their game wrapup, he mentioned Orpik "does what he always does against the Caps, gets angry at someone's netfront presence (Riberio, in this case) and takes it out on a smaller, weaker player" and mentioned one of the Caps healthy scratches.

I've never noticed that specfically, as Orpik has always been, in my eyes, and equal opportunity hitter. Anyone else notice this? Or are the Caps not used to having physical players?

[JoseCuervo]

One last thing about Orpik: After the game, I read Japers Rink, a Caps blog, and he/she/they are as even-keeled a group of Caps fans as I've ever seen on the Internet. In their game wrapup, he mentioned Orpik "does what he always does against the Caps, gets angry at someone's netfront presence (Riberio, in this case) and takes it out on a smaller, weaker player" and mentioned one of the Caps healthy scratches.

I've never noticed that specfically, as Orpik has always been, in my eyes, and equal opportunity hitter. Anyone else notice this? Or are the Caps not used to having physical players?

I've never noticed it either, but it doesn't make much sense in this case since ribeiro is a smaller, weaker player.

Spoiler:

But if orpik did take it out on ribeiro, ribeiro would probably act like he was writhing in pain on the ice again

[Lesky]

Yeah that was the oddest goalie-switch I've seen to date...and a good way to kill a young player's confidence. Oates is obviously searching right now, but the fact is that the Caps have goaltending issues. At one time there was more scoring in the league, and they could create chaos on the ice and feed off of it. But now, teams and coaches (like Jacques Martin in 2010) have figured out how to stop these guys and they never have been able to adjust.

They fire a competent (IN REG SEASON) coach in Boudreau and replace him with not one, but TWO inexperienced head coaches. What's worse is that theycan Hunter and replace him with someone that's noticeably worse in Oates. McPhee has had more than ample time to turn the Caps franchise into a legit cup contender, but has dropped the ball frequently.

[canaan]

Yeah that was the oddest goalie-switch I've seen to date...and a good way to kill a young player's confidence. Oates is obviously searching right now, but the fact is that the Caps have goaltending issues. At one time there was more scoring in the league, and they could create chaos on the ice and feed off of it. But now, teams and coaches (like Jacques Martin in 2010) have figured out how to stop these guys and they never have been able to adjust.

They fire a competent (IN REG SEASON) coach in Boudreau and replace him with not one, but TWO inexperienced head coaches. What's worse is that theycan Hunter and replace him with someone that's noticeably worse in Oates. McPhee has had more than ample time to turn the Caps franchise into a legit cup contender, but has dropped the ball frequently.

i thought Hunter said he didnt want to come back

[Rylan]

Yeah that was the oddest goalie-switch I've seen to date...and a good way to kill a young player's confidence. Oates is obviously searching right now, but the fact is that the Caps have goaltending issues. At one time there was more scoring in the league, and they could create chaos on the ice and feed off of it. But now, teams and coaches (like Jacques Martin in 2010) have figured out how to stop these guys and they never have been able to adjust.

They fire a competent (IN REG SEASON) coach in Boudreau and replace him with not one, but TWO inexperienced head coaches. What's worse is that theycan Hunter and replace him with someone that's noticeably worse in Oates. McPhee has had more than ample time to turn the Caps franchise into a legit cup contender, but has dropped the ball frequently.

i thought Hunter said he didnt want to come back

He did. He left them, not the other way around.

[Digitalgypsy66]

Yeah that was the oddest goalie-switch I've seen to date...and a good way to kill a young player's confidence. Oates is obviously searching right now, but the fact is that the Caps have goaltending issues. At one time there was more scoring in the league, and they could create chaos on the ice and feed off of it. But now, teams and coaches (like Jacques Martin in 2010) have figured out how to stop these guys and they never have been able to adjust.

They fire a competent (IN REG SEASON) coach in Boudreau and replace him with not one, but TWO inexperienced head coaches. What's worse is that theycan Hunter and replace him with someone that's noticeably worse in Oates. McPhee has had more than ample time to turn the Caps franchise into a legit cup contender, but has dropped the ball frequently.

i thought Hunter said he didnt want to come back

Yeah, he wanted to go home to London and his London Knights.

