Tonight's Lineup

Let's pray for a good game /win/ and hope that Jurcina and Schultz wont suck again/if that's possible/

No alarm necessary. This ain't the OU vs. TT game.

LET'S GO CAPS! Come out flying and upset the boys in black at home!

Of course, you realize that if we do that, that's the kind of statement win that will ensure that we are in every team's crosshairs for the rest of the season.

Pre-game appears to be live and in HD on CSN-HD. So who's watching the game with me, and what's the drink of choice for the evening? :P

I'm drinking Guiness. Hokies won. Penguins lost. So far I am working at 100%.

/me rummages through the fridge... Molson XXX? /me shrugs & chugs :P go Caps!

OK. I'm old. I'm drinking decaf hot tea.

It's past my drinking time - at least for when I'm at home.

Bookers, but I'm old too -- I can't drink 124 proof bourbon for 3 periods of hockey. Well, I might try.

I don't think this will gurn out good. The #1 team after 5 days rest against a beat up team playing their 3rd game in 4 nights? Our ONLY hope is to out play them in the first period by a lot. Hit them hard and often. Lots of shots (and not of gin and whiskey). Maybe they'll fold if we keep it up in the 2nd.

Yuengling for me...GO CAPS!

A fellow Hokie, huh? :)

I think I'm going to have a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, we'll see where things go from there.

oops ... from the previous:

Greg:
mauree is our token multi-lingual Italian computer geek (and I say that with the utmost respect) ... doesn't every blog have one? If not, I pity them - this place would be lost without him!!! :-)

I have not started drinking yet - any suggestions?!? I may have to resort to caffeine to stay up for this one!!

After my 90 min IPA, where should I head next? Brooklyn Double Chocolate Stout, Duvel, 90 min IPA?

Boo: Well, what have you got? :P You certainly don't have time to run to the store before the game.

FYI: Byfuglien and Sopel did not play tonight for Chicago.

uhmmmm not a doctor, but this broadcast is not HD quality at all :( Oh well, at least it's on TV yay!

Greg:
A little bit of everything ... and just enough to be dangerous!! :-)

brash clark nylander in fehr out what bull

stinking medical profession and their fancy equipment. no "drinks" for me. i'll have to settle for more of this super yummy apple juice.

cant wait to end 13 years of frustration. go caps!

migz, I think it looks better now that the game has started. But it does remind me of what HD looks like under poor lighting -- usually grainy.

Anyone here ever been inside HP Pavilion? How's the lighting? :P

Glad they've started with a physical game - let's hope they stay that way.

Brash wins huge. Holy crap.

KO

at away Brash!

GO BRASH!!!

What a great fight!

well...ko for brash on that! great start!!

ladies and gentlemen.... Donald Brashear :D

oh Boo haha just read that... grazie grazie :D

Good start by the boys huh

except not one shot on PP...

Gotta love Ovie missing the hit, then hitting the guy from standing still... you got to have a lot of energy to do that lol

mauree:
Again, with ALL due respect!! :-) BTW, how many languages do you speak? English, Italian, Hockey and ... ?!? ;-)

Roenick still plays? That guy is older the Feds!

Doh.

How many times are we going to give up the first SOG this season?

1shot 1 goal

aww that sucks first shot a goal:(

Doh — used to express sudden recognition of a foolish blunder or an ironic turn of events.

Giving up a goal on the first shot again and again and again. Pathetic.

OWN GOAL!!!

Doh.

OH MY GOSH

3shots 2 goals

come on Mo...

UGH!

Ugh! MO!

Alright well it's still the first period... plenty of time to come back.

Greg is multi-lingual, too - he speaks Homer Simpson.

Morrison SUCKS!!! SO Sick of our sadass blueliners

TRADE THEM ALL!

Both goals were Theo's...wait a minute...

nice road start for the caps

Mo had an unlucky bounce there...

jeez that is two goals that are directly mo's fault. missed coverage on the first, and the second, well...

and it was looking like a strong 1st period for 9 mins

Boo: Hah, true.

