Tonight's Lineup

Wow, nearly an hour and no discusion yet?

Here's to a good performance tonight by Jose! Rockin the RED at home listening to the twits. Oh yeah how stupid of me to forget "LAST"

To the people that think that Schultz is good... could you please pay attention for when he's challenged on the boards? He always loses the puck :(

kronwall just laid someone out.

Why's it so dead in here?

LET'S GO CAPS!!!

Theo!

they're all at the game.
b*st*rds
;)

We didn't get any kittygloom so I'm concerned a bit. Colorado gets a little pride in their season if they beat Theo.

Arg Kronwall!

kronwall just missed a wide open net.

how could kronwall miss that wide open net?!

Haha, I know a few people there. I was at weds game so I'm not too mad.

Nobody should allow to whack at Theo like that.

Kronwall was just watching Smyth take multiple whacks at the puck.

It looked like Kronwall was waiting for the whistle too.

I'm going on sunday and tuesday so not choosing tonight as one of my 12 was a no brainer!

This is a classic redemption game for the underdog. Proving they can compete with the top dog. We have to get dirty if we expect to win.

Wow they're killing us. Wake up boys.

not lookin good in the 1st period...

they're making it hard for us to play our game, like a lot of Western Conference teams have... 4 shots on goal?

Why why why can't the Caps dominate these teams? How can they beat the likes of Boston and NJ and have problems against the Kings and the Avs?

eh....

bb is pissed.

Here we go again! One day can we have a game free of 5-3's?

To the people that think that Schultz is good... could you please pay attention for when he's challenged on the boards? He always loses the puck :(

Posted by: mauree | February 20, 2009 7:15 PM

You're right. He should be taking dumb-arsed penalties like 3 and 23. Or he should be scratched. Wonder why he's not...

good play by steckel on the pk.

Oh save the sarcasm 117. I'm asking you to just watch him on the boards. You telling me that you either lose the puck or get a penalty? These are the only two options? Please.

Schultz is not exactly a superstar, but he is plus 17 on the year.

For Theo's sake, I hope we win. It frustrates me to no end when we change our personality and style in some games, especially against teams that are at the bottom. It's like we become a different team. I moved away from the TV for a while--too nervous to watch. Hope BB can change the tone for the second period.

Backsssss

Backstrom! All right!

nicky seriously needs to shoot more :)

backstromanator.

great play set up. great finish.

wow that was pretty

BACKS

Way to go Backy. a goal for the caps a fantasy point for me!

Take some momentum into the 2nd

Way too sloppy in our own end early part of 1st. Didn't see all of it got home late. Shouldn't take 3 legit opportunities to clear before it gets out, helped lead to their goal. Big goal by Backie towards end of period, hopefully the boys wake up for the 2nd.

The only argument I ever get backing up Schultz is that he's plus 17. No one ever point me to ONE thing he does well... while I keep pointing out to so many things he sucks at. Slow. He's not aggressive. He loses the puck so often. On that 5 on 3 he was right there with Theo when Theo was whacked on again - a normal D would have pushed that guy away.

Blah.

The 2nd goal is the most important of goal of most games.

Need more shots on goal in 2nd! I think we'll get some by Raycroft.

I paid attention to Schultz.
He did lose the puck once while playing around the board. Nothing bad or good afterwards. Only good player that stood out while playing defense was steckel during the PK.
I think there was a good all around play on that last goal. It is too bad only Backs gets most of the recognition.

Bears at Rochester tonight. Game just started at 7:35. Bears leading 1-0, goal by Graham Mink. Machesney in goal.

Yes, If that was Erskine that guy would have been laying on the ice.

YAY.....This goal just might change the momentum.

lol with all the bad things I said about Schultz, he's going to get an hat trick tonight :D

Anyway, COL is coming out strong, need to step it up in the second. Let's go boys!

Repost, if anyone cares:

Ha!

I was first to suggest F Troop as the line name the other morning, and Joe B just called em "F Troop!"

Ha! Take that, F Streeters!

Now for Locker's quiz question...41 players have scored 500 goals in the NHL. Which goalies gave up the most 500th goals? I assume this means which goalies gave up the most #500's. I will guess Terry Sawchuck because he played so long and Curtis Joseph because he played many years against guys who scored a lot. CuJo also did give up lots of goals. Eddie Giacomin is another possibility. It's kind of fluky, who gave up the most #500s, but you'd guess guys who played many years have a better chance.

mauree:
schultz has a small cap hit - he takes his tiny paycheck well ☺

You telling me that you either lose the puck or get a penalty? These are the only two options? Please.

