Caps learned to play defense

[columbia]

They played very well.
Considering the increasing competition, the pens had better get their heads out their asses next year or they will run the risk of being the punchline for a lot of bad jokes.

[The U]

The Pens were hideous this postseason but I still feel the would have gone to the Finals if they had played anyone but Philly in Round 1.

[brwi]

Capitals are still a group of losers. They have the talent and depth up and down their roster and suddenly in the post-season had a goaltender playing lights out. They sacked their HC in BB and went with Dale "Big Game Loser" Hunter. They still couldn't get past the 2nd round. What you have in Washington is a big chemistry problem and a bunch of misfit toys that don't work optimally with each other. They can play good team D only at the total expense of offense-which was a problem under BB also- or they can run and gun and play lousy team D. GM McPhee has done a poor job with the cards he has been dealt.

The Caps' underachievement is probably only a little higher than Pittsburgh's and let's keep it that way.

[bhaw]

Their problem is that the guys who make the most money and are supposed to make the biggest impact are the worst in the post-season. What do you do with an Ovechkin that only produces like a top 50 player instead of a top 5? Well, Hunter's solution was to play him like a 3rd liner. That won't fly for a full year.

I think Hunter did a good job finding some temporary fixes to some of their issues. He showed management that their giant purchases are the problem. However, just like any business, management is going to eventually say "figure out how to use them."

[Henry Hank]

I think this Caps team already wasted their best shot. President's Trophy season when they lost in the first round, that was their chance to go all the way. I'm interested to see what the fall out of this is going to be. I can't see Ovechkin and Hunter co-existing for long. I'd imagine the Caps will pick Ovechkin over Hunter when the time comes. Ultimately, I think it ends with Ovechkin getting traded somewhere. I don't know how long it's going to take to happen but sooner or later he's going to push his way out of that organization. Hunter actually seems like a pretty good coach for them but it's always been a player problem on top of a coaching problem. Their "best" players are losers.

[Staggy]

9 points in 13 games for OV I understand that they play a defense first system and he did score some huge goals but jesus, man, those stats aren't going to cut it.

[littlemoonboot]

Oh look, how did that work out for them?

Not that Pens fans are in a place to laugh at them lately. But still.

I hope the Devils beat the Rangers. Winning the Cup really does seem like lightning in a bottle at times. I still can't help but wonder if the Pens hadn't gotten stupid and got a better seed if things could have gone differently. But maybe they had gotten so sloppy over the spring it might not have mattered who they played, they still could have lost. Not that we'll ever find out. Sigh.

Still mad, probably will be for some time.

[The Snapshot]

At least now we don't have to be worried about being compared to the Caps. They played defense, got good goaltending and lost.

I'm backing the Devils. I have great respect for Parise, Elias and Zajac. I am gaining respect for Kovalchuk. They can beat the Rangers.

[shmenguin]

9 points in 13 games for OV :face: I understand that they play a defense first system and he did score some huge goals but jesus, man, those stats aren't going to cut it.

Eh. All things considered, those aren't bad numbers on this caps team. And ovechkin has a history of stepping up his game in the playoffs.

[raewhit]

9 points in 13 games for OV I understand that they play a defense first system and he did score some huge goals but jesus, man, those stats aren't going to cut it.

Eh. All things considered, those aren't bad numbers on this caps team. And ovechkin has a history of stepping up his game in the playoffs.

He didn't step it up last night. He and Semin were invisible.

[Sigwolf]

Can we officially change the title of this thread now... "Caps learned to play golf"?

[shmenguin]

9 points in 13 games for OV :face: I understand that they play a defense first system and he did score some huge goals but jesus, man, those stats aren't going to cut it.

Eh. All things considered, those aren't bad numbers on this caps team. And ovechkin has a history of stepping up his game in the playoffs.

He didn't step it up last night. He and Semin were invisible.

Yeah and Crosby didn't step up against Detroit in '09. You cant just will yourself to score points. On the whole, ovechkin is a playoff performer. I hate the guy, but I have to be fair.

[columbia]

I'd have to guess that Semin's performance - although he played D this spring better than expected - isn't much of an issue.
He just doesn't fit in with Hunter's makeover.

[muffinarm]

Capitals are still a group of losers. They have the talent and depth up and down their roster and suddenly in the post-season had a goaltender playing lights out. They sacked their HC in BB and went with Dale "Big Game Loser" Hunter. They still couldn't get past the 2nd round. What you have in Washington is a big chemistry problem and a bunch of misfit toys that don't work optimally with each other. They can play good team D only at the total expense of offense-which was a problem under BB also- or they can run and gun and play lousy team D. GM McPhee has done a poor job with the cards he has been dealt.

The Caps' underachievement is probably only a little higher than Pittsburgh's and let's keep it that way.

Exactly correct. The Capitals were bounced against MTL and TB because they couldn't score, not because they couldn't play defense. It's apparent from watching both their Boston and NYR series that they still can't score. Team has players mismatched to their style, it's still way too early to judge Holtby and their biggest stars continually fail in the playoffs. It'll be kinda sad not having Semin around next season as a laughline.

[DudeMan2766]

Does anyone have that pic of Ovechkin and everyone laughign at him? I loved that. I think it was posted after they got swept last year.

