Post-Game Talk: F*** the Penguins | Washington @ Pittsburgh | 1/19/21 7:00 PM ET | NBCSN, NBCSWashington, Sportsnet

[CapsJunkie]

I absolutely don't agree with the coaching decision to have two shifts go by in overtime, and not have the greatest goal scorer on the face of this earth on the ice yet, doesn't Ovi also already own the most overtime goals record as well? that's pretty laughable.

 

[TheLegendOfPatPeake]

This team is another mediocre season from being retooled.

I still don't get why they held onto Hagelin.

He is great on the PK but overpaid without a doubt for what he brings at this point.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

I absolutely don't agree with the coaching decision to have two shifts go by in overtime, and not have the greatest goal scorer on the face of this earth on the ice yet, doesn't Ovi also already own the most overtime goals record as well? that's pretty laughable.

He took a 2+ min shift last OT and was awful in it

 

[txpd]

Reality check. Ovechkin has 5pts in 4 road games

 

[Capsman]

I absolutely don't agree with the coaching decision to have two shifts go by in overtime, and not have the greatest goal scorer on the face of this earth on the ice yet, doesn't Ovi also already own the most overtime goals record as well? that's pretty laughable.

Are you living in 2009?

This iteration of OV’s game is ill suited to 3x3.

 

[marcel snapshot]

How was Sprong in this one?

I see he had 4 shots and an assist...

Thought he looked good. Played hard at both ends, pushed pace of play, showed more skill than I knew he had, and made the smart, simple pass off pad play to get the assist on Kuzy’s goal. One of a handful of forwards whose game was solid throughout tonight

 

[bur and 666 others]

oh no we suck again. Suck to lose to the pens on back-to-back. Goaltending is an issue. Rebound control should be fixed by the goalie coach and I'm not confident in ours. I don't remember any good work from this coach.

 

[TheLegendOfPatPeake]

Brand new system and a short training camp. They still pull 6 out of 8 pts on the road and everyone is shi*ing on the team. I get they have a lot to deal with and improve upon but it could be a hell of a lot worse...and better. Let’s give them some time.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

They really need to do something about Kuzy. He makes the stupidest plays game after game. He doesn't hustle, he doesn't defend well and he doesn't throw hits.

All he does is throw the puck blindly in an attempt to find an open man going to the net, and he turns it over all the f***ing time. He's been like that since 2019 and his overall play is regressing.

Ovechkin and Backstrom are no longer good enough to compensate for everyone else, they really need to coordinate themselves as a team and play methodically.

These are road games to start the season so I don't think we should sound the alarm yet, but there's a ton of work that needs to be done.

The only consistently solid players are Wilson and Carlson, everyone else needs to step it up a notch or two.

 

[Portable Mink]

Gotta remember a lot of us are just shitty we have lost to the clovers twice. Not used to feeling such hatred in my emotions after such a long lay-off!

Calmed down a bit now. Puck-po-sess-ion. Without it most teams look bad and especially us.
Whoever did the fire in on the goalie in the 5 on 3 needs to be pulled aside and had a quiet word with. As soon as it happened I yelled at the screen and then a few seconds later they score.

Wilson has been our best this year so far by a mile. Hes such a gem and tries to make a difference every shift.
I kinda wish Backstrom would attempt more difficult passes deep in the Ozone like he did when he was younger. Doing stuff like that leads to broken plays and scoring chances and is important when he is usually on the ice against the opponents best defenders.

Sprong great and I really like Speed for Kuzy to play with so that it gets his brain thinking quick. Plays better like that.
Eller was solid. Jensen/Chara is a fanatastic combo. I didnt notice Schultz apart from a strong second PP shift so thats pretty good to start with I think.

 

[tenken00]

Ovechkin and Backstrom are no longer good enough to compensate for everyone else, they really need to coordinate themselves as a team and play methodically.

This right here. They really are old, slow, with a young goaltending duo to boot now. They still have the skill to win, but they can't rely on it and brilliant individual play anymore.

The way the have to win now is to support each other with and without the puck. And full attention to detail on both offense and defense. And make good decisions. Like you said, methodical. Basically they have to break old habits.

I guess the silver lining of this big smelly poo of a game is that its the perfect game to first humble and then teach from. If done right that is. Old habits die hard. But you need to start somewhere.

 

[Calicaps]

Reality check. Ovechkin has 5pts in 4 road games

He's old and washed up.

 

[bur and 666 others]

This right here. They really are old, slow, with a young goaltending duo to boot now. They still have the skill to win, but they can't rely on it and brilliant individual play anymore.

The way the have to win now is to support each other with and without the puck. And full attention to detail on both offense and defense. And make good decisions. Like you said, methodical. Basically they have to break old habits.

I guess the silver lining of this big smelly poo of a game is that its the perfect game to first humble and then teach from. If done right that is. Old habits die hard. But you need to start somewhere.

Old, slow team with young goaltending. What can go wrong? Hoping for Lavi magic, but otherwise I'm afraid.