Posted by: mauree | February 20, 2009 7:39 PM

That's what you got in the 1st with those two.

On a related note, I don't understand how people can say there's room to improve with some players, but not with others, especially when you're the 2nd youngest starter on the team.

Here's the list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NHL_players_with_500_goals

Patrick Roy gave up three (Yzerman, Joe Mullen, Brendan Shanahan), but the winner is some guy (never heard of him) named "Empty Net," who gave up 4. Should have known the answer would be related to the teams playing tonight.

@TominFl1

Yeah and Joe says that he thought of that driving in this morning, haha. He was definetly peeking in on the Insider.

we are a mess in our offensive zone...

too much passing, Avalanche are intercepting everything.

more geeky for you all:
who will be the three ☆☆☆'s tonight

Bears and Rochester tied 1-1 at the end of the 1st.

That's if they get into the o-zone. Av's are doing a great job of clogging up the middle.

Awesome stars! Also, is anyone SOOO annoyed by that stupid commercial about taking hard classes with those weird people in a cage? omg SO annoying.

slacker D allowed that one in

Good, Avalanche scored, maybe this will wake them up now, why do they play this way vs. crappy teams?

Bad turnover by Nylander...don't know why Bradley didn't see Nyls open in the middle on the other end. That line just isn't meshing well, big waste of Laich.

it seemed like Bradlee was standing still.

The "bad" teams know they don't have the firepower to run and gun with us so they try to slow the game down and make it sloppy. Their dump and grind works well against us too on those nights when we are just having a tough time getting it out of our zone.

We'll turn it up, just look sluggish atm.

rachel216:
i think someone else in a previous post had it pegged. the west is just a lot better than the east - so even the bottom feeders in the west will give a good game

@Dave,

Agreed, and big waste of Nyls.

nice D by poti

They are really not playing well tonight... God, I do not want to lose to the Avs. 12 shots on goal? Are you kidding me?

Avs play the boring-est style of hockey...*sigh* dump and chase all day. bleh.

When Alzner was sent down to Hersey ? I missed something and can't find it anywhere :(

they're stinkin it up! so sloppy.

The Caps are due for a short-handed goal.

wizardzik, Karl was sent back like 3 days ago.

rachel,

I think he means that he misses something intangible on D?

Kirk, lol...

I ♥ OVI he's a super ★

This really sucks, if we could get more shots, we can definitly beat Raycroft, he isn't that good, but we barely have tested him. 15 shots isn't gonna do it.

2nd period was crap - theo has kept them in the game. they better figure out how to step it up a notch for the 3rd

mauree:
nice - i don't feel so all alone in my geek world now

Mauree: no no :) my internet connection was messed up for few days and now it's ok and now I couldn't find news about Alzner... anyway, I miss him on D

I'd be OK with Nylander's lack of offense if he was at least avoiding the giveaways and poor defense. If he doesn't do those last two things consistently, he should get his fair share of healthy scratches when Kozlov gets back, if not sooner.

I think he means that he misses something intangible on D?

Posted by: mauree | February 20, 2009 8:34 PM

He hadn't had the best run of games since the break either.

Frustrating game thus far. You'd think the Caps should dominate this game, but they're not doing that exactly. Don't wanna play bad teams anymore, they always give us the most problems. Don't they know if they win we'll be within 7 points of Boston?

Brash needs to fight to give the team a spark. Although there would be a penalty... something though, they were very sloppy in 1st and 2nd.

Caps vs. Western Conference opponents equals "AWFUL" (w. the exception of DET gm)

lol wizardzik ok :)

Situation all ☁ (cloudy) right now, need some ☀ (sunshine)- let's go boy let's ☠ (kill) the AVS.

All right all right I'll stop :p - hey it's all Kirk's fault

@wiz

They sent him down on monday and Bruce said it was because he wasn't playing on Weds. I figured he would be back by now?

Sorry, but Nylander IS bad.

Mauree:
this seems to be a pretty complete list - at least that i could find
http://www.bigbaer.com/reference/character_entity_reference.htm

let me know if you have more

Kirk, haha it's the exact same one I was using.

Rachel,

I agree. Last game too he was not good.

