GDT: Capitals @ Redwings March 16th, 2011 7:30pm

[CapitalsCupReality]

if Neuvirth wants the #1 spot in the playoffs he is going to have to play better than he did last night......he played poorly, its that simple

That's for sure....sometimes you need your goalie to make crazy saves....we didn't get that last night.

 

[txpd]

i thought neuvirth made several outstanding saves last night. he gave up a crappy goal. it wasnt the lack of high quality saves when needed, it was the stoppable shot that he let go by.

yes, he needs to play better if he wants to be the playoff goalie. i dont think his being a little rusty is unexpected. honestly, the main difference wasnt even that he gave up a soft goal. holtby gave up an even softer goal the night before, but it was early with a lead rather than late in a tie game.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

When you lose 3-2, the difference WAS that he gave up the soft goal....just sayin....


Unfortunately we ran into a great team and couldn't overcome the softy.

 

[HSHS]

I'm actually pretty darn estatic honestly. I haven't watched the 2nd and 3rd periods yet. But as others have said about B2B, road game, injuries, Detriot.... don't forget that this was a B2B AND 3 in 4 nights. THAT is always tougher than straight B2B or game/game/off/game 3 in 4.

Even last year, I'd expect this team to fold.... like 6-1 fold. But based on the stat line. They didn't. To me they continue to impress.

 

[strungout]

Granted it was a bit of a softy....but that was a hell of a shot by Zetterberg.

 

[Mothra]

*Give Neuvy the benefit of the doubt. He was going to be a little rusty and the opponent was outstanding.*Give Zetterberg some credit, it was a pretty good shot, soft goal or not, most nhl players dont score that.
*Did I turn my head and miss Semin hit the crossbar near the end?
*Teams would find it hard to play Detroit style hockey. That takes a specific type of roster. Very European. RH, you? You like their style? No scrums after the whistle. Kronwall hits hard and the rest let him do that. They don't fight and Schultz would fit right in there. They are disciplined. No sore loser stuff. No frustration. No crosschecking around the net.

My view that he played poorly isnt because of 1 goal. He was fighting it all night...there were 2 moments where he had no idea, at all, where the puck was (once was when he let in the 3rd goal)

My view is, from what I heard he was kind of moping lately......if he is upset he isnt getting starts, he needs to be sharp when he gets them. His rebound control was awful last night.

and...in the playoffs, your opponent is likely going to be outstanding....its not an excuse

 

[NobodyBeatsTheWiz]

I don't buy that Zetterberg picked his spot. Think he was just putting a shot on goal against a goalie that'd looked shaky all game.

 

[Ajax1995]

Giving up 3 goals isnt the end of the world, but I thought Neuvy was rusty. Going into Detroit, did we really expect a win with the injuries and the back to back games?

I would have loved to steal a point, but oh well.

Next...

Agreed.

Neuvirth hadn't played in 9 days. Of course he was going to be rusty. That is what Boudreau's habit of riding a guy who is winning until he about drops does to the other goaltenders, dulls their games.

As far as the 3rd goal goes though that was an incredible shot by Zetterberg. From an angle the bank it off the goalie's head shot is always there and you don't see it happen much because it is really hard to do. There were 2 ways for Neuvirth to play that shot and he played the odds that there aren't many guys in the league who can get a backhander up and into that small area like that instead of standing taller and being more at risk of the puck going in the lower far corner or into the mixer in front. You can't take away both and sometimes, especially with a very high skill guy like Zetterberg, you get beat. It happens...

 

[Mothra]

i thought neuvirth made several outstanding saves last night. he gave up a crappy goal. it wasnt the lack of high quality saves when needed, it was the stoppable shot that he let go by.

yes, he needs to play better if he wants to be the playoff goalie. i dont think his being a little rusty is unexpected. honestly, the main difference wasnt even that he gave up a soft goal. holtby gave up an even softer goal the night before, but it was early with a lead rather than late in a tie game.

again, not even much a softie.....his rebound control was terrible last night.


if he is complaining that he wants starts and the #1 job, he needs to play well. He didnt last night. I expect he will play better next time

 

[Mothra]

I don't buy that Zetterberg picked his spot. Think he was just putting a shot on goal against a goalie that'd looked shaky all game.

agreed....it was a great shot but the goalie was fighting it all game. From fat rebounds in front to hugging the post while the puck is on the other side of the rink. Not sure ive seen a D have to tell his goalie he is....well.....locking down the wrong side of the net.

he was off last night...all night, not just on one goal

 

[Duke33]

It's the easiest thing in the world to see a goal like that and simply say well Neuvy was rusty and he let in a softie. Nobody knows how rusty he is or was. He's had plenty of games this season where he's been playing steadily and has let in the occasional bad goal or had a bad game. The Phx-Ana-SJ road trip comes to mind, he let in several soft goals in that stretch and he wasn't "rusty".

Sometimes you have to give the other guy credit too. That really was a good shot by Zetterberg.

 

[Roccoman]

indeed it was - ol' Zetterface was on the shnide coming into last night's game too...

i got the impression the Caps were a bit... i dunno, "awed" is too strong a word, but it seemed like the Detroit aura effected them. and the team looked dog tired for the most part.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Granted it was a bit of a softy....but that was a hell of a shot by Zetterberg.

If it doesn't hit him in the head it goes wide IMO....instead, hits him, and takes a 90 degree right turn....