 

[tenken00]

Old, slow team with young goaltending. What can go wrong? Hoping for Lavi magic, but otherwise I'm afraid.

I think we kind of knew deep down before the season started that the team was going to go through some struggle just by looking at the roster and with a new coach new system and a short training camp and no preseason. I think the Buffalo series kind of jumped up our expectations, but we were just worried that with the shortened season, we could be out of the running early before we found an identity or roles. That sort of still holds true now, just that we actually were able to get points so there's not that sudden sense of desperation yet.

I guess we still have to wait and see exactly what the Caps are, it really is a strange season. But in a strange season like this, anyone can win really. Even old slow guys with young goaltending.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Me thinks goalies are Caps weakness this season.

I already want to see Anderson given a chance. VV really disappointed me tonight. His rebound control was just atrocious. Was strange how the Sabres are a faster team than the Pens, yet VV was fighting the puck the whole game. It was almost like he got overwhelmed with how the Pens were attacking him.

 

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

I reeeeeally want to caution you about your continued overreaction to a simple comment or two and proclamations about This Board hates this or that lol....but hey please tell us all how it is .

New year, same obsession... try a hobby in 2021

 

[AussieCapsFan]

Whoever did the fire in on the goalie in the 5 on 3 needs to be pulled aside and had a quiet word with.

Ah yes, that would be Kuzy....

 

[AussieCapsFan]

I hope you guys are right but I see the exact same team I’ve seen seen since around Jan of 2020

Well that is probably because they have only played FOUR games with a new coach. It's more than likely that when things start to break down the team falls back into playing how they have for the last two seasons, under Reirden.

So if they look the same it's because they haven't fully adapted to the new system under Laviolette.

I wish people could be a little more patient - ffs 6 out of a possible 8 points to start the season, on the road. What a crappy position to be in! (Said no one, ever).

 

[Roshi]

Sure it wasnt the best outing for Vanecek, but the board is being to hard on him. There was some rebounding issues, but he did ok. Goal 1 was the only one that really stung, and from that the team rebounded well itself.

G2 was 5on3 tap-in, G3 was a breakaway, G4 classic Malkin PP-shot through traffic, G5 sure it was a rebound but not that bad. The team did him no favours. And he did back it up with that game saver 2 minutes before the clock. From those exact same chances I dont see Anderson or Lundqvist or Samsonov or Holtby on a regular day bailing us out with 2 points today. It would have took a really good game between the pipes to steal this one. This one is on the team.

They had all the chances you would hope to break out the lead into 5-2 and more, but Hagelin missing a 3v0 and the worst 5on3 PP ever displayed changed the momentum. Kuzy throwing that puck to DeSmith was just so lazy and stupid ffs. Take some responsibility. After-Cup Kuzy has been poison. I know its never going to happen because he is main pieces on the core, but trading him for a Dubois or whoever could be the notch this team needs to get their heads out of their a**es.

Still, its just a one.. no, two ga... three games. With a new coach. I wasnt expecting us to run out of the gates and cruising to easy victories every night. And we do have 6/8 points. We have been spoiled for so long that we just cant appreciate success like we should. We will have our fair share of bottom feeding ahead and we should be happier when we are still running with the top half teams.

It just sucks to hand out points to Pens like this. They dont deserve our favours.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Sure it wasnt the best outing for Vanecek, but the board is being to hard on him. There was some rebounding issues, but he did ok. Goal 1 was the only one that really stung, and from that the team rebounded well itself.

G2 was 5on3 tap-in, G3 was a breakaway, G4 classic Malkin PP-shot through traffic, G5 sure it was a rebound but not that bad. The team did him no favours. And he did back it up with that game saver 2 minutes before the clock. From those exact same chances I dont see Anderson or Lundqvist or Samsonov or Holtby on a regular day bailing us out with 2 points today. It would have took a really good game between the pipes to steal this one. This one is on the team.

They had all the chances you would hope to break out the lead into 5-2 and more, but Hagelin missing a 3v0 and the worst 5on3 PP ever displayed changed the momentum. Kuzy throwing that puck to DeSmith was just so lazy and stupid ffs. Take some responsibility. After-Cup Kuzy has been poison. I know its never going to happen because he is main pieces on the core, but trading him for a Dubois or whoever could be the notch this team needs to get their heads out of their a**es.

Still, its just a one.. no, two ga... three games. With a new coach. I wasnt expecting us to run out of the gates and cruising to easy victories every night. And we do have 6/8 points. We have been spoiled for so long that we just cant appreciate success like we should. We will have our fair share of bottom feeding ahead and we should be happier when we are still running with the top half teams.

It just sucks to hand out points to Pens like this. They dont deserve our favours.

G3(Pens shorty), VV made the wrong movement. He left his near post too early. As a goalie facing a breakaway, you don't leave your angle covering the near post. If you do you're cheating/over anticipating the shooter will shift left and shoot for the far post. Make the shooter beat you wide on the far post(towards VV's left). G4(Malkin PP goal), VV even though screened, he dropped into his butterfly technique too soon(he's only 6'1", so he made himself small dropping into the butterfly). He should have stayed upright and looked around the Pens player screening him. Malkin shoots left-handed. I think Malkin's percentage of scoring a goal off his slapshot high near-post, was low. G5(Crosbitch's OT goal), VV gave up a bad rebound. Either he has to absorb the shot or redirect the shot to the side of the net. VV was giving up too many rebounds straight back in front of himself(that's goalie 101 no-no!) and he finally got burned for it.

