Sometimes games look worse than they actually are. The Caps ran into a good goaltending performance and had some poor goaltending of their own. Yeah, they had some defensive breakdowns but honestly systematically they looked fine. Mental mistakes can be fixed rather quickly as opposed to talent deficiencies or systems issues.
Two things: break up Orlov and Orpik. It's a pair that just doesn't work despite the advanced stats (see guys I'm not all stats!) Also, despite Backstrom and Ovechkin looking pretty good tonight I still want too see 8-92-77 and 65-19-14. Why not try these lines? They were incredibly effective at the beginning of the season. Maybe they won't be effective again, but I feel like they should at least try it.
Also this is exactly why the Caps should have acquired a third line winger at the deadline. Many people here said "why break up the best line on the team?" Well, the advanced stats said they were not going to keep it up and now look. They are the worst line on the team.
It's no time to panic if you're a fan, but I think Trotz has to make a change in his line combinations because he's not really maximizing the talent on the team.
I think they should scratch Orlov for a game and put Chorney in with Schmidt, or at least reduce Orlov's minutes. He played 21:09 last night, second only to Niskanen. Both were -2. Part of me wonders, though, if what we're actually seeing is a strategy by the coaching staff to get the team playing better when
not giving it their all. If you put Carlson and Orpik back together now, for example, and it failed you'd have nothing up your sleeves come playoffs. Both of them are playing better at the moment, and I think Schmidt has been better with Carly these couple of games. I just wish it didn't have to be Orlov and Orpik as a result. I wonder too if this is a precursor to Orlov contract talks in the offseason - can they sign him to a Top 4 role or not?
Out of interest, save for his arguably better hitting ability, does anyone here think Orlov is actually better defensively than Chorney? At least at the moment?
As for your other points:
The Ovi-Backstrom line seems to be the only one Williams isn't scoring on, even if he's improved it. At this point he'd be more help to the team being on the second or third.
Again, there was no 65-19-14 line at the start of the season, there was 90-19-14. People are using Marcus and Bura interchanging and I don't get why - Marcus has scored a tonne of goals away from Kuzy; Andre didn't and hasn't. And considering 8-19-14 and 65-19-77 weren't anything great, I don't see reason that 65-92-14 would work. Don't try and help Ovechkin (who really shouldn't need help) by taking Andre out at the knees.
The third line is the worst on the team? Which third line would that be? In recent games we've had:
25-90-43
25-83-90
25-90-83
25-10-90
25-90-14
25-83-43
And for at least two stints this season, 25-10-43 which I think managed just one goal in multiple games together.
By my count that's six different players, and only one consistency. Yet I bet it's Willy you're wanting to have been replaced. What do we do about Chimera? I thought Marcus was strong when he was 2LW and Chimera already strong on 3LW - put them together and they worked well, and greatly improved Willy. I think Marcus is looking strong, despite not scoring much, but Chimera's become surprisingly invisible of late. I think it'd be worth putting Williams with them a bit longer to see if they can both find their grooves again.
One thing that desperately needs to happen: Kuzy, Backstrom, Oshie and Johansson need to shoot more, and more consistently. They're all good or very good playmakers, but there's still too much deference going on. At this point, screw Ovi. Let him find his own goals.
And surprisingly, I think Galiev deserves more ice time. Yeah, he's not scoring - but our entire forward corps is now two games without a goal. He looked good last night despite a tricky opponent. Here's my question: what's Galiev's role, ideally? Is it playmaker, or scorer? I feel like part of his problem this season is he plays mostly on checking lines, which isn't his primary skill, and when in the top six it's not clear which role he should assume. Still, might be interesting to see 25-90-49 for a game. I feel like Galiev's got one goal coming this season, however unlikely that seems.