Caps vs. Western Conference opponents equals "AWFUL" (w. the exception of DET gm)

Posted by: 555Mass | February 20, 2009 8:44 PM

this applies to the whole East.

We have to get dirty to win, hopefully we have the nose for it tonight. Ovie's due for another broken nose anyway.

I have to go to music practice, Go Caps!!!

Alzner is playing for the Bears tonight. Game tied 1-1 at the end of 2nd period. Bears outshooting Amerks 21-11.

Well the second period was not completely crap. We definitely had more shots on goal and scoring opportunities and, added to this, luck was not on our side in a couple of near scores. But we were still kind of sloppy and inconsistent. I can't take more of this all-over-the-map playing in the third.

Oh, I thought the Panther's beat the Kings the other night.

Come on, let's play a great third period.

mauree:
why must the caps think they can ☎ in some games?

everyone else:
let me know when i'm getting too annoying - i don't want to be a WJS

Yeah, mauree, he frickin fell and almost cost us the game. Actually I think that was the one that Montreal hit the post. But nonetheless, he isn't very good, and he's extremely slow.

I do not think the Caps are playing that bad, I think Raycroft is having a heck of a game. He has made some goods stops, maybe not the spectacular type but outstanding never the less. The stops on Feds and Semin were very good.
I still think the Caps will comeback and win.

Capt_Kirk_in_AZ, I like those little symbols. lol. :) Keep using them, they're cool.

Come on, we need a comeback! No losing to the last team in the Western C. Dang it, Locker said Colorado don't give up leads, oh great. Come on Caps.

Uh oh! Did I just see Ovechkin turn it over twice? They are definitely not connecting on passes tonight and even Ovie is not on fire. We're in trouble.

Come on, guys!

aww man

that was a nice shot.

I don't see the little symbols, I only see little squares.

Fedorov's shot has been off for a number of games now, his clean shots in the slot are not going on net.

Okay, Now, Go Caps!!!

Man this sucks, they just don't have it today. 1 goal lead was hard to come back from, now, 2 goals.. forget it... they obviously still haven't learned their lesson, don't take bad teams lightly. Caps aren't playing that well but Jose's not exactly having that great of a game... maybe he shouldn't have said that stuff.

It's never over.

Why does it seem like there's about 8 Avs on the ice for nearly every shift?

they're dominating us :(

I do not think the Caps are playing that bad, I think Raycroft is having a heck of a game.

Posted by: opita1 | February 20, 2009 8:54 PM

Well, a blown game is a blown game any way you slice it.

One thing though, we're definitely not getting any pp's this game.

Is Colorado this disiplined when it comes to taking penaltys? I caught the no-call on Green when he was hooked but other than that I haven't seen much. And now one on Sarge, jeez

Let's face it the Avs are playing better until now. All the penalty we took was cause we were one step behind :(

@ Dave

Haha

So Greenie does one of his offensive rushes, takes a shot on goal, and the other 4 Caps stand around and watch him. Nobody went near the net to pick up the rebound!

And now another frickin' hooking penalty.

As much as I would love to see a comeback... don't see it, this is reminding me of the LA kings game. yuck.

@ludeman95

AVS didn't need to take penalties. However that one on Green should have been one.

Finally!

"I do not think the Caps are playing that bad"
Well, that is not longer true on this period. But the lines have changed.

Yeah, lots of people standing around in this game... one guy shoots, everyone just stands there and lets the Avs players take the puck...

wow a penalty...finally... IDIOT refs.

semin just walked in from the boards, haha.

get that puck up semin.

kronwall and flash both missed wide open nets.

good job guys.

They woke up it seems... will playing the last 10 minutes be enough?

Now they're putting on pressure, where was that all game? Kinda too late.

Bad news: Avs just scored another one

Good news: Chris Bourque just scored for the Bears. Leading 2-1 early in the 3rd.

NOW it's over, this is seriously like the LA game. wow, disapointment. Jose, please don't say things anymore, although the whole team is playing like crap.

What a crap game. I'm done watching.

game looks over - can't score and nobody's going in front of the net.

I'll never stop watching. Almost definitely over now. Missing 2 or 3 empty nets didn't help tonight but just people gripping their sticks too tight. Any puck was rolling over sticks, bouncing away and we wouldn't pick it up. Gotta work on basic chip it out plays or making the easy pass when a team is going to muck it up.

Either need retarded comeback here or just start getting it together for Sunday's big game against Pitt.

