Tonight's Lines

knock on wood after that first paragraph please

Thanks katie

Unleash the trap game!

Counting on you guys to keep me updated. Sitting in class with just score updates.

they dropped the puck...

jmu,
Brads had a great chance on the 1st shift, but Rolo stoned him.

lots of chances going back and forth.

semin went wide on a good chance. theo looking solid.

Yeah, Roloson looks good early, with saves on 8 and 28 in the last minute or so.

Semin missed another great chance after a bad defensive give away.

They look dodgy at the back.

semin just had the best chance in the high slot. left wide open.

shot wide again.

I know its early, I know, but please bury ONE of these point blank chances!!!

Oh Lee. You're sooooo helpful. Thanks guys! I'm hoping Brads can connect on a few chances.

oof. few more bombs from the point by way of green and erskine.

no MASON-ITIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

naw, its just roloson. if we keep this rate of pressure, we will get a few.

11 shots before the periods half over...seen this b4

fed line with a great chance on a bad pass from the oilers. he shouldve kicked it to kozzie instead of shooting, roloson was in position.

and..here comes our PP!!! auto matic.

Pepco Power Play good guys.

and semin with a hook.

lol.

For 6 seconds.

Caps PP, over 10 shots already on Roloson. Strike that. Now 4 on 4.

Great to get so many shots early but if you don't get on you just get the goalie in a groove.

I worry about Jose getting cold down the other end....

They'll start going in. Is Edmonton getting any time in our zone?

they had a little bit of pressure in the first 5 minutes, but nothing since.

...

Could see that coming after all those missed chances at the other end.

1-0 bad guys

semin with his second hook...

alright, calm down.

and Semin with a hook.

PK

2-0

bring it now, or this is going to run away from us....

i am going to be sick, no matter the outcome

allow me to introduce the visiting goalie....Patrick Steve Mason Roy!!!

2 man pressure in the zone always gives this team problems.

I hate that I love Lubomir Visnovsky.

I also hate that I am stuck in class :/

...is this a replay?

alright, PP.

here we go.

PP Caps, come on boys.

Don't get one here and its 6 periods in a row at home without scoring.

Oh no. Poor Caps! Let's go boys!

PP

PP

PP

5 on 3

PP

This team is SUPREMELY confident...we officially have no rep...EVEN with our home record, they dont fear us!

5 on 3, 41 seconds to go

they never make that call on the follow through.

oh, joe b just said that.

Maybe I'm okay with not watching this. Come on Caps!

***(please insert an explative laden tirade here)***

Is Rolie like breakdancing in the crease or something? I see 20 shots on goal with nothing to show for it!

Here is the measure of a good coach...ahem....exactly...W...T...F...is WRONG....what changes need to be made when you have put 19 shots on the backup goaltender of a sub-par team and are losing AT HOME 2 - 0???

6 scoreless home period in a row. Ouch.

Shouldn't the Caps fans be chating at Roloson:

"Are you Mason in disguise?"

If I say the "s-word", does it go the other way?

Well JMU you are Canadian so it may work against the Canadian team......

I hate to say this, but, hmm...

I TOLD YOU SO! LOOKING PAST THESE OILERS DIDN'T WE, CAPS?

Dave, And if it doesn't, Im public enemy #1. Guess I'll keep my mouth shut.

I don't know why people are freaking out. It was one period of one game out of 82. The Caps actually dominated the majority of the period. The Oilers are lucky to be up 2-0. If the Caps come close to sustaining their play from the 1st period, I won't be surprised at all to see us win.

okay, this game is not over yet... something needs to change and hopefully BB will do just that during the intermission.

GO CAPS!!

some of you are really weird. its the 1st period.

The Caps need a hard-nosed foward that is not scared to get in front of the crease and screen. Every shot Roloson has seen perfectly. The Caps make it easy on goalies when there is no one in front making traffic.

@tmac2yao

You know, normally I would ignore a post like this...but...have you been paying attention???? This has happened before!!! In the not so distant past!!! THATS WHY WE ARE FREAKING OUT!!! Its been a while since we displaying our awesome comeback ability. Its been a while since our superstars have performed in a superior way. I NEED ME SOME DAMN GOALS!!!

ugghhh

THAT IS IT, IM DONE...GOOD NIGHT ALL

ugh..

they dont want to win it.

if we dont get something on this PP, were done.

