GDT: Caps @ Bolts - 11.1.2014 7 PM

troyerlaw

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Dec 13, 2010
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Frustrating to lose, especially on a seeing-eye goal from the point. But I thought we played well overall. Fewer miscues by the D, very nice game from 92, and much better flow to our offensive game.

I like to watch the Trotz postgame pressers. He seemed a bit frustrated with Holtby, even though he didn't come right out and say it. He didn't explicitly describe the TB goals as 'soft,' but at least a couple of them, he said, 'We gotta have those.' Meaning #70.

That said, Holtby also made some excellent saves throughout the game. He wasn't horrible by any stretch. He certainly bailed out Schmidt after a bad miscue in the third. But no question, Holts got outplayed by Bishop. Just as he got outplayed by Scrivens in Edmonton.

The Palat line was having its way with us. That little guy Johnson is super-quick and was very effective on zone entries.

Ovie had some good looks, and was skating well. He threw some hits. I don't think he is far off. I just think he and the team are snakebit right now. I don't know whether it was function of the many PKs in the first, causing instability in the lines, but Ovie seemed to get shifts alongside all three of the top-3 centers. I liked that. I think it may help Ovie get chances, and avoid line-matching by home clubs, if we float him through the lines occasionally.

Kuzzy was awesome, all game long. None of his chances went in, but he played well at both ends.

Tampa was better than we were at creating traffic in front of net. And it translated into two goals for them.

Game was razor-close. Garrison's shot just found its way through, while none of our point shots did. And Backstrom's shot off the post didn't trickle in behind Bishop.

I don't see us a powerhouse by any means, eventually. But if we can consistently give an effort like that, I think we'll make the playoffs.

Bummer that the Penguins are so utterly dominant right now. Only silver lining is, if they enter playoffs as the 800-lb gorilla in the East, it only increases the chance of the annual spectacular MAF meltdown in postseason.
 

troyerlaw

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Niskanen -3 tonight with 17 mins of ice time, I guess Trotz is waking up to how bad he and Green is.

Niskanen did set up Ovie nicely in the closing minutes. That was a quality pass.

Also, the Tampa goals tonight weren't the facepalm variety, after ridiculous turnovers. Two of them slid through from the point. Generally, our D looked pretty good to me.
 

Halpysback*

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Career potential based on fan expectation is not the same as an on-ice threat recognized around the league. Kuz may or may not be that #2 guy one day. It will probably be a while before we find out, based on how things are going.

That's how most teams get those guys. Top scorers via UFA/trade are obscenely expensive. We have one with high potential and try to make him into something else.

Perhaps we get lucky and Semin can be had for Brouwer or something
 

Holtbyisms

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Niskanen did set up Ovie nicely in the closing minutes. That was a quality pass.

Also, the Tampa goals tonight weren't the facepalm variety, after ridiculous turnovers. Two of them slid through from the point. Generally, our D looked pretty good to me.

D looked pretty shabby to me. Too many deflections from 5 feet and in. You can't let people stand in front of or beside your goaltender and let them get a stick on shots from the point on a regular basis. It's inevitable they're going to get there from time to time but you've got to at least try and take their stick away. Tonight we witness a high volume of shots getting through that were redirected by tampa forwards.
 

Holtbyisms

Matt Irwin is a legit talent
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reposting from last gdt:

Ovie - Backstrom - Kuznetzov
Mojo - Burakovsky - Wilson
Chimera - Fehr - Ward
OBrien - Latta - Brouwer

When Laich comes back:

Ovie - Backstrom - Kuznetzov
Mojo - Burakovsky - Wilson
Chimera - Fehr - Ward
Latta - Laich - Brouwer

I assume Latta can play wing. If not, shuffle a bit in the bottom 6. That top 6 is where this is all heading. I know Laich and Brouwer are supposedly the Toxic Twins but it's the 4th line. They'll be playing 8 minutes against the mascot and two mites with the flu.

Laich is so much better at LW than center, and Latta is the exact opposite. Why would you do that with line 4? Beyond that your "When Laich come back" is similar to mine with Brouwer/Wilson switching.

I love Wily but he hasn't looked very swift so far and he didn't in the Hershey game I watched either. Kind of looks a little bit to me like he did LAST pre-season. He's got to get it going if he wants to be a scoring line winger.
 

RandyHolt

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Nov 3, 2006
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....