Yeah, mauree, reason why they don't get any dirty goals is because NO ONE stands in front of the net, NO ONE. They're still trying to be too cute, they want the perfect pass, the perfect goal. oh well, get ready for pittsburgh i guess.

a wasted 2 points, though. we had a game in hand on NJ, but now we don't anymore. poor showing.

Since NJD have one more win, they get second place now.

They're lucky they didn't get shut out. Game was a rotten egg.

of course a penalty to finish the game.

Nicky really needs to do something with that mop of hair!

Well let's hope we don't get many more of these stinkers.

Wow, we lose to the last team place in the WC, this sucks. They'd better come out flying against the Pens. I bet BB will say after this that their performance was UNACCEPTABLE. I'm really not used to this, losing feels weird, but they lost cause they let the Avs dictate the game, they made us play the way they wanted to play, and obviously it worked. It sucks that there is postgame live for today when they lose, and there hasn't been postgame in a while. :`(

Nice hit by Backie, oh well. Get 'em sunday boys!

Not a very good effort by the Caps. The Avalanche played well - and to the end. We should have learned by now to expect lowly teams to come into VC trying to knock us off and not roll over. Most disapointing.

yeah they didn't have their A game, they had their F- game.

I don't post here a lot, usually only when i'm really pissed or really excited...and right now, i'm really pissed. That was pathetic. Columbus twice, Edmonton, LA twice, Nashville and now this...when we finish the season in 2nd or 3rd...it's because of all these half a$$, garbage, crap efforts against less talented teams and friggin BACK UP GOALIES!!

I'd like to specifically rant that Brashear was absolutely awful, Green played like crap, Schultz did nothing. Ugh. What waste of 2.5 hours of my time.

Rant complete.

I'm sure this result isn't surprising to anyone. Caps refused to play a gritty game tonight. Too many soft passes and attempted cutesy maneuvers ended up in a lot of turnovers. Nyls and OV were culprits tonight on that front. They gave one their worst efforts of the season, and it showed.

But I guess Theo was right, one save here or there can make a difference. Too bad he didn't do that this evening. Someone get his comeuppance. A couple of those goals he surrendered weren't great. But then again, the defense stunk, too.

All that said, they'll come out hard against the Pens. No doubt about that. If only these guys would beat down on opponents that are beneath them.

Hope the boys are p*ssed at themselves and take it out on the Pens on Sunday. I'm going to be there for what might be my only live Caps game this season. Hoping to see a much better effort.

At least after really crappy games they have hot streaks after... it's always a really bad game, then a string of wins, then a crap game like tonight, and then a bunch of wins, they need to win all the time. I want Michal to start on Sunday.

Efforts like that make you wonder who else besides Erskine is coming down with the flu.

badkarma723, well said, that's exactly what i feel.

is anyone going to hockey n heels tomorrow, i'd like to finally put a face to the people i talk to on this blog so i'm not so distant. plus i did drive 4 hours tonight to get to the city.

To be honest, they had so many breakaways that it could have been easily 6-7 to 1.

I'd like to specifically rant that Brashear was absolutely awful, Green played like crap, Schultz did nothing. Ugh. What waste of 2.5 hours of my time.

Rant complete.

Posted by: badkarma723 | February 20, 2009 9:33 PM

Ditto

Schultz and Green were terrible tonight, Poti wasn't much better. in fact poti has been POTTY since he's come back into the lineup. How many times is he going to muff a clearing pass on a PK? That kind of screwup shouldn't happen with such regularity.

Kronwall was the only defenseman even holding the blueline tonight. Rest of our D kept conceding the zone to their forwards

Well I'm speechless. Tomorrow should be interesting.

They were sleepwalking out there. No energy at all. Disappointing.

abuddy2004, I'll be there. Probably a Rock the Red t-shirt, brown north face fleece, carrying an 8 jersey. Hopefully traffic won't suck and I'll be there for practice at 11.

Crap! Rochester just scored two quick goals and now lead the Bears 3-2 with 2:41 left in the third.

I just don't get how we can beat the best teams, and then suck against bad ones, I mean we should completly dominant them, we're 2nd in the conference and they're LAST. I hate that they think they can just show up and play at 50% and they'll win, they need to snap out of it, they aren't THAT good, or not as good as they think they are.

No Hockey N Heels for me, just the game on Sunday.