PP, we have GOT to score here... get some momentum going

How is Milan the fourth (!) man back on that last goal? He is a defenseman, right?

^ i noticed that too, he was wayyy out of position

bring back the bears!!! seriously...PP and not a man to be seen in front of the goalie. didn't we learn anything from laich a few weeks ago?

hmmm I'm just tuning in... what's going on? 3-0? I can only see pieces of the game here at work... seems like nobody's in front of the net for the Caps... what's going on with the D?

shoot the puck semin.

jesus christ.

FLASSHHH !!!

thanks Tomas

THERE WE GO, fleishmann with a dazzling move. datsyuk quality.

keep the momemtum up guys!!!

As good as that is, it's still 1 on 4. We need to get a red jersey in front of the effing net.

sweet play!!!

I am posting this line recommendation.....again....

8-19-14
28 to the second line

Let's Go Caps!!!!

Michael Farber, in the recent Sports Illustrated Roundtable Discussion, summed up the Caps' problem, which we see in full bloom tonight. When asked which of the 4 top NHL teams might falter during the second half of the season, he said:

"This might sound like a contradiction, but Washington might swoon. Of the elite teams in the East, its goaltending duo of José Théodore and Brent Johnson inspires the least confidence."

And, folks, unless this is corrected it will be a frustrating second half of the season--so near the cup and yet so far.

NOW is the time for Brash to knock someone out. Still early and we need to get physical...

please don't be a double minor!

d'oh

Erskine has looked strong tonight.

It is the typical Caps play well and shoot like crazy the first period and run into a hot goalie. They get deflated and get 3 goals against them. they just picked one up, but it is shades of the Philly game.

I've totally made this up, but I think "skate through the puck" makes sense: on the boards, against another man, at the blue line. Skate through the puck. Don't leave it there.

brash and clark do not deserve to dress anhead of fehr or giroux or bb's kid

the caps will win this game

I don't understand, Clark, Laich, Brash all there... why nobody is in front of the net?

Come on guys don't overlook this one... one goal here then explode in the third...

can BB tell everyone to stop shooting at the goalies logo's? It's getting annoying that about half the shots we put on are the easiest stops!

Caps coaches and players talk about getting bodies in front of the net, but they all set up in the high slot 90% of the time. Even on the power play. I don't understand it either.

Alzner's first PM

commentator, writer curse strikes again...Alzner with his first NHL penalty

Imagine 40+ shots with anyone in front of the net? Imagine.

Get Laich in front of the crease for God's sake!!

Meanwhile Boston has three guys in front of the net and just scored again!

Screen the goalie and play some defense. None of these goals are Theo's fault.

What happened to the team that held Philly to 1 goal? They went on vacation I guess. Columbus did something to this team that is going to be difficult to reverse.

The Caps are struggling at Verizon: eight periods and two goals. They've given up seven. This is a huge dry spell on offense. A goal would be great but an AO goal (the first in over 11 periods) would electrify the crowd. Energy.

what are brash and clark dressed for?
Federov has been a flop for the first half of the season...

pooh tinky

Absolutely pathetic. Once again the Caps aren't taking a middle-of-the-pack Western Conference team seriously.

tyler sloan has more points that clark and brashear

Flash is the only one ready to play tonight, he must have listened to BB in the pregame...don't overlook this game.

The stats say the Caps have 28 shots on goal, I think only about 10 have been quality shots. The defense is terrible, the passing is terrible, the shot selection is terrible. BB looks like he's ready to explode.

Hot goalie for the first 20 = death knell to the Caps. No jump. Just lumbering the puck into the zone. No speed.

I agree. Flash is the only one out there hustling, hence his goal. Funny how that happens.

: : :
:--: --- : GETTING EMBARRASSED
: :

a whole bunch of individual performances now with 12 mins left, no team work, come on caps.

if this continues, no one is getting the all star break week off easy.

