Series Discussion: ECSF: Capitals vs Penguins (Pens win) (mod warning post 806)

CapitalsCupReality

It’s Go Time!!
Feb 27, 2002
64,377
19,074
Pittsburgh added 2 hall of fame forwards to their roster within Crosby's first 3 years. Not surprisingly, they made it as far as the Finals. They won the next year with even more impressive additions -Guerin, Kunitz and Satan.

We were in a position to surround him with those same winners. We chose Viktor Kozlov and Brendan Morrison.

I guess you know for a fact those "winners" were poised to come to DC and MCPhee just dropped the ball? Seems like a simplistic view to pick players out of the air and suggest we could have easily done the same, but I don't disagree that McPhee could have done it differently. I'm just not sure he could have done much better in that area. The players have to want to come, and playing with Crosby in a winning organization was clearly more attractive than coming to D.C.
 

RandyHolt

Keep truckin'
Nov 3, 2006
34,639
6,800
Let's not forget many players/agents and likely some GMs had all but blackballed George. It may happen to all GMs for all we know, but I doubt it. We were a good young up and coming team in a major market committed to winning. Getting players to come here shouldn't have been extremely difficult.

I theorize it was from all his low ball offers, and poor relations with existing players. Eventually he had to overpay to get anything done, and they were marginal players. The odd Fedorov deal aside, which have been more about Ovi than anything.
 

Alexander the Gr8

Registered User
May 2, 2013
31,594
12,657
Toronto
To everybody, I feel your frustration. Trust me, we've all been thinking about yesterday's game and just wishing we could turn back time for the Caps to correct their mistakes. Consider this. Professional hockey is a show, it's for fun. You have to enjoy watching your favourite team, win or lose, otherwise there's no point. That's why I decided to stop being pessimistic and just see all the positive things the Caps give us.

They're not on the verge of bankruptcy or relocation, they play fun hockey (at least in the regular season) and they make the playoffs almost every year. Sure they choke and they'll likely never win a Cup in the Ovechkin era but it could be worse. At least they're not the Coyotes or the Islanders.

This year was a fun year for me. Travelled down twice to Washington, once for my birthday and I missed the game because of my flight, and the second time I watched game 2 vs the Leafs. I've met my fellow Caps fans, visited this beautiful city and I even met an amazing girl in DC.

I learned that Caps fans are good natured and extremely patient with their team. I kept in touch with an old couple that have been following the Caps since 1980 and they still love the Caps. I was amazed by the atmosphere at the Verizon Centre, it was as good as any hockey game I've ever seen and that's comparing them to the Habs at the Bell Centre.

I can assure you we will be back. It might take a year, 5 years or even 10 years but we'll make it eventually. We just need to accept that the Ovechkin era was a failure and move on as soon as possible.

Normally I enjoy watching the NHL channel, can't bear to watch a dissection of the Caps' series loss or a look ahead to upcoming series. Been a Caps fan since Dennis Maruk was advertising Sasson Jeans and I haven't gotten used to anything, I'm still feeling the pain. Maybe even more so because an era I had such high hopes for may be coming to an end.

Was thinking today about a scenario where we completely gut the team and win a SC, say, 5 years from now. Sure I would be happy, but the hurt of OV and Backstrom never making it to the ECFs would always be there. Just like the pain of my 80's and 90's teams still lingers.

If we win the SC, I don't care if Ovi and Nicky aren't on the team. They've had their chances. I'm a Caps fan before being an Ovechkin or Backstrom fan. They'll find a way to win one with another team, I'm sure.
 

CapitalsCupReality

It’s Go Time!!
Feb 27, 2002
64,377
19,074
To everybody, I feel your frustration. Trust me, we've all been thinking about yesterday's game and just wishing we could turn back time for the Caps to correct their mistakes. Consider this. Professional hockey is a show, it's for fun. You have to enjoy watching your favourite team, win or lose, otherwise there's no point. That's why I decided to stop being pessimistic and just see all the positive things the Caps give us.

They're not on the verge of bankruptcy or relocation, they play fun hockey (at least in the regular season) and they make the playoffs almost every year. Sure they choke and they'll likely never win a Cup in the Ovechkin era but it could be worse. At least they're not the Coyotes or the Islanders.