@rachel

Theo also made lots of good saves... this loss is not on him (although a couple of those were softies). It's too much responsibility to start Neuvirth when it's not to rest Theo. Yes, he should taste the NHL but not be burned too early.

Sorry, but Greener was bad today and he was bad against the Habs. If they don't come out and kill the Pens, then I'll be amazed. I'm already calling a win. Btw, naylander sucks.

bleh nylander whatever

Bears lose 3-2. Home game tomorrow against the Philly Phantoms.

Rock the Red. It's pathetic when this team plays down to it's competition. Let's all understand this, Theodore shot his mouth off today and look what it got him. We are not going anywhere with Theodore in goal and without a NO NONSENSE Defenseman. How many years are we going to have to say this. Defensemen win playoff games! ie Scott Stevens, Nick Lidstrom and Chelios, Chris Pronger, do I need to go on and on...It's time to get real and make a bold move and bring in Pronger, Neidermayer or Boemeister. Oh and while you are at it, get a goalie who will give you a cup run

Nylander wasn't as bad as some out there. He banged a few and got a couple of turnovers.

Having said that, he wasn't glorious either.

I like on the daily dialog, a reporter asked BB what he thought about the caps playing down to the competition, BB said he disagreed that they ever did that. How about now? Do you still disagree gabby?

Pucks definitely didn't bounce the Caps' way tonight. A bunch of missed opportunities.

And who was Ovie passing to all game?

Too much east-west just inside their blueline.

Not enough blue-collar hockey.

BB should let 'em have it good. I'd be scared if I were the Pens.

LOL PEOPLE KEEPING FIGURING A FIGHT BY BRASH WILL IGNITE THE CAPS.......HE PICKS HIS ONE FIGHT A MONTH AND THATS IT BETTER LOOK FOR A DIFFERENT SPARK OR SPARKLER

"WE LET EM OFF THE HOOK!!!"
Bruce seems pist.

I read in a game preview that Colorado has one of the worst defenses in the league and they DO give up a ton of goals, but their defense was really good today. I also hate losing to goalies I've never even heard about before.

I love how people always say the Caps "play down to thier competition" These guys they are playing are on PROFESSIONAL hockey teams. This isnt rec league. These players are in the NHL for a reason. Remember last year when they swept the Senators? Were the Sens playing down to thier competition or did we believe that the Capitals were a good team with talented players that could beat the very best in the league? Sometimes the bounces don't go in thier favor and the other team jumps on them when they see a mistake.

That's cause he is PISSED... pist? um okay.

@ludeman95

huh? Are you saying that tonight's was the same effort that the Caps put against DET? or BOS?

Bradles 9 shifts -3
nylander 10 shifts -2 no shots
yuck

more talent but less effort and grit means caps lose

If the Avs put on Red Wings jerseys, I'll bet the caps would have won. You can't argue the results. Losses to Kings, swept by shutouts with Columbus, yet beating Buffalo, Pens, Devils, Bruins, etc. They are beating difficult teams and bending over for easy teams. What else is there to say? It's hard to argue with the statistics. But think whatever you want.

Well, so much for Theo's, "Revenge." Simply put, "No guts, no glory." Far too many times this year, the Caps have shown up with not the slightest bit of zip, zest, or heart. Without those, which SHOULD BE constants, you're not going to win very often, even against a lesser group like The Avs. McPhee has constructed a team supposedly long on skill, but decidedly short on the intangibles that all champions possess. Yeah, puck - handling skills are important. But, not to the extent that you rely on them exclusively, while ignoring the brutish, "Physical" aspects of the game. THAT, seems to be the Caps' dilemma.
Any time Ov ends up being your only physical "Enforcer" on the ice, you know you're in trouble. Such was the case tonight. On this team, guys most definitely DO NOT HAVE EACH OTHERS BACKS. And, the whole league knows it. It's common knowledge that you can push em, and punk em all over the ice. I'm still waiting for Morrison, Fehr, Boyd Gordon, Fedorov, Nystrom, Juice, Mike Green, Poti, Kozlov, Flash, or just about ANYBODY NOT NAMED BRASHEAR, OR BRADLEY, to drop the gloves, BE A MAN, and say, "Enough of this!"
It's ridiculous to expect Brash to fight EVERYONE'S battles. Real men fight their own battles. At least, that's the way I was raised. "Don't come home telling me how some bully beat you up son. Because if you do, I'M GONNA GIVE YOU A WHIPPIN YOU'LL never FORGET."
Nobody wins EVERY fight. Even Mohammed Ali got whupped. There's no shame in that. But, there's sho - nuf a whole lot of shame in cowering like Nicky did in the last minute of the game. What kind of man behaves like THAT? That's shameful, and pitiful to boot. And, THAT'S WHY the boys ARE NOT READY for prime time, or The Cup.
No, GMGM is going to have to replace some of all that so - called ,"Skill" with some abrasiveness. some "Spunk" if you will. I'd take Beagle ( Or my guy Sutherby ) over Nystrom, any day of the week. Same goes for Lang vs. Fehr. For sure! There's a passiveness that permeates this team. It's like a cancer. Unfortunately, such a mindset can't be changed by simply replacing one or two guys. Ah, if only twere so easy.

