Series Discussion: (M1) Washington Capitals vs (WC1) Columbus Blue Jackets

[Alexander the Gr8]

I didn't say it was his fault. I said he was involved in the play. He had a chance to make a play in the offensive zone along the boards.
If I had to point fingers it would be Orlov and Grubauer at fault.

I have a question. Do you see us winning this series? If no, why?

 

[g00n]

Can you not read. I said Columbus tightened up defensively and collapsed in front if their net. All you are doing us posting fiction. You are making shut up. You just won't give up. Do I have to block you again?

I don't care one little bit if you block me. Go for it, champ.

 

[RandyHolt]

Kemps wanted to come back #Warrior

how lame they didn't let him though. 25 years ago he doesn't even leave the bench. We f***ing needed him. Did he pass protocol or not? Cut on his face..... cry me a river. May thought he broke his nose.

For as obvious as it was to some that Grubby was the G1 starter I think its obvious his leash cannot be all that long yet. I think if we lose G2 no matter the reason there is a good chance we'll see BH @Bus.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

Gon' get real ugly if they lose tomorrow.

 

[artilector]

Noticed just now that Tarik posted on my twitterssss that the Caps lost 10 of 11 defensive zone 3rd period faceoffs. Did the give up any critical ppga? I didn't see CBJ's 2nd 3rd and 4th goals. Are we sure Beagle being out is good?

It depends, among other things, on how many more defensive draws you have to take because Beagle is in the lineup in the first place.

Or maybe with Beagle the Caps would be 1/1 in defensive faceoffs -- because they'd be trailing by the 3rd period and thus not turtling.

Btw, how do "we" feel about Orpik -- I am assuming we still highly value his elite youth-stabilizing, nerve-calming, crease-clearing ability? I know I do!

If there is one thing that makes me sad about this team it's the fact that we're missing the steady contributions of guys like Alzner and Laich. Imagine -- Alzner, Orpik, Laich, Beagle... that's like the dream team to send out when the gameplan is to spend a period in the defensive zone. Think about it -- the number of defensive faceoffs won and shots blocked would be absolutely incredible -- better than any Stanley Cup winner for sure!

 

[trick9]

Pretty sure if we didn’t bench Holtby, we could have very well missed the playoffs and for sure gotten a 7-8 seed

That's not true. If they had ridden Holtby down the stretch they are a wild car or out of the playoffs. Last 14 starts only 3 starts where he gave up less than 3. Same stretch of 14 Grubauer gave up as many as 3 only 3 times. If you think that 14 games 28 games is a recipe for making the playoffs riding Holtby, I think a rethink is in order

Holtby had a 34-16-4 record through 54 games. That's 72 points in 54 games (give or take a few where Grubauer came in and Holtby still got the W).

97 points made the Playoffs (surprisingly high number). That leaves the backup 25 points in 28 games to get them to Playoffs (or again give or take a few, but just about point per game is close).

Question: Which guy had more of an impact in them making the Playoffs? The backup with 15-10-3 record, or the starter with 34-16-4 record?

The points you are making are filled with question marks. I think we've already established that the team plays better in front of Holtby (which really isn't Grubauer's fault but you don't get pity points) and they got majority of their wins when Holtby was playing early in the season. I mean sure if you ride Holtby you might only make it as a wild card or might even miss the Playoffs if your backup is absolutely brutal but if you don't have Holtby you are propably eagerly waiting for draft lottery with the best odds of winning it.

 

[RandyHolt]

I would say Grubauer sucked.....
Holtby had a bad season and still managed to win 34 games.

So either way it may not matter unless our offense wins games for us. So Grubby didn't steal the game. No one expected him to. Our Gs havent stolen games for quite some time.

Barry prefers coin flip grinds. It almost doesn't matter who is in goal. Every goal is a back breaker to our fragile' eggshell minds

We have the horses to open it up. If we can contain Panarin, can they hang in a footrace with us?