OK everyone, I'm nearing the bottom of my 90 minute IPA... what's next? :P

yes brash is awesome and we are down 2 zip and big don will do nothing for the rest of the game as usual

AAAAAAAGGGHH!!! I'm so mad

Greg:
If things continue like this, you're gonna need something much stronger.

Interesting first defensive PK line. Erskine and Sloan?

BB is gonna pull Johnnie....

Calling Jose, Jose Theodore ...

I can't believe what I'm seeing here.

AAAANNNNNNDDDD GAME.....

i got better *$%& to do than watch this

San Jose is a really good hockey club. Wow.

5shots 3 goals where is jt

Boo, I got some Knob Creek...

Games not over yet - we've come back from worse, but something drastic has got to happen.

got to put jose in...maybe they can salvage something

The Sharks are really good, but shees our D is showing all its limits tonight :(

The ghost of a "need a rugged S@H D" is on us again. How many years do we have to wait until those kind of goals don't happen again?

Unfortunately the Sharks are on fire. Our boys knew this could happen and hopefully they'll re-adjust to get this on the right track.

I'm wondering if it's even worth it to stay up for this.

Greg:
Can I have some?

Boo: Sure, you think it'll make it if I just pour it in the keyboard? ;)

And you're right, there's three periods to a hockey game. This one ain't over, but they do need to get on the board! Only way to win is one at a time.

My DH just bailed ... oh ye of little faith.

Needless to say, the Caps need one back before the break.

that was a hell of a shot by setoguchi

Our severe beating of the ducks says that veteran blueliners doesn't mean you wont get schooled sometimes. But I'm thinking a little bit more experience (GOOD experience, not the kind Sopel has) could help us turn the corner.

Why put Theodore in? He's only going to give up at least 2 soft goals.

Face it, this squad sucks and won't win anything.

Greg:
Give it a shot!! ;-) If that does not work, we could always try the phone.

COME ON BOYS - FIND THE TWINE BEFORE THE HORN!!!

The good news is after tonight's debacle in College Park, things can only get better in San Jose.

I bet Johnny's also having vision problems with those blacked out uniforms. We need some of those, and just run screens all the time.

nylander for habibullen

let's go Bruce! Lite a fire under their butts! I wouldn't be suprised to see Theo start the second...

habibullen

Posted by: wendel2 | November 22, 2008 11:15 PM
-------------------------------------------
Typing fail.

Well, I hope you guys know where San Jose is now. Sorry if the boys are tired from that long east to west trip. Not sorry for the 3 goals. GO SHARKS!!!

Wow 117 - since when are you so negative?

I dig the black sweaters - I hope we gt an old timey black sweater next season (with maybe a round logo and a lace up neckline).

our defense is the worst in the league, what a miserable period, I thought I saw our worst period against LA but that was terrible.What a shame! Let's just not play the next two.Lets move to the next game. Thats not a Stanley Cup Team - we totally suck

Who let dfoster1228 in?!?

The Pitt/Vancouver game looked pretty wild - wonder what that was all about?

Boo-
I signed up just like you did.

I am officially over Mo. I am sorry if he hust his shoulder on the hit before he scored, but really am over him. Notice he has not been out since he decided to play forward. Injury or Benching?

I am not sure that pulling Johnnie is the answer. Jose probably would not have stopped Mo either. And he might have given up a goal at the end when Poti was playing it risky all in front of our net.

If we can score one quickly in the second maybe we have a chance. Maybe Viktor will get us one, since for some reason he has been playing on fire lately.

Off to have another Guiness to drown my sorrow.

dfoster1228:
That question was not directed at you! ;-)

That was supposed to be hurt not hust. One Guiness and I can't type. Guess I am a lightweight tonight.

Kim, you'll need something stronger than Guinness. Less alcohol than Budweiser, believe it or not.

Now opening my 2nd 90 Minute IPA.

Switching to Bud now. Thanks!

Boo-
Thats okay. We all wondered how the Sharks would start after 5 days off. We got our answer.
Go Sharks!!