Ever since Ovie went clean shaven, the Caps have lost (about to) three in a row. Please stop shaving.

well this pp is it

I think the geezers in the Hoveround commercial could play hockey better than the Caps tonight!

nevermind, I tought it was on Edm

cbs75: my 17 year old sister made the same observation about Ovie going clean shaven =]

Any coach would be criticized for keeping healthy regulars out of the lineup. But when you have an incredible chemistry going with a smattering of minor league players and a nice group of NHL players you had that great streak. When the injured players came back and the chemistry was broken you see what has happened.

They are going to get spanked on Thurs. I have a feeling. they are in a funk and it will take them a while to get out of it.

I hate to say this, but I TOLD YOU SO!

This team is not mature. They looked past the Oilers. And goaltending is a joke.

"...and green fires wide." im really tired of hearing that over the last couple games.

MKadyman

I agree. I don't recognize this team right now... I said it before, the injured should have had to earn their spot back, not received it for free.

lets face it - the "world=class coach" as that tool Randinno likes to describe him cannot motivate this team to play. Boudreau said today that his team would be ready to play because he "talked to them" about not overlooking the Oilers. I'm sorry, but you can't expect to play like this at home vs Columbus and Edmonton and call yourself a legit contender. Legit contenders don't mail in efforts like this. Also, our Hershey defensemen are BETTER than some of our Caps regulars. Please go break your other finger Sarge.

why do we give the puck away soo much?

First Caps game I quit watching before it was over. Although, I'm not sure I could call that a Caps game. They never decided to play.

dig DEEP.

Let's see now. Since Puckguru warned against the unjustified changing of a winning line up, Boudreau's boys have gone on a 3 GAME LOSING STREAK. Yes, I'm writing this with a full 13 minutes still remaining in the 3rd. period. It doesn't matter. They could play until tomorrow morning, and never catch the Oilers. The reason being, THEY'VE LOST THEIR MOJO! Their edge. That unshakable belief in the certainty of victory. Beaudrea The Genius is responsible for that. Let's be clear about who the culprit is. It's him, and no one else.
I'll say it again. "WHEN IT AIN'T BROKE, YOU DON'T FIX IT." HOW SIMPLE IS THAT? Why would anyone in their right mind change something that's rolling along at near perfection? I don't care what anyone says, IT JUST DOESN'T MAKE GOOD SENSE. We're not talking rocket science here. We're talking COMMON SENSE; something I learned a long, long time ago, isn't so "Common" after all.
So, he takes Fehr out of the line up ( And puts Flash and Fedorov back in.) Those that don't understand the subtleties of sports will quickly argue, "Well, Flash has scored TWICE since being reinserted." Puckguru's response? "Yeah? Who won the games?" CASE IS CLOSED!!
What irks me even more than Boudreau's stubborness/ stupidity is his penchant for throwing his players ( Not his pet favorites, of course ) under the bus. To me, that shows ZERO CLASS. I said, "Zero class!" He's coached over 100 games at The NHL level, and I've yet to hear him even suggest that maybe, just maybe he's the one that fouled up. EVERE!! Hmmm. I don't know, but maybe this little insight into his character ( Or lack thereof --- you make the choice ) has more than a little to do with why it took him 3 decades before someone desperately in need of a coach, was willing to give him a chance. Just saying....

Anyone think they can pull it off with 3:09 to go?

@cstanton

calm down. pittsburgh, montreal, philly, and new jersey are all legit contenders who have played equally bad games at home.

i think he heard me

@puckguru

well he is the coach. of course it is his fault.

you people are so weird.

Flash's highlight reel goal was wasted in this disasterous outing.

Let's hope the Caps have some fury going into the Penguins game and the Pens are still patting each other on the back for taking it to the Flyers.

shocker, another save...because it was shot at the gut

Bullseye

Stick a fork in it...

hang on ottawa.... (fat chance, they stink)

Brutal...simply brutal.

Looked like a pick-up game against the Oilers. Very sloppy passing. No one in front of their goalie until the last 2 minutes of play.

That was ugly.

So who on the caps wants to play D tomorrow? Who has a no send down clause? I would much rather see Collins and Helmer back up against Pitt (they have something to prove as the Bears lost 6-2 against the baby pens)

just saying, but maybe all the players coming back is a game or two to get back into it...just hope tomorrow is it.

So glad I wasted an evening watching this. :-( I'll miss tomorrow's game because I'll be at the Bears game. Hope that goes a whole lot better than this.

