Post-Game Talk: Capitals @ Rangers - December 20

[Ail]

I am not his biggest fan.

But yea, I'm the biased one.

I wasn't referring to you.

 

[TheTakedown]

But didn't analytics say the problem was Girardi? Without him, some said we'd play a lot better. One even said he's the worst player in the NHL, or maybe it was the worst defenseman.

At the very least, those clamoring for a reduction in role for Girardi should ****. The last few games has proven we got absolutely nothing on the right side without Klein and Girardi besides a rookie who can only play sheltered minutes.

Also, a game like this where we dominate in corsi, allow terrific chances, despite not giving up that many and get terrible defense to allow those great chances and to prevent those chances shows a flaw in advanced stats.

Girardi IS a problem on this team and I'll tell you why.

McDonagh-Girardi together on the top pairing has been one of the WORST pairings in the league this year -- they've allowed a ridiculously high amount of high danger scoring chances. Their corsi has been among the league-worst for D pairings as well (which is a basic concept--they are allowing more shot attempts against than the Rangers are taking... All the players on the ice, including Girardi, are part of this issue, but Girardi also has this issue with other skaters not just McDonagh).

Girardi isn't a useless pylon--but at his contract and his spot on this team as a #1 defenseman is, he BECOMES a major problem... his best asset is penalty killing, and his best position on this team is the 3rd pairing.

Staal is behind Yandle and McDonagh, which also puts him on the 3rd pairing.

Both of these guys TOGETHER on the same team, and even more so the SAME PAIRING is a major problem.

That's what we're trying to explain

McIlrath has been on fire with Yandle, and McDonagh has played better with ANY OTHER DEFENDER except Girardi... That essentially pushes Girardi out of the top 4.

McDonagh-Klein
Yandle-McIlrath

 

[Raspewtin]

Ah, but your point was that when I brought up how Girardi was not out there to shutdown Ovechkin at ES, that because Ovechkin instead scored on the PP it must have been because Girardi wasn't out there on the PK to shut him down, and that his play against Ovechkin on the PK must be factored in to his great numbers against him.

Pls stop ur exposing my bias

 

[gorangers0525]

I mean, the team's record lately has basically proven the analytics lol. But single game corsi, which even many advanced stats users will admit doesn't say much, trumps all!


Girardi is part of the three headed monster that is the Rangers defensive problems. There is nothing to support that he's not, they sucked before Girardi went down, for most of the season, and he was a major culprit. Both Mcilrath and Klein are much better than him and it's not even that close.


He is not a top 4 defenseman. Neither is Summers/Boyle and Staal. But a 3 game sample size of Girardi not playing and the team sucking is enough to think he's the solution to a season of terrible defense? Jesus christ,

 

[Nickmo82]

This team is incredible. Just when you think they've hit rock bottom, they find a way to out-do themselves. Even more incredible, it basically happens every damned game. Whatever anybody is doing, they are seemingly impotent. Nothing appears to be having any impact on individual or team performance. They really need to do something big to shock everybody back to life. Fire someone (the defensive coach springs to mind, considering the "defensive" effort in the past... forever). Trade people. Demote the demotable. ****ing anything.

 

[Deleted member 23124]

A few things I saw today while I was at the game tonight.
This ranger team is in trouble, no heart out there. They had 8 hits through 2 periods....8 hits in a hard hitting game like this is pathetic. I don't care if they are big hits but throw the body around a bit. They were completely overwhelmed tonight by a caps team that is miles ahead of us in the skill department. Right now we lose to them 9 out of 10 times. There is not one player on this team that has the skill that compares to their top 6. Staal is horrendous out there, slower then molasses and no skill whatsoever. I thought etem looked excellent tonight and deserves more minutes. The whole team came out great in the first but no sustained pressure. I know a lot of people like to blame AV but this team as a group is to blame. They need to wake up or they won't make the playoffs.

I was there also....Even when they went down 3-1, Caps did not look out of sorts...they stayed with their game. After first two Ranger goals, Caps adjusted and Rangers never got another path through the slot to the net.

So the first round is lottery protected this year.. Doubt it gets that bad but if we some how miss the playoffs my goodness will Arizona have some nice picks this season.

I thought we didn't have a first rounder this year.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

I was there also....Even when they went down 3-1, Caps did not look out of sorts...they stayed with their game. After first two Ranger goals, Caps adjusted and Rangers never got another path through the slot to the net.

I thought we didn't have a first rounder this year.

The 1st round pick is lottery protected. If we make the playoffs, Arizona gets it. If we miss the playoffs we keep it and Arizona gets our 2017 1st rounder instead.



My worry right now is that the coach and the brass think that the slump is more a result of Klein, Girardi and Stepan all having extended absences, when in actuality there are larger problems here. Something has to change.