 

[brachyrynchos]

Players need to step up.
Playoff #'s with WSH:
Defense- Carlson 77-13-25-38 (best of the bunch)
Niskanen 40-1-10-11
Orpik 34-0-4-4
Orlov 25-0-4-4
That's the core, 176 games 14 goals 43 assists 57 points in the playoffs as a Cap.
Offense- Ovechkin 98-46-44-90
Backstrom 97-26-51-77
Oshie 26-10-12-22
Kuznetsov 40-13-8-21
That's 261-95-115-210, they can only do so much, the rest of the forwards (not including
Beagle (62-6-5-11)) have played 105 games with WSH, a total of ten goals 15 assists.
Time for leaders to lead, scorers to score, and time for the other guys to arrive.
*sorry if the #'s are off

 

[txpd]

Holtby had a 34-16-4 record through 54 games. That's 72 points in 54 games (give or take a few where Grubauer came in and Holtby still got the W)..

You are writing that as if the Caps were winning because of him rather than inspite of him. One more time. November 18 is the last time Holtby gave up less than 2 goals in a start. They are a President's Trophy team again if Holtby played like Grubauer has or like he himself has in previous seasons.

Instead they needed Grubauer to provide quality goaltending down the stretch to get in the playoffs

 

[twabby]

The problem with Beagle isn’t Beagle himself, it’s the way Trotz uses him.

If he was strictly used as a 4C and a penalty killer (along with very occasional D zone draws such as at the very end of games) he’d be fine. But he’s used seemingly every time the Capitals have a defensive zone draw. And when he comes in he often replaces perceived poor defensive players like Vrana, Burakovsky, Connolly, and sometimes Ovechkin. These players happen to be some of their best in terms of transitioning from defense to offense, so even when Beagle wins the draw they have trouble doing much with the puck since their transition game is impacted by who isn’t on the ice.

TL;DR: Trotz overuses Beagle, but Beagle is useful in a limited role.

 

[RandyHolt]

Perhaps Grubby would have done better vs Panarin if we didn't have him stapled to the bench for most of his career. It can be said its ok. Giving Holts a heavy workload didn't work. Which left a backup we should have been developing with just a handful of games, mostly just B2Bs where many half ass it anyway.

 

[Sam Spade]

I just realized the Caps were the only home team that didn’t win game one. They never make it easy do they?

 

[ovikovy817]

I just realized the Caps were the only home team that didn’t win game one. They never make it easy do they?

Anaheim

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Gon' get real ugly if they lose tomorrow.

If we lose by a big score, people are gonna throw shit on the ice. Tomorrow's giveaway is a rally towel. Don't want to see them hit the ice.

 

[maacoshark]

I have a question. Do you see us winning this series? If no, why?

I'm really not sure if we are going to win. In the poll I picked us to win in 6. I hope we win.
If we don't win there could be several reasons why we don't win. There is no doubt we have the skill. Its the other parts if the game that we struggle with. As a team we don't cycle very well. We have plenty of guys that will turn the luck over entering the zone instead of getting the puck deep. We need a heavier forecheck. Other than a couple guys we don't play a very physical game. Our penalty killing has been pretty mediocre all season so we have to be more disciplined. We try to get too cute sometimes in the transition game resulting in turnovers. Our defensive zone coverage actually wasn't bad in game 1. We had a couple breakdowns that hurt us. We need to find a way to generate more scoring chances. It won't be easy because Columbus plays a solid defensive game. Biggest thing could be questions in goal. Who knows who the right choice is. If starting Grubauer doesn't work there will be a lot of 2nd guessing.
And maybe coaching. I like Trotz as a coach. I believe in a system that takes care of their own end first. Problem is that we don't really have the personnel to play that kind of system. Half of our roster are below average defensive players.
I don't think we have the personnel to win in the playoffs. We are too soft.

 

[txpd]

I just realized the Caps were the only home team that didn’t win game one. They never make it easy do they?

Have home teams already lost gamev2 at home?

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Have home teams already lost gamev2 at home?