Keep with it Senators, hold em off till the end.

Every good team hits a slump once in a while. We had won like 40 in a row, so we were due. Better now than in the playoffs.

Although, to quote the great Jim Mora:
PLAYOFFS?! You kidding me? PLAYOFFS? I just hope we can win a game!

SEND BRASH CLARK AND NYLANDER TO KALAMAZOO OR FLINT FOR PUCKS

"Please go break your other finger Sarge.

Posted by: cstanton1 | January 13, 2009 9:19 PM "

You stay classy.

Three-or-more is back, bring up Varlamov for tomorrow.

No, keep Nylander. He actually backed up and played defense a couple times tonight when Greenie was out of position.

Puckguru you basically copied what I said previously expect I didn't blame the coach. Chemistry is important. They will get it back.

Oh yes...don't post when you are drunk.

lets see,
bruce boudreau = jack adams award winner who has guided his team to fourth in the nhl despite the third most man games lost to injuries in the league.

puckguru = bottom feeding blowhard who shows up mostly when the team loses to tell us about how he would coach this team.

i think i'll stick w/ bruce.

p.s. you all know if the didn't put fed's, erskine, clark, etc back in the lineup and the team lost, puck"guru" would be screaming about not putting the best players on the ice...very predictable.

@dcsportsfan1
Amen on both of your comments.

Oh yes...don't post when you are drunk.

Posted by: MKadyman | January 13, 2009 9:40 PM
-------------------------------------------
Hey, if that was a standing rule, this bog would miss a lot of traffic.

Myself included.

caps28fan

I wouldn't blame JT on this one at all. Semin skated right past people with the puck and didn't even swat at them. 2 went in the net.

Mo's give aways are killing us. Juice wasn't much better.

We didn't put a team on the ice tonight. It was a bunch of guys out there.

Bad chemistry all around but I still say Jurcina is the weakest link. Get rid of him asap!!

how can brash/clark not be the weakest links

I wouldn't blame JT on this one at all.

Posted by: Greg S. | January 13, 2009 9:51 PM
-------------------------------------------
Here here. He didn't see goal 1, Cole wasn't cleared out on goal 2, the 4th line slept on the 3rd goal. 4 and 5 were moot by that point.

like i said on the previous thread, don't sit Fehr. Big salaries don't make good players.

Hey, guys! Lay off Puckguru. Don't you know he's just a guy that's trolling - er - toiling under a bridge - dang - under ground in a cave - sheesh - cube waiting to be recognized as the true hockey mor...er genious that he isn't so he can make his millions as a GM/Coach/Analyst all at the same time???

He reminds me of some political "commentators" who wait for things to happen and then take shots at it.

I'll be back tomorrow after he leaves. I'm still shooting for Mr Days tomorrow night.

trust me I know it wasn't all JT's fault, breakdowns were happening all over again as in Montreal. I just saw some highlights from the Philly/Pens game...the pens look like they got it going against them.

Its just mainly frustrating to see such a reversal of chemistry from the last half of the season and into the beginning of this season to where we are today. Just waiting to see the confidence, and the team pull it back together. Which I know we all want and we all want it sooner than later.

not sure I am going to watch tomorrows game. Will be there rockn the red against Boston though.

three losses in a row.
oct: nj, cal, phx
nov: la, sj, min
dec: none - everyone get spoiled
jan: cbj, mon, edm
last time i checked (30 seconds ago)
1st in div, 2nd in conf, 4th league
when it looks like carolina is making a run - i'll start to panic.
i have confidence that their play will pick up and the wins will start coming again.
"if it ain't broke don't fix it" is fine. but they can't just leave everyone on IR/LTIR. GMGM isn't going to panic (i hope) and start makning moves just to look like he is trying. cut them some slack and let them rebuild the chemistry with the players that are coming back.
lately they have been 'playing down' to the competition - that needs to be corrected.
next up is the pens - hope they can 'play up' tomorrow. either way i'll watch and root for them again.
we're lucky to have a winning team to root for.

Just got back from Verizon...and for the first time this season i feel that I should get my money back. The team looked dead all night, nobody tried till there were 3 minutes left.

