Post-Game Talk: Capitals Vs Sharks - 1/14/14 7:00 PM - Caps Lose 1-2 (SO)

[KevinM]

I don't think Niemi is overrated at all, I never hear anyone really bringing him up actually. I like his athleticism and he's always pretty solid with respectable numbers.

 

[artilector]

Does anyone else find it amusingly ironic that we left behind "coin-flip hockey" with Hunter, and now with Oates we're on pace to set an NHL record for shootouts in a season? And by a fair margin too - we're on pace for 25, previous high is 20.

It is.. weird. Because overall Oates hockey is nowhere near as boring as Hunter hockey, doesn't seem to be as stifling for the offense, and yet Caps have a hard time getting any separation from the opposition.

I tend to think that right now it really comes down to not having enough firepower. We pretty much never have more than one line going offensively. We have like 1.75 scorers on the team -- Ovi & Fehr, and that's just not enough. The identity of the team still remains skewed (thank god) towards skill -- we're not gonna score 4 goals banging in rebounds and deflections. Caps need at least one more shooter, IMO.

Although.. I do think that recent line switches are working and Caps have been a bit unlucky. Grabo-Ovi and Backstrom-Fehr could work, just wish they had support players with higher skill/better shot than Brouwer & Laich.

In any case, another shooter instead of Brouwer/Laich would be really nice to have.