Series Discussion: ECQF: Washington Capitals vs. Toronto Maple Leafs. (LEAF FANS READ OP & POST 67)

[Midnight Judges]

Have to imagine the Leafs will begin to wear down and the Caps, hopefully, will get stronger. That's why tonight was so vital. Continue to wear down the young kids and hopefully they stop getting three or four deflections every game.

I think this might be the case, not just because the Leafs have been skating themselves silly and playing ridiculous minutes, but also because the Caps seem to always suck coming off a break, and they play their best in the heart of a long string of games being played every other day.

 

[Koized]

The Capitals probably have a higher series winning percentage being in a 2-2 series than being up 3-1.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Watch this guys



Who is this ****ing moron?

 

[twabby]

That guy has better opinions on hockey than Mike Wilbon and Steve Simmons at least.

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

Watch this guys



Who is this ****ing moron?

Sid Seixeiro or something like that. Just another idiot in the idiotic, hypocritical Canadian hockey media. It's embarrassing as a Canadian to watch garbage like that.

 

[Capitals40]

Orpik -5, Shatty -4, Schmitty + 4 in this series

 

[Holtbyisms]

So, how many of you guys can say that you had big Willy style as the MVP through 4 games?

 

[bacchist]

In the game thread...

Holtby may need to start cheating outside shooters towards the slot just a tad. The GA is alarming but Babcock is scoring many of those goals by good coaching up of how to beat a top goalie on a Grant Jennings team. They are not blinding cresting him. The are looking for slot deflections a ton.

Only thing negative I notice about Schmidt is that he is avoiding physical play. Otherwise his speed and offense are welcome.

I don't think Holtby should change a thing. Babcock is great at identifying and exploiting weaknesses. But you can't respond by abandoning your strengths. The team needs to respond and stop hanging Holtby out to dry.

 

[Portable Mink]

You know what?
We are playing pretty good hockey.
Just watched all the player/coach videos post game and without saying it outright, you can tell they are all pretty fed up with the bounces that have been going the clovers way all series.

Is this the darkest night before the dawn? Maybe... maybe not.
But we are doing everything in our power to win and it's 2-2 with just about every single clover goal being a lucky bounce or good break. We are carrying ourselves the right way most of the time and learning that most is still not good enough. We are still learning as a team that every single decision matters. Should we know this already? Yeah probably... but I think our mental strength has been good and the guys are not wilting.

I sense a shift of epic proportions. Maybe it's the vodka talking though.

 

[ovikovy817]

Connolly 4:26
Winnik 6:06 (ES TOI)
Beagle 7:45 (ES TOI)
Shattenkirk 12:18 (ES TOI)

 

[chilimac]

this series has become a fascination of sorts for me. Babcock has a young,impressionable, and offensively gifted group of players and i think he has incorporated a beautiful game plan to take advantage of it. the deflection is essentially their primary game plan. hell, its their secondary plan as well. its the Leaf's raison d'etre in this series...and i find that fascinating. Holtby and the Cap's D stymied opponents with pretty regular abandon all season...and now...they find themselves looking pretty mortal/ordinary in each and every game. Yeah, its pretty frustrating, but i'll be damned if I dont also admit I really admire the Leaf's approach at the same time. Their team has buoght into it 100% thus far, and its working.
Personally, I dont think Grub is the answer because I dont think Holtby has been the problem. The deflection
strategy has reduced that small fraction of a second Braden would normally have to react to a wrister or slapper... and reduced it to a miniscule fraction of a second instead. And the Leaf's have been very successful(in my opinion) not just deflecting pucks in the general vicinity of our net, but actually in. I dont
know that any goalie is going to hold them to 1 or 2 a night in this series. Cretainly not game after game.
So.. short of our goalie growing another arm or two by friday...whats the solution ? Do we hope their 'luck
runs out' with deflections and tap ins ? I wouldnt put money on that. Do we adopt a strategy of trying to block
the original shot before the deflection can take place-good luck with that, the only guy willing to put his body on the ice is currently on the shelf-quite possibly for doing just that. Turtling certainly hasnt helped. Flat out out-scoring
them(trackmeet hockey) hasnt given us separation thats held up. I just dont know, but I do find it interesting to
see what unfolds the rest of this series. Will the Leafs get cold ? Can Barry actually let the Caps keep their foot down for 3 periods ? Take away the Leafs shooting angles- but they've had success putting the puck on net from anywhere on the ice. I just dont know.....but Ill be watching friday night to see how it unfolds....

 

[RandyHolt]

In the game thread...

I don't think Holtby should change a thing. Babcock is great at identifying and exploiting weaknesses. But you can't respond by abandoning your strengths. The team needs to respond and stop hanging Holtby out to dry.

Holtby has been all over the place. I would love to see a heat map of his play. He has abandoned his strengths all ready. He does not look like himself. I want him to do that less, and cheat maybe just an inch instead.