@dfoster

the fat lady hasn't started singing yet.
The Sharks are good but the Caps can be as least as good when they get it together.

Our offense usually mask our poor defense... not tonight. It's not the first time I see Poti deer-in-the-headlights-I-don't-really-belong-on-O throwing away the puck on good rush, Morrison as a liability, Schultz too slow and static, Jurcina and Erskine just bad...

Let's shake it in the second!

I really haven't seen Brent do anything wrong to pull him. The D in front - again - is terrible. The O has to come back and help out this depleted D.

lol Kim

The Caps will somehow make this interesting

dfoster1228:
Don't count us out yet - they don't call 'em the Cardiac Caps for nothin'. GO CAPS!!!!!

You think GMGM is rethinking not bringing in another Dman over the summer which everyone knew (and sees) we desperately needs

Wow 117 - since when are you so negative?

Posted by: Boo- | November 22, 2008 11:17 PM
-------------------------------------------
Not negative, just amused that anybody who's been calling for Theodore's head now want him to bail water out of the boat, that's all.

SJ is a team that hasn't lost in regulation at home yet, and has lost once in regulation in their last 13 and hasn't played since Monday, and just got their #1 G back. It was going to be a slightly tough game.

Oy - remember that hologram thing on CNN election night? I would've liked to be present in the locker room right now to deliver a speech to the bhoys. DEFENSE! DEFENSE! DEFENSE!
Stop GIVEAWAYS! ALL OF US LOVE YOU! We wish we all were there to cheer you on! YOU CAN COME BACK!
GO CAPS!

I don't blame Johnny for any of the goals, but a tender change can help...sometimes

Kim, no no! Something better! :) I was just using Budweiser as an example!

I'm sure that the Caps will still make a game of it. They ae a good club overall. Ovechkin is the one that needs to be the catalyst.
Go Sharks!!

117:
Was not talking about the Theo comment, was talking about this:
"Face it, this squad sucks and won't win anything."

@Greg S

yeah... remember our worries over the summer about our D?

dfoster1228 welcome to the boards, you seem ok :D... but LETS GO CAPS!

Well, we kicked their butts in face offs. There is that.

My Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout is tasting good, might have another.

Hi Steve!
I was wondering where you were. I'm not much of a drinker, so please have one for me.

dfoster1228:

your curiously frequent repetition of the phrase "Go Sharks!!" leads me to suspect that maybe you are developmentally disabled.

Are you developmentally disabled?

"Goooh Shawks!!" Gurgle gurgle.

Steve, then it's decided. After this 90 Min IPA, the next will be a Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. (I misspoke/mistyped earlier when I called it the Double; it's Black Chocolate Stout, you are correct.)

....or should I do Duvel? Mmmmm...

that call was TOTAL garbage

Boo, you do realize it's about 11%, which is more than double a Budweiser? :)

Mauree: Thanks for the welcome. What do you all think of the new schedule? It's about time the east teams had to travel.
Go Sharks!!

Shortie, Shortie, Shortie! Everyone now! ... :-D

Greg:
As long as Steve is drinking it for me, BRING IT ON!!! ;-)

"Gooooohhh Shawks!!" Gurgle, gurgle.

At least that PK was decent

How the hell does Ovechkin get a shot off like that.....thats amazing

Boo you got it.

Greg, I had the advantage of looking at the bottle while I typed.

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

brand new ball game

Yeah! We needed that!

we're outhitting them by double. We're winning 2/3 of the faceoffs. They're giving it away twice as much as us. What's going on?

NOW WE SCORE!!!

I guess I'll take back what I said abt Poti lol

large23220: perhaps but aren't all fans? uh-oh here we go caps scored. it's on now.
Go Sharks!!

Wait, who scored? Poti or Brads?

mauree, maybe the trick is you talk bad about someone and then they score. Try it again.

That Ov guy sucks, eh?

Hmm ... I think I kinda like dfoster1228 ...

