Post-Game Talk: Caps @ ghosts of Barclay 7pm

[Raikkonen]

So where is Williams?

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Sad effort, next up.

 

[Calicaps]

Agreed. 90 and 43 are the ones that stick out the most IMO. It's just a matter of whether the front office and coaching staff are cut-throat enough to actually do it.

At this point I'd say Willy brings more than Mojo because our fourth line has been superb at times. But yeah, they could both be improved upon.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

So where is Williams?

Hurt his leg from what I saw.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

You blew a tire Ovi, don't complain

At least you score to make up for it.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Life!

 

[Hivemind]

Too much pre-game trash talk in the GDT.

 

[Coldplay619]

Wooo

 

[Calicaps]

Blech. Be better tomorrow.

 

[billcook]

lol.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Hey look we tried hard late.

 

[billcook]

Too much pre-game trash talk in the GDT.

Not enough, I'd say.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Too little too late

 

[Calicaps]

Hey look we tried hard late.

Outshot them by 1.

 

[AtNightWeFly]

What does Vrana have to do to get a second call-up? Sacrifice a goat?

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Alright, I'll chalk that one up to coming back from the ASG break. They better win tomorrow with Holts in net!

 

[Capsman]

I still see the Penguins 8-7 loss as the beginning of the end to this season. Trotz recalibrated them, shot totals and possession stats have been low since then.

 

[Dr John Carlson]

At least Orlov-Niskanen was real good.

 

[Coldplay619]

I still see the Penguins 8-7 loss as the beginning of the end to this season. Trotz recalibrated them, shot totals and possession stats have been low since then.

Big part of that has been due to the injury to Carlson, and Trotz's insistence on having "balanced" D pairings in his absence.

 

[Calicaps]

Pure rust if you ask me. Tomorrow will tell better.

 

[g00n]

Meh. Looked more like the caps from the beginning of the season. And the end of last season after the storm. There were some snow flurries last night. That counts as a snowstorm, I guess.

 

[RaindanceMaggie]

We weren't that bad tonight, had a lacking 2nd period but I thought we did some good things coming off a break.

 

[bur and 666 others]

Woah dont spoil it for me

it seems Mojo is back to his usual self haven't watched caps games for while, but the last 2 minutes of this one and he was very noticeable that he is unnoticeable

 

[Hivemind]

What does Vrana have to do to get a second call-up? Sacrifice a goat?

He can start by getting his AHL play back on track. He's been relatively quiet on the score sheet and somewhat listless since his demotion.

 

[twabby]

I think it's time to go back to 8-92-77 and 90-19-14. Not only do the possession numbers suggest that this would be optimal, but it makes sense from a hockey sense too.

Backstrom simply doesn't have the speed in transition to play the type of game that Ovechkin and Oshie like playing but is a very good offensive zone possession player. Meanwhile, despite Kuznetsov's fantastic individual efforts in transition recently Johansson and Williams aren't very good at that type of game and are better suited to a possession game.

I also don't think matching Ovechkin with the opposition's best line is particularly effective either. I'd like to see 90-19-14 be the shutdown possession line and 8-92-77 line against weaker opposition.