There's still a way to go from a crispness standpoint. I'm not sure I love their work ethic (or at least how it's directed). They generally outwork teams in their choppy way but it has a sort of aimlessness or stupidity to it. They need to work smarter and purge the glide that remains in their game. There's still not nearly enough stop and start in their game relative to most any other NHL contest. It's maybe the most weirdly defining attribute they have.

I think this is dead on.... I am not sure its learning a new system, either. Its been this way for some time.

It's impressive that you could even articulate it. I think the word glide hits home.

If we continue in our aimless and stupid choppy way, I want to see BMac address it. At this point I think we need to assume Trotz is smart enough to be able to get the most of his players. If not now, it will likely be never. Consult with BMac towards addressing a glider. It will make curing the glide from many others a lot easier. Start moving on from a rather static complacent checking cashing core of the past 4 years. Our problems have been deeper than solely coaching.
 

txpd

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Jan 25, 2003
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Listening on the radio, and they seem to think the goals have just been really nice deflections

I listened on the radio as well. Sabourin seemed to say that two goals were 5 hole goals and not acceptable. Particularly the winner. Playing great as he apparently did in the first period doesn't make up for giving up a clean 5 hole beat on a slap shot for a 3rd period game winner.

I didn't see the game. Not going to blame Holtby. But after losing two in a row, last night would have been a great time to have a big game.
 

IdealisticSniper

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Nov 9, 2008
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Battle of Goalies. This was one of Bishop's better games this season and Holtby was not bad.

It was actually one of his worst for the first two periods he played horribly. He was spectacular in the third period when tb needed it.

Holtby played great. That last goal was a seeing eye shot and there is literally nothing he could have done on the other three goals. He made at least 6 10 bell saves in the first couple of periods that would have blown the game open for tb if he hadn't.

It was a great and intense game to watch. Caps PP makes it look so easy for the high slot shot.
 

AlexBrovechkin8

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It was actually one of his worst for the first two periods he played horribly. He was spectacular in the third period when tb needed it.

Holtby played great. That last goal was a seeing eye shot and there is literally nothing he could have done on the other three goals. He made at least 6 10 bell saves in the first couple of periods that would have blown the game open for tb if he hadn't.

It was a great and intense game to watch. Caps PP makes it look so easy for the high slot shot.

I think we watched different games last night.
 

txpd

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Jan 25, 2003
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I just looked at the highlights. Green was on for all 3 goals for.

Also....I have to say, I know we all hated Kolbe and loved the change in radio guys, but Ive come to realize that the current guy does nothing to describe these plays. I had no idea that Fehr goal looked anything like that.
 

g00n

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Nov 22, 2007
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Laich is so much better at LW than center, and Latta is the exact opposite. Why would you do that with line 4? Beyond that your "When Laich come back" is similar to mine with Brouwer/Wilson switching.

I love Wily but he hasn't looked very swift so far and he didn't in the Hershey game I watched either. Kind of looks a little bit to me like he did LAST pre-season. He's got to get it going if he wants to be a scoring line winger.

Like I said, shuffle the bottom 6 especially the 4th line.

Wilson is fresh off an injury. Give him time. He's in the plans for this club.
 

Langway

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Jul 7, 2006
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D looked pretty shabby to me. Too many deflections from 5 feet and in. You can't let people stand in front of or beside your goaltender and let them get a stick on shots from the point on a regular basis. It's inevitable they're going to get there from time to time but you've got to at least try and take their stick away. Tonight we witness a high volume of shots getting through that were redirected by tampa forwards.
Alzner was worse than Niskanen. I put the first goal on Niskanen loafing back but otherwise he was alright. Some of it's the system itself with Alzner and tying up sticks because the D are often told to front the screener instead of tie them up, banking on the D to block the lane. I never liked that approach.
I think this is dead on.... I am not sure its learning a new system, either. Its been this way for some time.

It's impressive that you could even articulate it. I think the word glide hits home.

If we continue in our aimless and stupid choppy way, I want to see BMac address it. At this point I think we need to assume Trotz is smart enough to be able to get the most of his players. If not now, it will likely be never. Consult with BMac towards addressing a glider. It will make curing the glide from many others a lot easier. Start moving on from a rather static complacent checking cashing core of the past 4 years. Our problems have been deeper than solely coaching.
That was the top thing said about Ovechkin's game last year, no? He's hustling on the backcheck now but he still regularly looks clueless on the forecheck. Just fundamentally careless. I don't know what the answer is...blow it up? It's complacency.