Amazing...lucky....take your pick.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I don't buy that Zetterberg picked his spot. Think he was just putting a shot on goal against a goalie that'd looked shaky all game.

Exactly...."can't score if your don't shoot".....

 

[Drake1588]

They looked tired and they missed their top two centers and #1 defenseman. They still hung in there for two and a half periods, with shaky goaltending to boot. Not the end of the world. Now hunker down for the Jersey game. That will be a challenge and a half.

 

[Ajax1995]

Personally I don't get the whole Neuvirth should be sharp and bringing his A game regardless of how long it has been since his last game thing. Of course he is going to be rusty after a 9 day layoff. If you want a guy who can come in after not playing for a while and play to his usual level then McPhee should have picked up an experienced backup level guy along the lines of Johnson.

Boudreau needs to figure out a better way to handle his young goaltenders IMO. They all need to play somewhat regularly. If he doesn't want to do a rotation then fine figure something else out. Neuvirth was ready to play before last night but Boudreau continued to ride Holtby, even though it was obvious that his game/concentration level/decision making was slipping because he was winning. All the while a little more rust developed on Neuvirth's game...

 

[sk84fun_dc]

again, not even much a softie.....his rebound control was terrible last night.


if he is complaining that he wants starts and the #1 job, he needs to play well. He didnt last night. I expect he will play better next time

I thought he had stretches where he looked rusty and 'off' last night and had stretches where he kept the team in the game with a lot of traffic in front of him.

I also think Holtby had nerve-racking moments during his last 2 starts.

(and I agree with Millhaus' post above mine, which appeared while I was typing)

I think most are and should be willing to give Neuvirth more than 1 game (with that game being against Detroit on the road with the Caps missing key players.)

As to the 'moping', other than maybe one comment about him coming off the ice, curious where are people getting this from? I attended practice on last Saturday and at least that day, no evidence of this from his on-ice demeanor.

 

[brs03]

If you assume Neuvirth was almost destined to be shaky in his first start back and would need time to build up momentum, you might make the case that it is better to give up points in an inter-conference game if you have to. It may have been a case of getting as much out of Holtby as he could before switching back to Neuvirth, knowing that no matter what Neuvirth won't be on his game at the start.

Whether or not that's the case should become much clearer these next few games, when we see how he handles them. If he goes straight back to Holtby then I don't know what he was expecting. If he gives Neuvirth several games to build up momentum then I'll be able to believe he has some kind of plan (whether or not I agree with the execution of it).

EDIT: This is, of course, assuming that Neuvirth had been healthy enough to play in the last few games. If he wasn't then that answers a lot of questions I guess, even though that seems unlikely.

 

[Duke33]

If you assume Neuvirth was almost destined to be shaky in his first start back and would need time to build up momentum, you might make the case that it is better to give up points in an inter-conference game if you have to. It may have been a case of getting as much out of Holtby as he could before switching back to Neuvirth, knowing that no matter what Neuvirth won't be on his game at the start.

Whether or not that's the case should become much clearer these next few games, when we see how he handles them. If he goes straight back to Holtby then I don't know what he was expecting. If he gives Neuvirth several games to build up momentum then I'll be able to believe he has some kind of plan (whether or not I agree with the execution of it).

EDIT: This is, of course, assuming that Neuvirth had been healthy enough to play in the last few games. If he wasn't then that answers a lot of questions I guess, even though that seems unlikely.

I think he's streaky, and has tendencies to give up soft goals, no matter how much he's playing. His recent stats prove it too.

On 2/6 & 2/8 he stops 56 of 58 shots, shutting out the Pens and holding the Sharks to two goals on 36 shots. Obviously he's playing well and isn't rusty. Then Varly gets one start. Then in the next three games, Neuvirth gives up 9 goals on 58 shots, some of them very soft, for a woeful .844 save %. He' obviously isn't rusty there either, but he looked like crap. Then he shuts out the Pens again, then in his next start allows 6 goals to NY. Now even giving for the fact the Caps overall were horrid in that NY game, he still let in a couple more soft ones.

So who knows? Was last night cause he was rusty? He still made 34 saves. Or is it him overall? He is the guy who far and away right now has the weakest save % on the team. Granted he's played much more games, but still....

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

The look on Bruce's face was clear to me on the Zett goal...he was pissed that went in. Like, "that was soft" pissed...

 

[Johnny Law]

Excellent game last night, very fun to watch.

One quick question, Does OV play the entire pp every night ?

Dude logs a ton of ice time but doesn't seem to slow down...

I like your tv guys, maybe it was just because they were on vs but they seemed very fair and did an excellent job.

 

[HSHS]

The look on Bruce's face was clear to me on the Zett goal...he was pissed that went in. Like, "that was soft" pissed...

BB tends to think all goals are soft. "Just stop the damn puck" mentality!

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

BB tends to think all goals are soft. "Just stop the damn puck" mentality!

That would be my mentality too...lol. Joking a little, but sometimes your goalie has to make the crazy stops.

 

[HSHS]

Need to post integral's avatar here!

 

[Yemack]

You guys have a good team heading in right direction. There are couple Wings fans who say Caps remind them of 90's red wings.. the offensive juggernaut turned into SC champions.

btw Z has amazing backhand (one of the best, if not the best in the leauge in my humble opinion) however he throws alot of puck to the net as well.

Neuvirth looked good, if not ever so slightly green. However if he can maintain this level of play in playoff, I think you guys have good enough team to pull through when injured players are back. Good luck rest of the way. Will root for you guys coming out of East.