GRRR, another PK :(

Sharks power play time to get that goal back.
Go Sharks!!

Thornton Scores!!!!

Nyls, pack your bags, chump.

Hmmm... I hope we're taking notes on their PP. That was a beauty.

4 in the net and pizza u get. wish i had a ticket from the game. i could get free pizza.
Go Sharks!!

California pizza? What's it come with, sprouts and such?

NICE one johnny

Since when are we ok with opposing team fans on here? I never understood why they don't hang out on their own blogs or message boards... wth?

that kid on christmas morning commercial is awesome lol

ok dfoster, let me point out that repeating "go Sharks" on the opposite team boards when they're losing by 3 borders trolling :D just an heads up.

Greg we should take notes on everything, the Sharks are playing one hell of a game... I'll even say our boys looks a bit dirty trying to catch up their speed.

I think we have an answer of whether we are up to Class I standards.

I see the pattern. Without Green, Morrison is just an AHL defenseman. They have excellent chemistry.

But on his own, he is not very reliable.

WHOA! Brash! oh no

steve_r: Oh hell no Gotta be combo with the works. and the reason i am here is because i can be.

117:
Was not talking about the Theo comment, was talking about this:
"Face it, this squad sucks and won't win anything."

Posted by: Boo- | November 22, 2008 11:33 PM
-------------------------------------------
Just trying to be first on that comment since it'll be said ad nauseum for the next day and a half (that or trade rumors).

Wow, a two minute minor for the snow shower!

I liked that call by the refs, that was clearly miscondut.

mauree: point taken. my bad

aghhh this is making me so mad... hope they can score on this PP but their guys are pretty much all over us.

117:
HA!!! Well played, sir!

dfoster, you share a lot of qualities with your buddy joe thornton

OV is such a turnover machine. He should be benched Monday.

Ovie...... Ovie........ovie.

Caps meet Ms. Humble Pie and Enjoy

Schultz, way to come over to the wrong side and screen Johnny!

large23220: I will take that as a compliment.
What a shot by vlasic--a rocket

Atta boy 117, but why stop at benching?

Well no doubts the Shark are the best team we met so far. Here's hoping our boys will take home something good from tonight.

Johnny was scored on again by the blacked out uniforms. Such skill. Why not just punch him in his face every few minutes? Same effect.

you shouldnt

So I dont post much on here because I cant watch the Caps, im in the Philly market but I am fortunate enough to get to watch hockey from 7pm till about 1am since they are running the Caps game here in So. New Castle Co Delaware.

Ive gotta say, pretty damn lackluster effort so far 5-1 end of 2? not looking good.

BTW...Whats up with no Joe B?? I didnt catch the beginning of the game.

Switching to Duvel. Not going to Knob Creek yet. I'll be happy if everyone makes it out of this game without injury, at this point. If we win, I think I'll dance around outdoors in the buck.

Caps problems are worse than we think. Defensively, this team is completely unsound. And offensively, they're way too careless. The last four games--NJ, Anaheim, L.A. and San Jose--have all been awful defensively. It's shocking things haven't been worked out. If these Caps forwards don't start back checking (especially Ovechkin's lazy butt), it's going to cause huge problems from here out. This trip was a test to see where this team was, and the Caps have failed miserably. I hope things pick up and turn around fast. Good thing they play in a lousy division.

rdy4all2000, he had Versus College Football duty today, I think.

@rdy: he must be on Versus

Ah, I see

At first I thought maybe it was the Sharks broadcast until I heard Laughlin.

Thanx

they only lost at home 1 time so far. todd mclellan has gotten their attention since he signed on. boyle and blake have both made a difference over last year. the sharks are usually very good in the regular season but get tossed early from the playoffs. hopefully things will be different this time around. this team is already better then last years team at this time last year.

dfoster, who scores hits out west? 59 total so far? A little liberal with the scoring, eh? (pun intended with you being on the left coast)

http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20082009/ES020296.HTM

Joe B was calling the TCU game (IIRC) on Versus. At least Al can go pimp the NorCal area after the game to get his mind off the game.

