Post-Game Talk: Caps vs Sens 7:00 PM Caps Win 2-1

[KevinM]

Yeah Ovi needs to get going, he's robbing Backstrom of a chance at the Art Ross

 

[HunterSThompson]

On the topic of Green. I thought he played a pretty good game besides the turnover leading to their goal. Right before the goal, I think, on that long shift he made a couple of nice plays in his own zone. I thought he was moving the puck well and he was playing pretty well in his own zone as well. I could certainly be wrong. I had a lot going on tonight and didn't watch the second half of the game very closely.

 

[Calicaps]

It was and actually Trotz noted something to the effect that Green had been on the ice for an extensive period of time (4 minutes he mentioned) prior to the gaffe.

FWIW Green also was responsible for at least one of the icings that trapped them on there so long.

Which also reminds me that I was pissed when Trotz used the time out for the 5 on 3. Even before it failed I thought that was a strategic error. Time outs are too critical to throw away in the first period.

 

[Ajax1995]

FWIW Green also was responsible for at least one of the icings that trapped them on there so long.

Well we certainly can't have that then can we? I mean good lord, icing the puck? Who does that...?

So not only did Green make an awful turnover that lead directly to a goal against he also iced the puck?

I love some of the garbage some people come up with to run down the usual suspects around here...

 

[Devil Dancer]

Honest Abe: Matt Niskanen.

That's shocking to me. I've generally been positive on Nisky, but he was flailing at the puck tonight. He shanked shots, he flubbed passes, and he failed on clearing attempts. I thought it was his worst game as a Cap (that I've seen).

Holtby played great and they got some luck. You need games like that sometimes, and they're finally getting some.

Tomorrow has "moral victory, regulation loss" written all over it.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Well we certainly can't have that then can we? I mean good lord, icing the puck? Who does that...?

So not only did Green make an awful turnover that lead directly to a goal against he also iced the puck?

I love some of the garbage some people come up with to run down the usual suspects around here...

Versus the same garbage some posters use to stick up for same players? Where is the Pot, Kettle?

Lol

Caps are playing a decent brand of hockey. I hope it's "who they are", and not just a hot streak. Even with the 9 gamer, the Caps are barely in the playoffs. Rags are as hot, and the Bruins are lurking in the other division.

Caps need to augment their forward crop, and the way to do thay is thru their defense. Caps needs more scoring and better center play. Green's the best candidate to bring that back because of his salary slot, more than anything else.

We will see.

 

[Calicaps]

Well we certainly can't have that then can we? I mean good lord, icing the puck? Who does that...?

So not only did Green make an awful turnover that lead directly to a goal against he also iced the puck?

I love some of the garbage some people come up with to run down the usual suspects around here...

Sheesh... My only point was that if the long shift is an excuse we should remember that he brought some of it on himself.

 

[Mickstix]

If there's a trade to be had I see Green and Mojo being prime candidates.. Mojo just isn't skilled enough to have a top 6 slot in Trotz "system" imo.. Or rather, he doesn't show it enough.. Kuzy easily replaces him on the PP, so he's expendable..

Green is just Green. I love the assists (not the gimmies of tonight, but the real ones, like -vs- CBJ) and the monthy goal here and there, but these boneheaded turnovers just don't have a place around here anymore. He seems to be the only one still making them consistently.. Carlson has cleaned up his game, it's time for Green to do the same or be on his way.

 

[Vladiator16*]

Had to work late, just got done with the game.
Man did i think we pissed it away in the first not capitalizing on that 5 on 3.. i really thought there was something wrong with the ice, the pucks were bouncing left and right, neither team could connect on anything... and when Ottawa did - Holtby was incredible. this W is Holtbys.


Anyway, the way i see it, if we want to win tomorrow, Holtby needs to make couple of key saves early in the game against NYR, if he does we gonna win it too. It just gives a team such huge advantage, knowing they are locked down on the back end.

 

[troyerlaw]

Can anyone actually note anything positive Brouwer did this game? Or last game?

He screened goalie perfectly on 52's goal in last game

 

[marcel snapshot]

Was at the game last night - agree with CCF and others who think that, outside of the nightmarish, Gonchar-esque cough-up to Condra, Green played pretty well. Even guys who aren't (like Green) prone to mental mistakes might have made one there, after having been out on the ice as long as Green had been - he had to know that after a shift that seemed like 3 minutes he couldn't try to deke a forechecker in his own zone. But he didn't. This is not shocking. He's high-risk, high-reward (can't believe he flew the net on that shot from the slot during the 5x3; that should have been a goal). And when he plays well - as he has for the most part over the last few games - he's a difference maker for this team.

