ColePens
RIP Fugu Buffaloed & parabola
Plus
+ Defense: This is by far the best our defense has played since MT days.
That hurts to say that. Martin, Orpik, and Tangers are solid. I can't give enough praise to Martin this season. He admitted to his piss-poor play and he really lived up to his word so far. (Key words.. so far).
Now we get into the 3 surprises. Engo, Bort, and Despres are beyond anything I would have expected. I think Engo feels at home when he's paired with a guy like Bort. They are rough, tough, and put anyone/anything on their ass. So many times I've watched clear lanes on rebounds because everyone is on their butt.
I have no clue what happens when Nisky returns because even he was playing tremendous hockey. But I truly like 4 tough defenders in the line up.
+ Fourth Line: You guys are going to hate me for sounding like a broken record. What can I say? Every time they are out there the shift is in the offensive zone wearing down the opposition. Vitale leads the way with aggression and Adams/Glass follow through on their end, too. They are tremendous.
+ Backchecking: James Neal might have stopped 4-5 offensive chances himself, but every foreword was busting their ***** back into our d-zone today. It allows our defense to gap up and know we have numbers. Granted, it's part successful because the Caps were SO SLOW coming through the neutral zone. But they still came back and busted their ***** making it very difficult for the Caps to gain any odd man rushes.
+ Geno, Sid, Kunitz: Just a quick mention that I thought all three guys played well. Kunitz had his season opener tonight after terrifyingly bad start. Sid/Geno were out there flying and creating chances. Also.. this was one of Sid's best defensive games in a long time. He was dominant in our zone.
Also honorable mentions to guys like Sutter and Boychuk who I also thought played very well.
+ The "single hat": Crosby has done a lot in 2 games to show he wants this team together. Forced pucks to Koon for the hatty. Giving Sutter the goal. Cooke giving Engo the goal. This is ****ing awesome.
I'm glad to see Kunitz have a game like this. He needed it.
Minus
Third Period: I know we played yesterday, but we just thought Washington was going to give up. We could lose games that way. No lead is safe in the NHL. You can't just go into a 1-2-2 and dump everything.
This is where I put it on Bylsma a bit. You switched to a 1-2-2 for what reason? We sat back waaaaay too much. Gotta play 60 minutes like yesterday and put the skate on the throat of an opponent.
+ Defense: This is by far the best our defense has played since MT days.
That hurts to say that. Martin, Orpik, and Tangers are solid. I can't give enough praise to Martin this season. He admitted to his piss-poor play and he really lived up to his word so far. (Key words.. so far). Now we get into the 3 surprises. Engo, Bort, and Despres are beyond anything I would have expected. I think Engo feels at home when he's paired with a guy like Bort. They are rough, tough, and put anyone/anything on their ass. So many times I've watched clear lanes on rebounds because everyone is on their butt.
I have no clue what happens when Nisky returns because even he was playing tremendous hockey. But I truly like 4 tough defenders in the line up.
+ Fourth Line: You guys are going to hate me for sounding like a broken record. What can I say? Every time they are out there the shift is in the offensive zone wearing down the opposition. Vitale leads the way with aggression and Adams/Glass follow through on their end, too. They are tremendous.
+ Backchecking: James Neal might have stopped 4-5 offensive chances himself, but every foreword was busting their ***** back into our d-zone today. It allows our defense to gap up and know we have numbers. Granted, it's part successful because the Caps were SO SLOW coming through the neutral zone. But they still came back and busted their ***** making it very difficult for the Caps to gain any odd man rushes.
+ Geno, Sid, Kunitz: Just a quick mention that I thought all three guys played well. Kunitz had his season opener tonight after terrifyingly bad start. Sid/Geno were out there flying and creating chances. Also.. this was one of Sid's best defensive games in a long time. He was dominant in our zone.
Also honorable mentions to guys like Sutter and Boychuk who I also thought played very well.
+ The "single hat": Crosby has done a lot in 2 games to show he wants this team together. Forced pucks to Koon for the hatty. Giving Sutter the goal. Cooke giving Engo the goal. This is ****ing awesome.
I'm glad to see Kunitz have a game like this. He needed it.
Minus
Third Period: I know we played yesterday, but we just thought Washington was going to give up. We could lose games that way. No lead is safe in the NHL. You can't just go into a 1-2-2 and dump everything.
This is where I put it on Bylsma a bit. You switched to a 1-2-2 for what reason? We sat back waaaaay too much. Gotta play 60 minutes like yesterday and put the skate on the throat of an opponent.