They DO play down to their competition. They look at where they are in the standings and where their opponent is. Why else would they have bad losses against LA, Edmonton, Avs? In all those games, they didn't have energy, played bad defense, etc. Of course they know all the teams have professional players, but it's clear they see where a team is in the standings and think it'll be a cakewalk.

I figured "pissed" would be blocked on this site. um okay.

Do you honestly think a fight would have changed the outcome tonight? And it's Nylander not Nystrom, and Laing not Lang.

Whatever, that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. If you guys think that before the game thier in the locker room saying... " This will be an easy 2 points, It's only Colorado" Your crazy

@ Puckguru

Cowering? He laid out a nice hit and then got headlocked from behind? What were you watching?

@Puckguru, yeah I only want Brash to fight cause I don't think anyone else can, Brads can kinda, but not that well. I just don't want anyone else to fight, like Green, Nick, Ovie, espcially Semin, because 1)they can't/don't know how to 2)they'll get hurt trying 3)It'll be embarassing for them, just ask Sasha.

This blog needs a "block user" feature. I guess his cousin Chief will show up soon. Bleh *disgusted*

We laid an egg tonight. Oh well, better tonight than on Sunday or Tuesday....

no, ejohnsto, pissed is okay on this blog. :)

haha where did Nystrom come from, combined Backstrom and Nylander. :0

"Bleh *disgusted*

Posted by: mauree | February 20, 2009 10:17 PM"
You mean you don't have a little symbol for that one? :-D

These rants are pretty ridiculous. Yes there was very sloppy play tonight, and yes there were D breakdowns and what I thought was a really bad game at getting the puck out of our zone that led to too many turnovers. Theo kept the game where it was, the last goal was a bit of a softie but the rest I have no issue with.

It's not so much playing down to competition as not reacting well to how they are playing us. A lot of their clean rushes were because of a D trying to pinch up to keep it in their zone at a very poorly timed moment. I didn't think Green or Poti were that bad, I think Nylander and Brash had 2 plays in particular that led straight to goals. Poti and Mo broke up so many odd man rushes it could've been much worse.

Also, it was nice to finally get a real PP in the 3rd. I'm not saying we should've had 5 or 6 but it was a wacky game. We missed 2 empty nets and at least 1 or 2 others that should've been put home.

No panic here, bootstrap it up for Sunday. Nylander needs to figure it out though. That 3rd line tonight was pretty bad and it wasn't Laich's fault for sure.

Whew, I was beginning to think I was the only one.

Puckguru has a special TV in his mom's basement. It filters out reality and only presents what he wants to see - that is the Caps losing. He lives for it.

Just ignore him and we'll all be just fine.

wow calm down.

its a regular season game.

Left early for obvious reasons. Yuck. Nothing against Kronwall, but why did we pick him up? He's an upgrade from Erskine, but we just resigned Erskine to a contract only slightly smaller than the TARP.

I said it earlier and I'll repeat it: The West is WAYYYYYY better than the East. Teams that are 9-10-11 in the West would be 5-6-7 in the East. We're damn good in the East, but that isn't going to bring home the Cup.

This is, what, our 5th loss at home? Any team will be flat sometimes. The Caps were against Montreal, but they figured out a way to win anyway. They just came up way short this time.

In a trap you have to dump and chase, backcheck hard and keep pressure on. The Caps did none of that.

They tried to pass across and through the neutral zone, but it was clogged with Avs. So why did they keep trying it?

The Caps weren't thinking out there. They didn't get outplayed by the Avs, the Caps just plain didn't play. Period. No fight was going to wake them from their slumber. There isn't the drive to win against western teams for some reason with this team. They'd just better figure out how to do it before too long, though.