Or, do you think goalies should never cheat a team/that is now pass first. Let's just say a random no name TO point man, with 4 guys clogged up in the slot. 2 vs 2, all marked. He is not going top corner. They are wisely not even trying to beat Holts with their feeble shots, they are directing pucks at the traffic in front. Some call them bad luck or garbage goals, but it is clearly their game plan. And it has almost doubled up Holts GA.

Holtby has not been beat on a clean shot the entire series, yet we are bleeding goals against.

We all see the game different.

@Chillmac - yep it's a brilliant offensive game plan by Babcock and they are pumping in the goals on the pylon Grant Jennings winner. It is easy to see what they are doing now, easiest seen on the PP's. Such to the point now that we are trying to emulate it, even us fans saw we need to do it. We need guys in front! But its not just that, the shot/pass needs to go at them.

 

[Kegger]

I'm wishing we still had a challenge when we did, sure looked nearly offsides to me on the Matthews goal that made it 4-3

 

[RandyHolt]

Again, what the hell was Andersen doing grabbing Nick's leg at the far side of the crease, away from the side of the ice with the puck? A truly bizarre play there, deciding he needed to hump Nicks leg vs play the puck. Like a guy in a fight getting his ass kicked, decides to grab the leg and go for the put down, but its a goalie as a shot is coming.

A mind boggling decision, saved only by the refs who are clearly overly sensitive to any Cap ever near any crease, oh for about 7 years now. #Knubled #GillsRevenge

It makes the TO slot deflection offense even more appealing for us to emulate. Don't risk a guys ass near an intrigued and distracted goalie, as any goal there is going to get waved off.

 

[txpd]

Highlights were interesting. Should we leave Wilson unprotected? Are we sure the Caps are going to qualify Connolly? Is Shattenkirk not damaging his market value?

 

[Kegger]

Worth pointing out PDO last night, Caps 1.06 (Toronto 0.94). Much improved shot selection and traffic part of this equation. Must keep it up.

Still need to "tighten up" our defense/goalie stats. 8.57 G60 SH...that's not going to cut it.

Corsi supports we still can be in the driver's seat here but have to be cognizant of the points above. More traffic, tighten up the defensive play-stay out of the box for starters.

 

[John Price]

Nice to see everyone is rational again. Last two days were insufferable from people who kept saying they'd choke.

 

[chilimac]

I think the frustrating part of that goalie interference call is we, as consumers of the NHL's product, dont get an explanation other than last night's "there was contact,so no goal". WTH ? Yeah, the NFL's ever-evolving "what constitues a reception" is wacky, and has been since the "Mel Gray no-catch of '75"(as we like to refer to it in my family), but at least they will usually try to give us an explanation. But will there be any comment from the NHL explaining that call last night ? You'd think they cared enough about their customers to offer up something that made sense...but... 3rd tier* is gonna stay 3rd tier. Transparency is not this league's strong suit...

* 4th tier sports would be one-armed curling and full-contact badminton

 

[Portable Mink]

I'll be on the golf course Saturday when we play and won't be home till Sunday night. Wonder if I can wait that long or whether I just find out the score given how much I hate getting my heart broken!

 

[RandyHolt]

Highlights were interesting. Should we leave Wilson unprotected? Are we sure the Caps are going to qualify Connolly? Is Shattenkirk not damaging his market value?

Make sure you watch our disallowed goal - watch the slow mo replay. Andersen decided to cut off Nick as he tried to go in front, and truly became obsessed with Nick, and stopped playing goalie. The ref clearly felt sorry for him having a meltdown and blew the play dead. But then no penalty on Nick?

http://www.csnmidatlantic.com/capitals-maple-leafs-disallowed-goal-backstrom-schmidt

 

[txpd]

I saw that. Typical call that goes against the caps that makes no sense. Another worthless point. Looked like ovechkin deflected that as it went by.

 

[Portable Mink]

It was 100% interference. We have the greatest referees in the world. I talk to them al the time. They are the greatest and I am friends with them and I know that they are 100% fair as well.

People need to realise that we only employ the best and that they are all absolutely amazing.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Dude... Lay off the booze

 

[Sam Spade]

Orpik -5, Shatty -4, Schmitty + 4 in this series

I can go back and pull my posts and multiple posters here who want Schmidt in the lineup permantly. The way the game is played now DEMANDS a player like Schmidt is in the lineup.

When (if) Alzner comes back and they pull Schmidt out I will livid. I know it's hard to pull a veteran, I get it, but Trotz has to think about what is best for this team.

Against Leafs/Pens etc. speed is the biggest factor.

 

[Sam Spade]

I'll be on the golf course Saturday when we play and won't be home till Sunday night. Wonder if I can wait that long or whether I just find out the score given how much I hate getting my heart broken!

I didn't watch any of the game and honestly it felt good.

Checked twitter every 15 minutes or so, when I saw they had a good goal called back I figured they would lose.......