[relantel]

I wholly expected last night to be a letdown game. Pleasantly surprised by the dominance of the 2nd period, where they left even more goals on the table than the 5 that went in.

[darkstar57]

Yeah that was the oddest goalie-switch I've seen to date...and a good way to kill a young player's confidence. Oates is obviously searching right now, but the fact is that the Caps have goaltending issues. At one time there was more scoring in the league, and they could create chaos on the ice and feed off of it. But now, teams and coaches (like Jacques Martin in 2010) have figured out how to stop these guys and they never have been able to adjust.

They fire a competent (IN REG SEASON) coach in Boudreau and replace him with not one, but TWO inexperienced head coaches. What's worse is that theycan Hunter and replace him with someone that's noticeably worse in Oates. McPhee has had more than ample time to turn the Caps franchise into a legit cup contender, but has dropped the ball frequently.

I actually thought Hunter did a good job with them even if he was inexpeirenced,

and yes he turned down teh caps job long term. Hunter has a nice little junior hockey empire in London,

[pcm]

They didn't can Hunter. He left.

Brucey Boo had zero NHL experience when he was hired by the Caps.

Oates at least had been an assistant in the NHL. He's got a cool demeanor that's supposed to temper the Caps hotheads. I don't think he's destined to be a bad coach, but he's definitely making rookie mistakes out there. But that's what inexperienced coaches & players do. They make mistakes, and if they're good, they learn from them. (See Therrien, Michael).

Ribiero was a good pickup for them. They need a guy like that on defense (ala Gonchar) to help develop their young guys, which includes Mike Green. They desperately need Laich back in there. At this point, it's all about leadership and a willingness to pay the price to develop through this. With Ovi, they don't have it yet. But I could see him becoming that guy (it's taking a few years...).

If the caps still suck in the middle of the season, I'd see what I could get for Mike Green, and change the makeup of the team a little bit more.

[Lesky]

Yeah that was the oddest goalie-switch I've seen to date...and a good way to kill a young player's confidence. Oates is obviously searching right now, but the fact is that the Caps have goaltending issues. At one time there was more scoring in the league, and they could create chaos on the ice and feed off of it. But now, teams and coaches (like Jacques Martin in 2010) have figured out how to stop these guys and they never have been able to adjust.

They fire a competent (IN REG SEASON) coach in Boudreau and replace him with not one, but TWO inexperienced head coaches. What's worse is that theycan Hunter and replace him with someone that's noticeably worse in Oates. McPhee has had more than ample time to turn the Caps franchise into a legit cup contender, but has dropped the ball frequently.

i thought Hunter said he didnt want to come back

He did. He left them, not the other way around.

My bad,sorry

[Lesky]

On Ovy. You can just tell he goes the extra mile against the Pens to be a complete dbag. I bet he wished he could play the Pens every game!

[relantel]

I found it Laughable that Laughlin couldn't see Ovi leaving his feet on the Glass hit.

[Lesky]

No one sees Ovy leaving his feet, or at least he is immune to such penaltys

[penny lane]

Early in the 2nd, i had a fright when I saw James Neal go awkwardly into the boards. he shook it off.
I thought Simon Despres with D Reese sometimes, tried to do more on defense; led to scrambly bits, but on the whole, is doing a fine job .

[relantel]

there were some awkward moments on D, yes, but they recovered well. Forward support certainly helped.

[Steve]

Looks like the Islanders loss was a bit of a wake-up-call for the team, they have outscored their opponents 23-8 since.

Nice job last night, especially considering we had so many yoots on the blueline.

[guiner]

Ribiero was a good pickup for them. They need a guy like that on defense (ala Gonchar) to help develop their young guys, which includes Mike Green. They desperately need Laich back in there. At this point, it's all about leadership and a willingness to pay the price to develop through this. With Ovi, they don't have it yet. But I could see him becoming that guy (it's taking a few years...).

Ribeiro is a forward, he just was working off the right point on the powerplay.

[ffemtreed]

The bad part about this game if that it reinforced the thought that the Pens only have to play 1 period to win games. Other than that I enjoyed watching us destroying the caps.

[pcm]

Misunderstood me. I know Ribiero is a forward. He's a good veteran addition for their top 6. But I'm saying they need to add a vet defensemen to their team.