Did anybody notice one major thing? The ice was FAST tonight. Very fast. The Caps came out and hit the puck like they usually do, and it zipped right past them, lying flat on the ice like a puck is supposed to. It was amazingly good ice.

And the guys looked like they had no idea how to compensate for it.

Or was that just me?

@oldtimehockey - I think Kronwall played well tonight, personally. Give the man some time to adjust to the new system before you say he's no good. He's only played in - what - two games for us? Jeez.

@ tess2201,
Yes, I DO think it would have changed the outcome. You NEVER allow you opponent to relax and get "Familiar" with you in your own building. That's an absolute NO! NO! BB speaks all the time about not wanting to feel as though they have ANY CHANCE to win in The Phone Booth. How do you think that's going to be accomplished? By a bunch of "Pretty" passes? I don't think so. There's an old expression that goes, "I'd rather be feared, than respected." That's what The Flyers have going for them. NOBODY relishes going into THEIR building. NOBODY! And, it's certainly not because they're such wonderful stick handlers. Is it? NO! It's because they know they're going to get their clocks cleaned for 60 minutes. It's like teams going into Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. THEY KNOW they're in for a serious bruising. Shucks! The Steelers have a 7 point edge going into every game. Get me?
If only The Caps could combine that "Skill" with some real grit. Aw, man! They'd be UNBEATABLE. But, to get to that point, they're going to have to make a few personnel moves. For sure.
And, thanks for the corrections. I know better. Simply didn't proof read it. Like taking an honest whuppin', there's no shame in that either.(smile)

I don't buy that the West is better than the East. I definatley don't believe that the Avs are a superior team to the Caps. I think it's the same thing we've seen time and time again. When they play a subpar team, they just don't show up.

I see SJS, Det, Bos, NJ as the quality of teams that the Caps should be. When we don't play those kinds of teams, though, we play sloppy.

Now that you mention it, it did seem like guys were getting handcuffed tonight.

I'd rather watch the Caps win how they do then watch the Flyers take runs at the opposing goalie all night. All this physicality did'nt seem to help the Penguins last year when they faced Detroit. Detroit's phenominal defense is what helps them win games, not thier physical presence on the ice. And when was the last time you saw a Detroit player fight other than the other day. Any btw the last game the Steelers played at home this year they were favored by only 5 against a rookie Qb.

@ludeman95,
I see you're a statistics man. most losers are. There's only ONE STAT that's truly important. That's the W's & L's column. And, oh! By the way. I DO BELIEVE my mighty Steelers DID WIN THE SUPER BOWL THIS SEASON. How do ya like THAT stat?!

Well that explains a lot.

Ladies of the blog, late notice, but I'd be up for drinks and hockey-talk tomorrow night if anyone is of the mind. Shoot me an email at jmu.capsgirl at gmail, or find me at Hockey n Heels tomorrow!

That's it NO more going down to Verizon to watch Caps play Western Conference team. Caps just doesn't give rat's arse about these games.....

It's upsetting to hear the fans in the Verizon Center boo their players, for a loss. No offense, but last I checked, the group that has it hardest during these games are our players and for people to be booing them, makes me sick to my stomach. None of those bonehead fans should be booing anybody since the losses are felt hardest by the players. I hope some of you sitting next to these yahoos booing our Caps clocked them or told them to develop some class. I'm appalled that anyone who goes out and says they're Caps fans and then decide, "yeah, I'll boo them tonight for the loss to the Avalanche." Not saying you went in there with the intention to boo them but dang! Our loyalty to the Caps is like a marriage, "for better or for worse", folks. Like someone said earlier, pull up the bootstraps and let's move on to amping up our FURY for Sunday's game against the Penguins. Unleash the FURY, Caps fans!!!

@Puckguru

It's all so clear now! Deep down your a Pens fan, and since your Pens are stinking it up and all the comments over on PensBlog look exactly like yours, you don't get a response. So you come over here with your doom and gloom about to get a response out of us. I certainly won't respond to you anymore. Oh and Ward is the biggest CHEAPSHOT artist in the league, now I know why you enjoy the Flyers style of play so much and if your proud of that, well thats on you.

FINALLY! There are people who agree with me about Caps always playing down to their competition.

I don't think you want him in your corner.

555Mass

Haven't seen any of your posts, and quite a few of us have said it this year.

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