Schultz, Jurcina and Morrisonn - until they learn and act on making physical plays, they're all AHLer bluemen. Between the 3 of these "D"men, they have a total of "1" HIT through 2 periods. These guys play soft, don't finish their checks and can't clear the lanes!

Sgt Schultzie already a minus 4? lmao what a joke he is

Caps are lucky they play in the SE div. if they played in the same div as the Sharks they'd be in last place. Pathetic showing again tonight. Bet they can't wait to get back home and start playing teams like Atlanta again.

steve: i have no clue

puckman, they're scoring a nudge into the boards as a hit tonight. If those three between them have 1, that speaks volumes.

Steve: Now rockin' the Duvel. "Pour unhurriedly"

Logging only 4 minutes means that Feds prob re-injured the ankle...

and erskine looks the solidest out of all those sadsacks on hte blueline.

This is tough to watch

I know that everyone is pretty high on BB..im a huge fan of EVERYTHING beginning behind the bench. Its easy to coach when you have guys like OV and Semin out there, but when the going gets tough, BB needs to know how to coach DURING the game, not after or before.

Everyone talks about how some players are unable to read plays and such but it looks like BB isnt that great at reading what he needs to do during the game. We saw it during the playoffs last year, Philly adjusted BB didnt until about game 5.

Maybe BB needs to look in the mirror a bit. He is a GREAT coach but needs to begin doing what needs to do during the game to get wins when the team is down.

yep.

It's "old time" Caps hockey.

Oy vey.

Game is probably lost, but we have a chance of stop being so stressed and focus more on our usual system. And score a couple. And not let another one in :D

You are all a hearty bunch. Atleast I don't have to stay up after midnight to watch a full game.

Duvel? Please elaborate, not familier with that one. I changed gears to Old No 38 Stout

LET'S GO CAPS!

dfoster, you are so damn lucky... although it must suck to have your weekday east coast away games start at 4PM. :\

Steve_R: see http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/222/695/?ba=bros for more info.

What a sick PP goal.

wow that was a beauty

We got a chance kids LET'S GO!

nothing pretty just grind and screen and shoot

@GregAnnapolis

That bottle reminds me of BB haha

greg: yup. but if its something i really want to see live i get home from work in time. if i cant get home in time theres always tivo. caps just scored. our tv guys said the sharks have beaten the caps 10 in a row. i didnt know that

mauree wins. Flawless victory. ;)

dfoster, yeah they mentioned it at the beginning of our telecast. Still, I don't know if I could deal with there being no sports on TV past 10PM. ;)

call on Poti was right, call on Erskine was BS, guy dropped the stick

he dropped the stick because it was broke by the slash

Wonder if we can trade Schultz for a bag of ice

Can anyone tell me why I am staying up for this? Man I hope they get it together in MN.

blahh

Boudreau is probably wishing he had a better GM than McPhail to fill his roster out. NO D= EarlyPlayoffExit

Boo, you enjoying my beer?

Steve:
No, the question is are YOU enjoying MY beer? :-)

explain why the caps d is still letting sj storm their net? we trying to lose by 10 tonight? hit someone!

cstanon1, are you related to cheef?

Boo: Yeah I tried pouring the Knob Creek in the keyboard and it just started sparking and stuff. Then the computer made a loud noise and then turned off so now I'm using my roommate's laptop.

(Just kidding, but it makes a good story, huh?)

after 10pm i am usually in dream land any way. it would totally suck if i were in hawaii.

Boo, I'm feeling no pain, thank you very much.

@Boo

It's the reason the violinists stayed on the Titanic... the reason we HAVE to slow down at watch a road accident on the highway... *inserts other reasons to not be able to stop watching something bad*

Greg:
A better story than this game!! ;-)

Knob Creek is good.... Never tried to feed it to my computer though.

Steve:
Nice! Please have another one for me.

mauree:
The reason we watch Milbury's NHL coverage?