This year was a fun year for me. Travelled down twice to Washington, once for my birthday and I missed the game because of my flight, and the second time I watched game 2 vs the Leafs. I've met my fellow Caps fans, visited this beautiful city and I even met an amazing girl in DC.

I learned that Caps fans are good natured and extremely patient with their team. I kept in touch with an old couple that have been following the Caps since 1980 and they still love the Caps. I was amazed by the atmosphere at the Verizon Centre, it was as good as any hockey game I've ever seen and that's comparing them to the Habs at the Bell Centre.

I can assure you we will be back. It might take a year, 5 years or even 10 years but we'll make it eventually. We just need to accept that the Ovechkin era was a failure and move on as soon as possible.



If we win the SC, I don't care if Ovi and Nicky aren't on the team. They've had their chances. I'm a Caps fan before being an Ovechkin or Backstrom fan. They'll find a way to win one with another team, I'm sure.

Exactly right....players come and go. I don't care who lifts the Cup at this point, just that we do it eventually.
 

Raikkonen

Dumb guy
Aug 19, 2009
10,715
3,166
Russia
After thinking about it for a day.

Caps are good. They are not the best.

Unfortunate, but this is the state of things now.

We should support them not trash them 24/7.

The fan can choose to watch them live, watch them from home or do not watch them at all. Scapegoating them is not the answer for anybody.

In the end, it's THEIR problem, not getting the cup.

They (players) should think about and work to change it. They can talk in that locker room and they know whatever happens inside.

Crosby and company are great players who play for strong organization, and Capitals aren't there so far. That guy Sidney Crosby is good at hockey. Yep.

And still we had a good fight and were better than last year. And then lost again.

Is it a reason to ruin everything? Well, depending on your (Ted's) goals for the future.

Is it a reason to stop watching? Depending on your personal goals.

Keep calm guys.

Let the health be with you.
 

Jacoby4HOF66

Pull my finger
Mar 13, 2009
30,522
7,726
Meh. No manifesto from me on what happened two days ago. After last year I went into these playoffs expecting disappointment. It has made it easier to take. Anyway, not sure if this has been shared on here yet, but SVP sums things up perfectly:

 

g00n

Retired Global Mod
Nov 22, 2007
30,430
14,290
After thinking about it for a day.

Caps are good. They are not the best.

Unfortunate, but this is the state of things now.

We should support them not trash them 24/7.

The fan can choose to watch them live, watch them from home or do not watch them at all. Scapegoating them is not the answer for anybody.

In the end, it's THEIR problem, not getting the cup.

They (players) should think about and work to change it. They can talk in that locker room and they know whatever happens inside.

Crosby and company are great players who play for strong organization, and Capitals aren't there so far. That guy Sidney Crosby is good at hockey. Yep.

And still we had a good fight and were better than last year. And then lost again.

Is it a reason to ruin everything? Well, depending on your (Ted's) goals for the future.

Is it a reason to stop watching? Depending on your personal goals.

Keep calm guys.

Let the health be with you.


People invest time, money, and emotions in their teams. It's not as simple as us vs them, players vs fans. We all have skin in the game to some extent.

Disappointment in failure is natural. Repeated disappointments can be particularly demotivating. A lot of fans are going to be jaded next year just like they were early this season.

Remember how everyone here was complaining about how dead the boards were in the first 3 or so months of the season? Next year will probably be worse. It's hard to get excited about this team/franchise after you've been through the Groundhog Day treatment a few dozen times.

It's difficult for me to imagine the squad that comes out the other side of this offseason putting together a dominant mid-season run like this year's team did, so people may be even slower to jump back into the deep end. We could see another "the market has spoken" first round playoff series with low attendance unless something different is in the mix to give people renewed hope that the 28th playoff push will be different than the previous 27.
 

ovikovy817

Registered User
May 23, 2015
6,174
3,768
Belgium
First NHL 15 PS3 game since summer 2016
Pens @ Caps.
I lose the game 6-7, Hornqvist score the GWG, breaks the tie with 22 seconds left in the third.
FML?? hahaha
 

Devil Dancer

Registered User
Jan 21, 2006
18,439
5,406
Maybe Filip Forsberg will get a Cup before the Caps

I would totally appreciate the irony in that. Bonus points for the Preds winning before Trotz.