They need a win pretty bad. Much of this glide equates to their lack of mental toughness and belief that the game comes easy due to their skill level. Show up, work sort of hard and that will be enough...only it isn't. If they get frustrated and even sloppier now rather than more vigilent and exacting that will say all that needs to be said about their resilience.
 

g00n

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Nov 22, 2007
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...-its-very-difficult-to-try-to-stay-on-course/

Players saying the right things, but they believe they're doing enough offensively and have limited shots. Which only leaves goaltending to blame. Trotz is more direct:

Trotz on Holtby said:
“He made some good saves, but the goals were a little bit easy,” Trotz said. We’ve got to have those. There was one that was tipped. There’s nothing you can do about that, those high tips. The other ones, he’s got to have those.”

This one's on the netminder. I think I posted at the start of this thread that I wondered how long a leash BT would have for goalies since he's 100% merit based in his lines. A good start by Peters tonight and another bad one by Holtby and I think we'll find out.
 

tycoonheart

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Apr 7, 2010
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Trotz needs to see if Peters can provide a little more consistency in goal. Holtby right now is too up and down. He'll make the great saves and give up a few easy ones.
 

Ajax1995

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Dec 9, 2002
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they all suck. niskanen had a bad night. Green again was on for 2 goals for and zero goals against. awful game for 52

Niskanen and Alzner had a poor night. Thier coverage in their own zone was pretty abysmal IMO and last I checked simply standing in the relative vicinity of your man and watching uncontested redirects is not how you play defense.

Green on the other hand was on the ice for 3 Caps goals, 2 ES and 1 PP, and none against so yeah just another krap game for him.
 

MrGone

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Nov 18, 2009
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Niskanen and Alzner had a poor night. Thier coverage in their own zone was pretty abysmal IMO and last I checked simply standing in the relative vicinity of your man and watching uncontested redirects is not how you play defense.

Green on the other hand was on the ice for 3 Caps goals, 2 ES and 1 PP, and none against so yeah just another krap game for him.

Lets not get ahead of our self. He is a top line talent playing sheltered minuets against the weakest competition. No that he is not playing well in the role he has. He is just not doing any of the heavy lifting.
 

txpd

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Jan 25, 2003
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listening to trotz. hot goalie beat them. bad goaltending lost it. sounds like he thru holtby under the bus pretty strong.
 

MrGone

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listening to trotz. hot goalie beat them. bad goaltending lost it. sounds like he thru holtby under the bus pretty strong.

I got that out of it also. But its a lot different then when Oats did it. It seemed like Oats had not clue and was just passing blame. While Trotz looks at the game and just calls it as he sees it.
 

tycoonheart

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Apr 7, 2010
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How long should be Holtby's leash? I mean, Trotz is giving him the opportunity to stamp his name as the starter for this team, but dude hasn't done anything yet to prove he can do it. If this continues, he's gonna have to check out what Peters has, right?
 

txpd

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This one's on the netminder. I think I posted at the start of this thread that I wondered how long a leash BT would have for goalies since he's 100% merit based in his lines. A good start by Peters tonight and another bad one by Holtby and I think we'll find out.

I think you are right on this one. I think if the Caps win this game, Peters gets the next start.
 

txpd

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How long should be Holtby's leash? I mean, Trotz is giving him the opportunity to stamp his name as the starter for this team, but dude hasn't done anything yet to prove he can do it. If this continues, he's gonna have to check out what Peters has, right?

I expect Peters will get a chance to play if he wins but only if he wins.
 

txpd

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I got that out of it also. But its a lot different then when Oats did it. It seemed like Oats had not clue and was just passing blame. While Trotz looks at the game and just calls it as he sees it.

Trotz tells the media what the fans can see. He said that Chimera took a bad penalty and was going to be benched up until he made a play between the box and the bench that made up for it. He doesn't seem to be scape goating. He said the team played a good game. Outchanced a top team at a ratio of 2 to 1 on the road and should have won the game. He said the goalies were the difference. I didn't see the game but Ken Sabourin said the same thing after the game.

unfortunately the Caps decided to go with Holtby and a backup goalie. If Holtby can't handle it, the Caps are screwed. The only option they have to to bench Holtby, cut Peters and call up Grubauer.
 

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