 

[Roshi]

G3(Pens shorty), VV made the wrong movement. He left his near post too early. As a goalie facing a breakaway, you don't leave your angle covering the near post. If you do you're cheating/over anticipating the shooter will shift left and shoot for the far post. Make the shooter beat you wide on the far post(towards VV's left). G4(Malkin PP goal), VV even though screened, he dropped into his butterfly technique too soon(he's only 6'1", so he made himself small dropping into the butterfly). He should have stayed upright and looked around the Pens player screening him. Malkin shoots left-handed. I think Malkin's percentage of scoring a goal off his slapshot high near-post, was low. G5(Crosbitch's OT goal), VV gave up a bad rebound. Either he has to absorb the shot or redirect the shot to the side of the net. VV was giving up too many rebounds straight back in front of himself(that's goalie 101 no-no!) and he finally got burned for it.

Thats overthinking.

Breakaways is a reactive 1on1 play. Its 50-50. Difference between wrong and right movement is whether its a goal or not. Goals like that happen all the time, everywhere around the league, and they are scored to Vasilevkys and Rasks too. You can blame the rookie goalie to make a wrong move in a breakaway in his second game up, but thats not going to get you anywhere.

Malkin shot was a one-timing snipe, blaster to the top shelf. And there is a guy screening Vanecek straight between him and the shooter, right on the skin of VV. You make it sound like every goalie should save that by just making yourself big.

Sure, ideally there is a technique to save any given shot. And ideally every game ends up 0-0.

Vanecek did ok. He gave up too many rebounds, didnt quite control them. Its ok, happens to the best of them. He was decent enough to give his team a chance to win, and his team blew it up.

I hoped for Lundqvist / veteran goalie before. After it came clear it was going this route, just get behind it. Give them time and chances. They havent been perfect but they have been good enough. We have 6/8 points. No reason to panic.

We didnt lose because of the goalies today. We lost because lack of urgency and discipline.

The exact same issue we keep on battling with. Not an easy think to fix for Laviolette, but give them time and hope he can feed it to them. Its kind of tough to overcome with all the talent on the roster. We win too many games with 60-70-80% effort. Its hard to feed urgency and say that you arent doing enough, when you are winning games and have still a recent cup on your belt.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

People really blaming Vitek for this game? How about the ~$9M center who gives the puck to the goalie on a 5-on-3? How about the 34 year old Olympian who cheap shots a defenseman with an unnecessary hit because he was pissed he lost the puck? How about the guys who couldn’t score on a 3-on-0? Vanny played well enough for the team to win if the team didn’t shit themselves as many times as they did... blaming the L on a goalie making his second career start when the veterans where the ones to lead them off the cliff is suboptimal.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Two heartbreakers in a row...

 

[twabby]

For what it's worth I liked the new lines. It was easily Kuznetsov's best game this season and I thought Sprong actually had a few decent opportunities himself. I also like Oshie and Eller together, they seem to have some good chemistry.

Just cut out the stupid penalties and mistakes.

 

[Langway]

The only consistently solid players are Wilson and Carlson, everyone else needs to step it up a notch or two.

It's really just Wilson. And to an extent Chara in his more limited role. Jensen has also continued to play well. Then maybe Oshie.

My more fundamental issues, with the skaters at least, is three-fold:
- Ovechkin, Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Orlov & Carlson all have to more routinely lead the way.
- Vrana & Kuznetsov together bring real competitiveness issues. They need their pace badly and I'm intrigued by Sprong with them. But I don't know whether those two can function together.
- So much cap space allocated to players that bring nothing offensively. Schultz+Dillon+Hagelin+Panik+Jensen+Hathaway equal a third of their skaters and $17.4M in cap space. It's only a little over 20 percent of their cap space but they were brought in because of a lack of organizational depth. Not having more young skilled developing players comes with a hidden cost of a lack of two or three-dimensional play. It's 'reliable' but also limited. Add that to top-end players less regularly dominant and it presents mix/identity problems.

They'll figure some things out and execute better but the compressed schedule won't lend itself to stepping back more frequently and self-assessing. This isn't an overly composed team generally when it comes to IQ and discipline. Introduce the potential for ongoing goaltending instability and there's at least the contours of a team that may struggle to be one of the top four teams in the division.

Going forward I'd try:

Ovechkin - Backstrom - Wilson
Sprong - Kuznetsov - Oshie
Vrana - Eller - Panik
Hagelin - Dowd - Hathaway

Dillon - Carlson
Orlov - Schultz
Chara - Jensen

It's early but getting the mix/balance right is crucial. Orlov-Carlson haven't come close to presenting enough reward and spreading their offense out by breaking them up should be the way to go.