Holtby was beastly - don't really see how you can play Peters tonight. Tired team (we looked gassed in the 3rd last night) and tired Holtby probably - but nothing in the way Peters has played this year suggests he gives us any chance to win whatsoever, especially against a team with Lundquist, that has won 6 in a row and won its last game 1-0. You just can't play Peters - after tonight Holtby has until Saturday to rest.

 

[Blades of Steel]

Holtby was beastly - don't really see how you can play Peters tonight ever again. Tired team (we looked gassed in the 3rd last night) and tired Holtby probably - but nothing in the way Peters has played this year suggests he gives us any chance to win whatsoever, especially against a team with Lundquist, that has won 6 in a row and won its last game 1-0. You just can't play Peters - after tonight Holtby has until Saturday to rest.

Holtby said he could play every game if he was allowed to, I'd trust him. He's in the zone.. let him go until he cracks then rest him and let him reset.

 

[OVs Gold Chain*]

Was at the game last night - agree with CCF and others who think that, outside of the nightmarish, Gonchar-esque cough-up to Condra, Green played pretty well. Even guys who aren't (like Green) prone to mental mistakes might have made one there, after having been out on the ice as long as Green had been - he had to know that after a shift that seemed like 3 minutes he couldn't try to deke a forechecker in his own zone. But he didn't. This is not shocking. He's high-risk, high-reward (can't believe he flew the net on that shot from the slot during the 5x3; that should have been a goal). And when he plays well - as he has for the most part over the last few games - he's a difference maker for this team.

Agreed, but I've seen this movie too many times to not know how it ends, unfortunately. Come post-season when the forecheck starts to target and finish checks on him all game, and the space tightens up, he turns into a different player.

Love what he brings in the regular season and I think he's a good personality in the locker room, but when you watch him in the playoffs you notice all the qualities he doesn't bring to the defensive zone that other dmen in his pay grade do. If we could sign him at ~4 mil he'd be worth hanging on to but that just isn't going to happen. Multiple borderline playoff teams are going to offer a stupid amount of money, probably more than he's making now.

 

[Mothra]

Green caught the pass at the top of the circle. He took one stride and there were two Senators there. It was a terrible pass by Hillen and a poor decision by Green not to just chip it up the ice, but Hillen has no business putting him in that position in the first place.

youre flat out wrong.....

this was a typical breakout....52 had plenty of time to make the right decision, which wasnt try to deke around a player with no one behind him. He has a history of this and its not always the fault of who passed him the puck. This is the NHL...being able to have time to look up is about all the time you can expect. Adding to that...the play was ALWAYS in front of 52. They opposition didnt come out of nowhere...they were in front of him the entire time

the play was a standard "chip the puck" out of the zone...and he blew it. Stop making excuses

 

[Mothra]

Eh, agree to disagree. He didn't look like he was expecting the pass until the last second. It looked to me like he was expecting Hillen just to get it up the ice quick.

please explain...Hillen is in the middle of the ice...Is he expecting Hillen to go Bobby Orr and skate through the team? The play is to the boards...then out of the zone...standard play.

If he is expecting Hillen to go up ice...why is he racing up the boards and not holding up some in support?

 

[Ajax1995]

Sheesh... My only point was that if the long shift is an excuse we should remember that he brought some of it on himself.

Yes by the egregious sin of icing the puck. How many times does that happen every game? Good thing to know someone is out there tracking these crimes against Caps fans. How long until a player you like's gaff is excused because a player you don't like iced the puck? I'm sure six degrees of how can we blame Green is right around the corner.

Wilson is playing like garbage lately but since so many apparently think he is the second coming it is crickets around here while Green is playing well and you bring up that not only did he make a terrible play he also iced the puck. You found a way to blame him twice, congrats...

 

[Mothra]

I see two assists for green in a game they score two goals.

of course you do....but the scoring play he was most responsible for was neither

 

[Ajax1995]

Versus the same garbage some posters use to stick up for same players?

I'm not sticking up for anyone. It was a terrible, awful play. Obviously he was trying to make a play but that was clearly not the time or the place for such a move. It was a boneheaded decision.

How else should I condemn the play?