Is Schultz' contract up at the end of the year? I'm pretty sure Jurcina's is. By the way - Schultz, Jurcina and Morrisonn still only have 1 hit between them with 9 minutes to go.

Wow. The stat sheet will just not show that Johnny is handling the matters that ARE in his control pretty well.

What does that say? 6 GA. Still hanging in.

Good job, JOhnny.

Steve:
He was not feeding it to his computer - he was sharing it with me! :-) He's a giver ...

Talk about killer instincts, the Sharks keep flooring the gas pedal. That's the right mentality, kudos to them.

Those SJ guys must be required to take acting classes.

For you non-Caps fans, this is a pretty good showing by a team that has had a tough string of events. First, we're down 3 key players in Semin, Green and Fedorov (again). Secondly, the caps are on their 3rd game in 4 days while SJS has had 5 days off.

nice retaliation Backis, smart!!

Again, caps are lucky they don't play out west. They'd never sniff the playoffs

Missing Green and Semin doesn't make them a better team than the Sharks . Not even close.

They're outplaying us and still leading by 4

...that commercial was strange, at best.

I just wanted to say thank you for allowing me to join in on your board. I know the Caps are better then what they showed tonight. I don"t have my sched. handy do we see you @ your place this year?

>

Sarge is -4 and was on the ice for the last goal as well, he should be a minus 5. and no hits

Large:
What are you talking about? 6 of 25 is not purty. He's got to take the blame for some of those.

the saddest part of all this is seeing how big our guys are, yet they're still afraid to dish out the hits, schultz being a prime example.

all the other teams we've played are wayy more physical then we are..

All our veteran leadership is either packing to move back to Chicago or icing their ankle.

dfoster, you won't be in DC this season unless we meet in the Cup Finals.

Age and confidence are good antidotes for when you are getting forechecked to death consistently.

Greg:
Which commercial?

dfoster1228:
I think this is it - take it easy.

Which game did they say would be blacked out?

Can i come back to the board then?

All I want for the end of this game is for everyone (both teams) to make it out without injury. Plus a few goals would be nice, but I'll not press my luck.

Boo: The one about the food pyramid, where the girl in the soccer uniform was lying in bed watching her ceiling crack, forming a map of the Earth. (Um, what?!)

watching what crack? oh, the ceiling crack.

Doug Murray makes our entire D look like a junior team

Boo:

He's had the Keystone Kops skating their comedy routine in front of him from the start. This game is a total defensive failure. They are allowing themselves to be completely smothered by forechecking and Ovie alone has passed directly into Shark tape at least 3 times.

On the other hand, Johnny has made several strong saves in quality goal scoring opportunities.

greg:
yeah, missed that ... (are you sure you're not trippin'?)

dfoster1228:
any time - we're a bundle of fun! :-) but it would help if you cheered for the right team ... ;-)

paging john erskine, hello, do something

@Greg

I think the major factor tonight was our poor D performance.

large:
I agree about the D, but a better keeper would have kept some of those out.

sarge just sh__ his pants when he looked up and saw Shelly coming down on him, bwaahaa!

Thanks again for letting me join on your board. I enjoyed it.
good night.

Boo: Yes, I just skipped back on the DVR and checked to be sure. ;-P

dfoster: Yeah, sure, the board is open access. But root for us when we play Western Conference teams (because we're depriving them points on your behalf, yeah?)

@%$#!

hehe 7-2, awesome effort Caps!!

Doggoneit ... well, better this on the road than in the booth.

Really? Keep-away with a 5 goal lead? That's pathetic.

Boo: I do cheer for the right team. Go Sharks!! (I couldn't resist)

Boo:
I'm not saying that Johnny is Martin Brodeur. I'm just saying he's giving a much stronger performance than the boxscore is going to show.

....
Wow. 7 goals.

I wish WE still had Grier.

I guess THAT was a pretty weak one.

dfoster1228: :-P

Well, San Jose is gonna beat Detroit for the Cup Finals. Let's hope we meet them there, and let's hope it goes better next time.

well let's not be too stressed about this :)

Let's rest, regroup, focus on improving our D.