Go Preds! I mean really, who else are you going to root for? Obviously not the Pens. The loser Senators and their boring style of play? No thanks. Getzlaf and Perry? Ugh.

Go Smashville!
 

Nice

Registered User
Jan 26, 2016
1,408
525
Even if I tried to force myself to, I could never hate Karlsson. I'd give up anything to have him on the caps. He's just too good at everything.
 

OV Rocks

Registered User
Jan 5, 2014
1,068
371
Beach with Beer
Even if I tried to force myself to, I could never hate Karlsson. I'd give up anything to have him on the caps. He's just too good at everything.

Makes you really question, who do the Caps have that can do what Karlsson does.

You hit the nail on the head, he does EVERYTHING

Easier said than done, Caps need something more like that
 

artilector

Registered User
Jan 11, 2006
8,351
1,187
It was a focus in game 7 that wasn't a factor in the previous games and it was the clear difference on the scoreboard. I think this was also noted on the broadcast at some point. It was a definite, strategic adjustment that mirrored what Toronto did early in that series.

The Capitals played a much better, smarter game that used all of the ice in games 5 and 6. Their breakouts were less predictable and were more dynamic. The same could be said for almost all of what they did in those two games, but once they started predictably playing conservative following the adrenaline dump early in game 7 the Pens coaches recognized what the Caps were doing and countered it. Trotz had no answer.

It was made even more likely because the Pens defensive pressure was cranked up a notch. They started flipping the script on the Caps and overloading while putting 2 players on the puck and then cutting off the boards knowing the rattled, nervous Capitals would just fling it around the wall.

The correct in-game adjustment would've been to have the Caps focus on support closer to the puck as well as moving the puck sooner if possible. Then look for the weakside guy who's open due to the numbers game, or to the cutter up the middle who's FINDING a passing lane instead of going to a set spot on the boards that's no longer there.

Meaning what, the Caps sending the puck up the boards?
 

g00n

Retired Global Mod
Nov 22, 2007
30,430
14,290
Meaning what, the Caps sending the puck up the boards?

Read the next paragraph and the rest of the post, yes that's part of it. But also trying to make their outlets to the players stationed at the blue line boards, whether the puck was flung or passed under control. The Pens were zeroed in on that outlet option and it created a lot of turnovers including both goals. It's no coincidence or accident. Prior to that the Caps had decent outlets and regroupings. When the forecheck got hot or when they got lazy they abandoned all other options and the Penguins ate it up.

Again, this is what Toronto did early in that series. There's no doubt Sullivan saw that and his team was waiting for the Caps to default to those formations and habits. It's not that they could never make that play, but when a team is repeating the same plays over and over you can anticipate and counter.
 

Brian23

Registered User
Dec 3, 2011
5,655
2,462
Where there a lot of Pens fans at this game, or the series?
Sounded like there were many in games 1,2,5 but not much in game 7.
What happened?

It only takes 30 or 40 people out of 18k to fill those steps.
 

CapitalsCupReality

It’s Go Time!!
Feb 27, 2002
64,377
19,074
There were barely any Pens fans. They were broken. Too bad their team wasn't. Least amount of Pens fans I can remember in years.
 

Caps8112

Registered User
Sponsor
Aug 12, 2008
3,343
1,757
I guess you know for a fact those "winners" were poised to come to DC and MCPhee just dropped the ball? Seems like a simplistic view to pick players out of the air and suggest we could have easily done the same, but I don't disagree that McPhee could have done it differently. I'm just not sure he could have done much better in that area. The players have to want to come, and playing with Crosby in a winning organization was clearly more attractive than coming to D.C.

the one that sticks out to me iirc was getting Pronger for Carlson/Alzner Varlamov. Looks gold now as Varly is gone, Alzner never became a top 10 dman and im just not a fan of carlson.
 

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