[raewhit]

9 points in 13 games for OV I understand that they play a defense first system and he did score some huge goals but jesus, man, those stats aren't going to cut it.

Eh. All things considered, those aren't bad numbers on this caps team. And ovechkin has a history of stepping up his game in the playoffs.

He didn't step it up last night. He and Semin were invisible.

Yeah and Crosby didn't step up against Detroit in '09. You cant just will yourself to score points. On the whole, ovechkin is a playoff performer. I hate the guy, but I have to be fair.

Ovechkin has never made it beyond the 2nd round and you are comparing him to Crosby?

[duke66]

Yeah and Crosby didn't step up against Detroit in '09. You cant just will yourself to score points. On the whole, ovechkin is a playoff performer. I hate the guy, but I have to be fair.

ovechkin has 59 points in 51 playoff games (30G and 29A) - 1.16 PPG

crosby has 90 points in 68 playoff games (33G and 57A) - 1.32 PPG

i would hardly call ovechkin a playoff performer. take away his one series vs the pens in '09 and he has been ordinary at best.

btw geno #'s 81 points in 68 playoff games (32G and 49A) - 1.19 PPG (plus a conn smythe)

[Henry Hank]

Ovechkin's pretty much always come up small in the biggest moments. He's been pretty good statistically in the playoffs and he's far from the only reason Washington hasn't had any playoff success but he's never been able to elevate them when they really need him. Crosby and Malkin haven't always been there in every playoff series but both of them have single handedly carried the teams to victory over the years. Crosby in particular vs Ottawa in 2010 and Washington in 2009. Malkin vs Carolina in 2009.

[Godric]

Ovechkin's pretty much always come up small in the biggest moments. He's been pretty good statistically in the playoffs and he's far from the only reason Washington hasn't had any playoff success but he's never been able to elevate them when they really need him. Crosby and Malkin haven't always been there in every playoff series but both of them have single handedly carried the teams to victory over the years. Crosby in particular vs Ottawa in 2010 and Washington in 2009. Malkin vs Carolina and Detroit in 2009.

[Froggy]

don't put the caps failure to beat us in 09 on ovechkin. our team was better top to bottom, and he was the best player in that series. he was good enough to take that series to 7 pretty much on his own.

you can hate the guy... you can hate the team... but give credit where it's due

[Rocco]

Ovechkin always does well enough in the postseason that you can't stick the Caps' failures on him, but he never does well enough to swing the series. He gets his numbers has enough of an impact that no one can accuse him of not showing up.

[shmenguin]

Yeah and Crosby didn't step up against Detroit in '09. You cant just will yourself to score points. On the whole, ovechkin is a playoff performer. I hate the guy, but I have to be fair.

Ovechkin has never made it beyond the 2nd round and you are comparing him to Crosby?

since it's apparently too confusing if i use real names, i'll rephrase.

player A is the best player in the world. arguably the best player of his generation. player A comes up very small in the biggest 6 and a half games of his career. player A's shortcomings show that you can't judge the overall quality of a player based on a small sample size. 1 game where player B plays 15-20 minutes counts as a small sample size.

the point is that sometimes good players simply can't produce. talent and will power don't always win. if it can happen to crosby, it can happen to anyone.

[mikey287]

Yeah and Crosby didn't step up against Detroit in '09. You cant just will yourself to score points. On the whole, ovechkin is a playoff performer. I hate the guy, but I have to be fair.

ovechkin has 59 points in 51 playoff games (30G and 29A) - 1.16 PPG

crosby has 90 points in 68 playoff games (33G and 57A) - 1.32 PPG

i would hardly call ovechkin a playoff performer. take away his one series vs the pens in '09 and he has been ordinary at best.

btw geno #'s 81 points in 68 playoff games (32G and 49A) - 1.19 PPG (plus a conn smythe)

That's a good ppg. It's easy to take out someone's best performance and then indicate how it would negatively impact his career resume.

I'm not saying that Ovechkin is a great money player, but he is a pretty good playoff performer.

This reminds me of the old, "he wouldn't score so many goals if he didn't take so many shots" arguments from years ago...

[duke66]

Yeah and Crosby didn't step up against Detroit in '09. You cant just will yourself to score points. On the whole, ovechkin is a playoff performer. I hate the guy, but I have to be fair.

ovechkin has 59 points in 51 playoff games (30G and 29A) - 1.16 PPG

crosby has 90 points in 68 playoff games (33G and 57A) - 1.32 PPG

i would hardly call ovechkin a playoff performer. take away his one series vs the pens in '09 and he has been ordinary at best.

btw geno #'s 81 points in 68 playoff games (32G and 49A) - 1.19 PPG (plus a conn smythe)

That's a good ppg. It's easy to take out someone's best performance and then indicate how it would negatively impact his career resume.

I'm not saying that Ovechkin is a great money player, but he is a pretty good playoff performer.

This reminds me of the old, "he wouldn't score so many goals if he didn't take so many shots" arguments from years ago...

i'm saying for a guy who was "the best in the world" in some circles just two years ago, he has a very pedestrian playoff resume. of his generation of talent (sid, geno, toews, kane, zetterberg, datsyuk, etc.) he has the least success. the only series he dominated (09 pens) he lost anyways.

[SolidSnake]

I would like to see Chimera in a pens uniform