Hope Fed is ok... and upset if they rushed him back.

no biggie. Caps will come back home, beat up on the bad teams and then all in capsland will sing this team's praises again. This team blowz against the really good teams. Saw it tonight unfortunately. Erskine and Schultz were pylons tonight as usual.

Get outta town McPhee, we're sick of you and Boudreau's lack of attention to any defense. buhbye

Guys, guys... anyone slamming on us: 3 games in 5 days, down by multiple key players, against the best team in the league coming off of a 5-day rest??! I was not expecting us to win this one at all. I'm just glad we weren't shut out!

Bad, bad on rushing Fedorov back, if he's injured himself again! I hope he's OK!!!

cstanton1:
I think you overstate things. We WHIPPED the ducks. A good team. We beat good teams. We aren't done doing it this season. This is all about headspace problems. They are young, and extremely thin and inexperienced on the blueline.

I'm a big Gabby fan. It will turn around.

I'm sort of bummed out that folks are turning on Gabby. The team is 3 wins shy of tops in the Eastern.

Perspective is in order.

large23220?

The Ducks aren't the Ducks anymore. Anyone can see that. We got whipped by the Sharks and the Kings. The KINGS! We're only a good team within our division and partly within our conference. We're lucky not to play in a tougher div or we'd crumble. I just wonder if Tampa will now catch us under Tochet

damn, that was brutal! i just hope we can figure something out for the D. overall, just really sloppy

I'm a big Gabby fan. It will turn around.

I'm sort of bummed out that folks are turning on Gabby>>

young and inexperienced on the blueline? the young guys are playing worse this year imo and the guys who should be taking a step forward are not. So how is it going to get better? Alzner? He's not even playing well in Hershey. Unles McPhly makes trades this team isn't getting better on D anytime soon. Not this year.

And Gabby is good for the offense, but he doesn't coach a strong defensive style. He wants his defensemen to always skate up ice looking for a break. Thats not how you win against good team consistently. also when was the last time you saw anyone do anything of malice to a forward from the other team? they skate unmolested in our end and screen our goalies at will. Not a good formula dude

LOST RESPECT FOR THE SHARKS... THEY WERE GOOD ACTORS FOR 99% OF THE PENALTY CALLS AGAINST US... THE HEAD BOB 20s LATER... THE DROPPED STICK ON THE 'SLASH' 30s LATER... HANDS UP FOR CALI...

Good Lord people!

We're hurt, we're exhausted, we're jet lagged, and we're really freakin inexperienced on the blue line.

That's IT! It's a long season.

We're still a good team. We're making the playoffs and we're making a deep run in the playoffs.

But hey, let's forget Gabby's all but risen us from the ashes. Let's throw him under the bus too!

True, we are not a bad team but the last week of away games brought to light some serious deficiencies - a defense that does not control their end of the ice nor punishes their opponents in the defensive zone. Bottom line - if you can't take the puck, you take the guy out of play & hard! Punish him so he thinks again about coming into your zone. Wish the D would hit guys half as much as OV drills the other team's D. Stay out of and clear the lanes - possess the rebounds. No dumb passes up the gut!

@IROchtheRed: I'm with you! Enough of the we suck, the defense blows, trade 17 guys, we're going nowhere. You losers will be the first ones jumping on the bandwagon saying how great the team is, when they come home and start winning.

We had a bad night. Time to regroup, well, maybe they go out and celebrate Back's Bday first and then regroup tomorrow..

I may be blind, but the guys semeed to be trying hard, but San Jose just had our number and we couldn't catch a break all night.

Go Caps!

Steve - I think I need another beer ... Greg - Knob Creek, too, please.

vik191 if you didn't notice 5 of the 7 goals scored by the sharks were even strength so the power play wasn't really a factor in the outcome.

Alzner has played in every game this season and is third in the AHL with a +/- of 13. He's doing an outstanding job in Hershey. You just don't know what the hell you are talking about. I'm not going to argue with you.