Btw, JT Miller has looked good for a few weeks now, nice to see him finally break through with a goal.

 

[Deleted member 23124]

The 1st round pick is lottery protected. If we make the playoffs, Arizona gets it. If we miss the playoffs we keep it and Arizona gets our 2017 1st rounder instead.



My worry right now is that the coach and the brass think that the slump is more a result of Klein, Girardi and Stepan all having extended absences, when in actuality there are larger problems here. Something has to change.


Btw, JT Miller has looked good for a few weeks now, nice to see him finally break through with a goal.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[mandiblesofdoom]

Weird game.

Early in the first we gave up the typical golden chance when both D went behind the net and no one covered Oshie on the doorstep. Fortunately Hank made the save.

Caps' first goal came on a long shift in our zone v. the Hayes/Etem/Glass line with Boyle/Summers .... Kuznetzov carried it around , passed it to Carlson at the center point. Both Etem and Glass focused on Carlson, allowing Chorney to get free & approach the goal unmarked. Hayes left his man at the goalmouth (Williams again) to cover Chorney, who then passed to Williams for the tap-in.

This one was more on Etem than Glass, I think. But overall this group of Caps overmatched our guys. This one was not on Hank.

Second Caps goal happened when Kuznetzov got to the goalmouth basically unmarked and converted a rebound. Maybe he got lost in a line change. D. Moore was after him but got there too late.

Again, it's hard to put this on Hank.

Third Caps goal was on the Backstrom dump-in that jumped out for Oshie. Oshie was Staal's man I believe. Staal didn't get him wrapped up.

These first three were all high-danger chances.

Seems team D is our problem right now. We're back to sucking in the second period.

 

[ArPanet]

That's what I'm getting at............does this player you want to trade Nash for actually exist?

Ladd?

 

[Rangers in 7]

I was there also....Even when they went down 3-1, Caps did not look out of sorts...they stayed with their game. After first two Ranger goals, Caps adjusted and Rangers never got another path through the slot to the net.

I thought we didn't have a first rounder this year.

They just flat out aren't as skilled

The 1st round pick is lottery protected. If we make the playoffs, Arizona gets it. If we miss the playoffs we keep it and Arizona gets our 2017 1st rounder instead.



My worry right now is that the coach and the brass think that the slump is more a result of Klein, Girardi and Stepan all having extended absences, when in actuality there are larger problems here. Something has to change.


Btw, JT Miller has looked good for a few weeks now, nice to see him finally break through with a goal.

Miller has been a bright spot in my opinion

 

[Rangerfan4life90]

Team defense has been absolutely horrendous the past few games. WTF is going on?

 

[ArPanet]

Caps special teams killed us tonight.

Again, we kept leaving Ovi open in his office. Something about this team just lets him do that. Every. Single. Game.

Felt bad for Fast having to be out there in the line of fire.

 

[failure]

Lindberg will be enjoying the press box again on Tuesday.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

The only players who I think played well were etem, mcilrath, Boyle wasn't horrible, Miller and kreider for a period and that's it. Everyone else sucked

Boyle was absolutely awful at ES.

 

[TheTakedown]

Boyle was absolutely awful at ES.

yep. he's a PP specialist at this point. If they're goingg to play him then it's going to have to be 11F/7D

 

[Hunter Gathers]

yep. he's a PP specialist at this point. If they're goingg to play him then it's going to have to be 11F/7D

And, for the record, I am not opposed to running with 7D. Just would prefer a 7th D to be more flexible than a pure PP specialist.

 

[TheDirtyH]

Was so pumped to see Miller on the top line, thought he did well with it. Was pissed to see Fast on the second line. Was brought near tears to see Glass on the third line.

Don't see why Girardi's being talked about. Skjei and Summers have not replaced his minutes, Staal has. And actually, our top pair, and our captain in particular, have improved noticeably since.

Hank had another rough night. I can't remember the last time we scored three and put up 15 shots in the first and I didn't feel confident that it would be enough. Also, maybe it's a New Yorker thing, but holy **** where's the respect for superstition? Chanting Holtby before the end of the first even? Sam and Joe are so ready to bring up that Ovi and Backstrom are quiet all night, then, like clockwork, as soon as they do, bank pass Oshie goal.

Yuck. Hank needs to get it together, and AV needs to ice four lines that are going to contribute.

 

[TheTakedown]

Was so pumped to see Miller on the top line, thought he did well with it. Was pissed to see Fast on the second line. Was brought near tears to see Glass on the third line.

Don't see why Girardi's being talked about. Skjei and Summers have not replaced his minutes, Staal has. And actually, our top pair, and our captain in particular, have improved noticeably since.