Penguins dropped Game 2 yesterday at home.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I'm really not sure if we are going to win. In the poll I picked us to win in 6. I hope we win.
If we don't win there could be several reasons why we don't win. There is no doubt we have the skill. Its the other parts if the game that we struggle with. As a team we don't cycle very well. We have plenty of guys that will turn the luck over entering the zone instead of getting the puck deep. We need a heavier forecheck. Other than a couple guys we don't play a very physical game. Our penalty killing has been pretty mediocre all season so we have to be more disciplined. We try to get too cute sometimes in the transition game resulting in turnovers. Our defensive zone coverage actually wasn't bad in game 1. We had a couple breakdowns that hurt us. We need to find a way to generate more scoring chances. It won't be easy because Columbus plays a solid defensive game. Biggest thing could be questions in goal. Who knows who the right choice is. If starting Grubauer doesn't work there will be a lot of 2nd guessing.
And maybe coaching. I like Trotz as a coach. I believe in a system that takes care of their own end first. Problem is that we don't really have the personnel to play that kind of system. Half of our roster are below average defensive players.
I don't think we have the personnel to win in the playoffs. We are too soft.

When you say it like this, I agree more with you. It's better to look at the full picture than to point fingers at this player or that player.

 

[Empty Goal Net]

In addition to Holtby's unattractive GAA compared to Gruby's, he hasn't done all that well following a loss. Based on a quick count, since the beginning of the year, his record following a loss is 6-6. Gruby's is 3-0. I find the incessant arguments from lifetime Holtby Fan Club members simultaneously amusing and tedious.

I see Trotz going with Holtby in G3 if Gruby doesn't play well in a loss tomorrow. If the Caps lose 1-0 in OT, Gruby gets the next start.

 

[Sam Spade]

Anaheim

Oops, I don't care much about the west I guess.

 

[maacoshark]

You are writing that as if the Caps were winning because of him rather than inspite of him. One more time. November 18 is the last time Holtby gave up less than 2 goals in a start. They are a President's Trophy team again if Holtby played like Grubauer has or like he himself has in previous seasons.

Instead they needed Grubauer to provide quality goaltending down the stretch to get in the playoffs

Holtby did not get pulled in any of the 34 wins. All were losses. Why would you switch goalies when you have a lead? Point is Holtby wins games.

 

[maacoshark]

When you say it like this, I agree more with you. It's better to look at the full picture than to point fingers at this player or that player.

There are a lot of players to point the finger at. Every player makes mistakes. Our most responsible player on the team might be Stephenson. He takes it to the extreme sometimes. I have seen many times when he has a chance to make a play in the offensive zone but instead will head back to the defensive zone. I'd like to see him take more chances in the offensive zone. And I'm not picking on Stephenson.

 

[txpd]

Penguins dropped Game 2 yesterday at home.

Who?

 

[txpd]

Holtby did not get pulled in any of the 34 wins. All were losses. Why would you switch goalies when you have a lead? Point is Holtby wins games.

Holtby didn't get pulled in most of the games they lost as well. Lets not act like he only off his game in the occasions that he got yanked Of course he got yanked more than in the past as well.

If you think the slack goaltending that Holtby provided this season was good enough, that is entirely up to you. The other guy was giving nearly a goal per game less and giving them a chance to win games they weren't scoring in.

Really this isn't that hard. You seriously would start a playoff series with Max after a season carrying around a 4+ era instead of Geo who produced a 2.25 just because?

 

[maacoshark]

Holtby didn't get pulled in most of the games they lost as well. Lets not act like he only off his game in the occasions that he got yanked Of course he got yanked more than in the past as well.

If you think the slack goaltending that Holtby provided this season was good enough, that is entirely up to you. The other guy was giving nearly a goal per game less and giving them a chance to win games they weren't scoring in.

Really this isn't that hard. You seriously would start a playoff series with Max after a season carrying around a 4+ era instead of Geo who produced a 2.25 just because?

You don't actually think Grubauer is the guy. He played well against mediocre competition in limited action. He is a backup that got on a hot streak. My problem with Grubauer is that he is a weak technical goalie. I think his hot streak was more luck than skill.
The Devils are in a similar situation in net. But I don't think Kinkaid is the answer there either.