Rolie...was not good...every shot was directly at his chest or right at a defenseman. Theodore was mediocre at best...and Semin was absolutely dreadful. Ugh...why do we keep losing to bad teams??? Won't this likely come back to bite us in the a$$ come spring?

maybe a kicking by sid will wake up our veterans and gmgm

Nylander 4.875 million(4G,17A, 21P)
Theodore 4.5 million(2.93, 893%)

The whole team played bad tonight, but anyone else think 9.375 million a year for these 2 is an absolute joke?

Oof, no good. I don't think I'm even going to bother watching this one, unless someone can point out a particularly good play or two that I should watch. Not sure what's eating our boys, but I hate seeing them do this. Oh well, class again tomorrow night. Let's go boys!

Nice goal by Fleischman, but that was about the only highlight of the game. 26 give-aways compared to Oilers 13. Both Green & Ovechkin had 4 give-aways each (not the least bit impressive for such "highly touted" and "highly paid" players!) Wash. shots (for the most part) were not quality shots - very few in front of the net or on rebounds - that tells me Oiler's D-men, and offensive forechecking/backchecking was much better. Alzner & Jurcina on for 3 goals scored against (7 goals against in the last 3 games!) Oilers scored on 1 out of 5 PP, so our PK was decent. Our PP was weak - even Green's goal wasn't skilled(but we'll take it).Ovechkin has had 46 shots & missed shots in the last 3 games which is a concern, but overall the whole team is not playing with the same kind of intensity they've shown previously. Roloson played solid tonight as well ... and so it goes. Hopefully next game they'll come out energized, getting better quality shots.

Personally, even though Green's points are right up there for a d-man, (and they should be with all the PP & EV strength time he gets every game) ... I don't think he's earning his $5,000,000+ either (at least for the last several games).

@_828

Evidently there is nothing to worry about. I guess a third loss worries you none. Am worried we are going to get our clocks cleaned tom.

Weeellll ... that was painful. A few thoughts about the game (forgive me if others have made similar comments - I have not read everything yet).

- Things started bad with the anthem(s). The announcer cut in just as they were starting to sing; their "vocal stylings" threw all of the "O" people off (HA!); and Rolo bolted for the goal before they were done singing (did anyone else think it was odd?).

- Flash's goal was beau-ti-ful. He looked like Ovie out there. Too bad he followed it with a double minor (lucky for him they did not score on it).

- We've had a lot of SOG lately but not a lot of light. Just goes to show that having a strong offense is not enough - sometimes they won't connect and we will need the Dmen/goalie to keep us in the game. We need better D, starting with a S@H vet. I can't imagine that we will go past the trade deadline without making that happen. I also think it is time to see a little more of the Iron Curtain ...

- The jumbotron poll asked what everyone's favorite Canadian food was - fries with gravy (huh?), anything with maple syrup or (cough) Canadian bacon (sorry JMU!). Man, you would think that the front office of a hockey club would know better than that?!?

- Late in the 3rd the equally gregarious friend of Mr. Know It All who often sits behind me yelled HIT SOMEBODY! Mr. Boo responded to me by saying, "Don't tempt me." That was the highlight of my evening.

Poster turned lurker here....

And I'm really disappointed. Seems like the one thing said most often here is that we simply need to get SOMEBODY in front of the net. Hockey 101, god knows I heard a lot of that when I was playing.

Let's move on and get fired up for the next bout. The caps better do the same or I'll write them an email telling them how very angry I am.

EDIT: reverse that first sentence.

Bummer.

LA_caps_fan:
here lurker turned poster?? haha

Interesting Stats:

GAMES G A S S%
Ovechkin 42 27 27 272 9.9%
Semin 26 16 21 78 20.5%
Fleischman 35 14 7 72 19.4%
Green 31 11 19 105 10.5%
Malkin 44 17 49 149 11.4%
Crosby 44 17 40 136 12.5%

Does this mean Ovechkin (MVP and highest
Goal Scorer) is making $353,277.77 per goal scored to date (if he never scored another goal)and $119,231.25 per goal if he scores 80 goals by year end! Really?

clark: 2.75 mil per goal to date
nyls: 1.375
brash: 1.2
fed: 1.0

the bargin:
flash: 55.7k