Hank had another rough night. I can't remember the last time we scored three and put up 15 shots in the first and I didn't feel confident that it would be enough. Also, maybe it's a New Yorker thing, but holy **** where's the respect for superstition? Chanting Holtby before the end of the first even? Sam and Joe are so ready to bring up that Ovi and Backstrom are quiet all night, then, like clockwork, as soon as they do, bank pass Oshie goal.

Yuck. Hank needs to get it together, and AV needs to ice four lines that are going to contribute.

I think that's the point some of us are trying to make. The other point trying to be made is that we're giving up so many goals because Girardi isn't playing--that point is ******** because Girardi has been a problem since Game #1, and McDonagh-Girardi has been one of the worst pairings in the entire league this season. Quite frankly, I think the problems we are having are because of Klein being out, not Girardi (who, again, has been a problem since game #1)...

McDonagh-Klein and Yandle-McIlrath should be the top 4. No doubt about it. Boyle, Girardi, and Staal need to battle it out for the 5 and 6 spots. Staal essentially has it locked in, so what we should be doing is trading Girardi for either a forward upgrade or a defenseman+picks swap... Staal paired with a Possession driving Dman wwould do wonders for this team. Girardi just doesn't fit this season, period.

All 3 need to go, regardless

 

[Machinehead]

https://6goaliedefense.wordpress.com/2015/12/21/nyr-game-day-review-dec-20th-2015/

Sorry this one's late. It's Christmas.

 

[fredrikstad]

I think Nash gets traded before the deadline.

Isn't it Nash, Staal and Girardi who has NMC contracts? And Zucc a NTC fot this year?

 

[Chimpradamus]

1) The team is so utterly incompetent for throwing Strålman under the bus and keeping Staal and Girardi to horrendeus NMC contracts. That's a huge part as to why this team sucks. We dump one of our mobile, competent D and keep the anti-AV players? Such a sick joke. At the time S&G were signed I thought their contracts were really bad, but who would've known these two would implode so fast? The D quickly went from really good to really, really bad.

2) Considering the immobile, non-skating D-men the team actually has, it's baffling AV still keeps his man-to-man D. The other teams have figured out how to make a fool out of that system now. It's not just the slow D-men and how they're forced to play to their weaknesses, it's the dumb coach who believes it can work with this group of players. It hasn't worked properly for the entire year. The opposition showers our goalies in quality chances, period after period, game after game. It's embarrassing.

How the heck is a half blind person like Staal going to keep up playing man-to-man in a pace at NHL level, where he doesn't even have full awareness of what's going on? Of course his confidence is shot and he plays even worse than he really is, he can barely pass a puck now. That's a huge reason alone why you play zone D.

Solutions: Stop playing man-to-man D with this setup of defensemen. Maroon Girardi and Staal if they don't straighten up playing zone D. Even better, fire management. If you wonder why Girardi is mentioned even when he isn't playing, maybe it's because the secret is out that he has the worst corsi of all D-men in the entire league, with a horrendeus contract to top it off. The secret is out, Girardi is a top 5 albatross. He's not going anywhere if we don't give up picks for getting rid of him.

 

[Ola]

Swamped with work before Christmas and have besides most of the EDM w not seen much hockey the last 3-4 weeks. If someone in late November told me that well be prepared because we are going to get a few injuries and stink up the joint a number of weeks, I would have gone "oh is that surprising? we do that every year". Now when I've not watched that many games, it kind of feels the same way. OTOH I fully understand the frustration people are experiencing watching this team play.

But a few things.

"We are not adjusting. We should adjust and do `x'". Well I don't know. Doesn't we "adjust" quite much in games?? We try to get a lead the first 30 minutes and then protect it only the last 30 minutes? Maybe we are adjusting too much... I don't know, but I don't think one can say that we only play one way because we NEVER play a single game "one" way, its always at least 2...

Also, the marginals are very small in this league. VERY small. Take two things from this.

FIRSTLY, when we do well, don't overrate how good we are. I've said this for years, before we became a contender. Like when Boston won, everyone went BERGERON IS A GOD SO CLUTCH and so forth. No he isn't. His team was like just a bit better than the 7th worst team in the entire league. He was just a bit better than some center in Ottawa or NY or Winnipeg or whatever. He is no god. Neither were our guys when we made it to the finals.

SECONDLY, don't underestimate how "little" it will take us to get back on track. Yes, how little. Does that mean that it only will take us a little push to get to a level were we can win a cup? No, that doesn't have to be the case. But it wouldn't take a ton for us to get back to winning games during the regular season. BUT, in relation to the last said, we are currently not well structured due to Gorton's disastrous off-season. Nobody is pushed because we have zero depth. He bombed every move he made. He was reckless and didn't get us the depth we needed.

 

[justanomade]

 

[WesMcCauley]

Miller is a bit hot. Trade him. Get some value out of him.

Miller, Hayes, Kreider are all tradable and can together(atleast kreider and hayes) return a pretty good player.