 

[artilector]

Agreed, but I've seen this movie too many times to not know how it ends, unfortunately. Come post-season when the forecheck starts to target and finish checks on him all game, and the space tightens up, he turns into a different player.

Love what he brings in the regular season and I think he's a good personality in the locker room, but when you watch him in the playoffs you notice all the qualities he doesn't bring to the defensive zone that other dmen in his pay grade do. If we could sign him at ~4 mil he'd be worth hanging on to but that just isn't going to happen. Multiple borderline playoff teams are going to offer a stupid amount of money, probably more than he's making now.

EXACTLY.

In the playoffs, his liability-to-difference-maker ratio goes way up, and there's no way one could be confident that he could stay in one piece for a Cup-length run.

 

[txpd]

Agreed, but I've seen this movie too many times to not know how it ends, unfortunately. Come post-season when the forecheck starts to target and finish checks on him all game, and the space tightens up, he turns into a different player.

Love what he brings in the regular season and I think he's a good personality in the locker room, but when you watch him in the playoffs you notice all the qualities he doesn't bring to the defensive zone that other dmen in his pay grade do. If we could sign him at ~4 mil he'd be worth hanging on to but that just isn't going to happen. Multiple borderline playoff teams are going to offer a stupid amount of money, probably more than he's making now.

Lets be honest though. In the past when Green was targeted by opposing playoff forechecks it was because he was target #1 and the drop off behind him was significant. He was also very young. His last three playoff seasons have been far better and the last one he was arguably the best performing Caps skater.

Today it would be Carlson that gets that sort of attention if opposing game plan even calls for that kind of attention because the of the three Caps puck movers.

Trotz has called Green "the x factor" on several occasions this season. he used that term to describe Karlsson post game last night as well as Green. I think you really reduce yourself deciding that the defense is better off without him and replacing him with a rookie or Hillen

 

[txpd]

EXACTLY.

In the playoffs, his liability-to-difference-maker ratio goes way up, and there's no way one could be confident that he could stay in one piece for a Cup-length run.

it has not been that way in recent playoffs. its like we just dismiss it when it doesn't fit the narrative. we have made up our mind years ago.

 

[BrooklynCapsFan]

Lets be honest though. In the past when Green was targeted by opposing playoff forechecks it was because he was target #1 and the drop off behind him was significant. He was also very young. His last three playoff seasons have been far better and the last one he was arguably the best performing Caps skater.

Today it would be Carlson that gets that sort of attention if opposing game plan even calls for that kind of attention because the of the three Caps puck movers.

Trotz has called Green "the x factor" on several occasions this season. he used that term to describe Karlsson post game last night as well as Green. I think you really reduce yourself deciding that the defense is better off without him and replacing him with a rookie or Hillen

The mental gymnastics here are great. You can take out of the game easily by hitting him. It doesn't matter if Scott Stevens or Andy Delmore is behind him. You're going to do it. Like you said, he can be a game changer. Why wouldn't you neutralize that?

 

[Ajax1995]

Once minds are made up about players around here they do not change regardless if the players actual play does or not. Green had poor playoffs early so thus in their minds he has always and will always be poor in the playoffs. It is what it is...

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

youre flat out wrong.....

this was a typical breakout....52 had plenty of time to make the right decision, which wasnt try to deke around a player with no one behind him. He has a history of this and its not always the fault of who passed him the puck. This is the NHL...being able to have time to look up is about all the time you can expect. Adding to that...the play was ALWAYS in front of 52. They opposition didnt come out of nowhere...they were in front of him the entire time

the play was a standard "chip the puck" out of the zone...and he blew it. Stop making excuses

I have no interest in debating this with you. I've watched the play numerous times and what I said is what happened. I also admitted he should have gotten rid of it. They're both at fault, and being hemmed in their zone for a while probably had something to do with it.

 

[BrooklynCapsFan]

Once minds are made up about players around here they do not change regardless if the players actual play does or not. Green had poor playoffs early so thus in their minds he has always and will always be poor in the playoffs. It is what it is...

You act like these are rookies. Mike Green is a 10 year pro with 9 playoff series under his belt. It's pretty reasonable to make up your mind based on that sample.

Has Green done anything this year to warrant changing our minds? Started the season injured. Followed by ten good games. Followed by ten terrible games. Followed by a stretch of games missed due to injury. Followed by 3 or 4 good games. Yeah, he's really breaking the mold here.