Post-Game Talk: Game #3 CAPITALS @ penguins, 7:30 PM EST

[hockeykicker]

 

[Bieronymus Trotz]

Let Tommy Wilson lose on their D-men early and often.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

good, don’t run Willy....it’s better to keep him from getting riled up IMO.

I hope he’s willing to eat a lot of gloves tonight for his teammates.....they’re coming. In fact if I’m him I go down easy tonight in scrums.

 

[Blades of Steel]

lol... I have always enjoyed hearing people wanting ovechkin run or wilson, etc.. it just doesn't work. They are tough enough that they enjoy that type of game and give it back.

 

[Devil Dancer]

The Pens reporter for the Atlantic was on the Junkies this morning. He was certain Malkin would play, said he probably could have played Sunday if the Caps won G1.

 

[hb12xchamps]

Please waste all your energy on Willy. Islanders series 2.0 would be great

 

[EroCaps]

Can they break the hearts of Pens fans, just once? Like, have Tom Wilson tie the game late and win it in 4OT.

 

[RandyHolt]

I like Randy's idea of coming out and playing the trap for a while.

Thank you. Taking it a step farther, take another page out of what Barry did in the first series, that got no ink ok pixels at all, was he had Braden out aggressively playing the puck to start one of the games.

Do the same thing, and trap early. When they figure out they need dump, Holts will be waiting. Try a home run pass from Holts up the gut to Kuzy. He is a fine stick handler that I think was discouraged from doing much puck handling early in his career. Likely after a gaffe. Or, the dreaded trapezoid.

I for one loved letting the goalie play the puck anywhere he wanted to. Why the hell not? Bondra vs Hasek is one of my favorite sequences of all time. If G wants to go to the corner, he is fair game to get checked. The trapezoid encourages dump and chase hockey, which is what I thought the league wanted to get away from.

Yes I will said it. I despise the trapezoid.

 

[Raikkonen]

I'd like to see 4w straight again. But I'd settle for winning G4. Tonight I'm watching without nerves just because there are not much consequences in losing this game.

Worrying about Kuzy. Not the best G2 for him, certainly targeted with slashes. Needs to create something tonight for the win.

Malkin can still help us. He does a lot of mistakes then not on his game. He can score a PPG and make 3-4 bad turnovers on the blue line. Hopefully Trotz managed to describe 2on1 concept to the team.

 

[Ridley Simon]

Have to imagine Pittsburgh is going to come out flying the first 10 minutes. Also have to imagine Wilson is going to get a penalty for breathing on someone. He needs to be smart tonight.

Yep...as we talked about in the other thread, but bears repeating. They need to weather "the surge" and try and come out of the 1st period within a goal. That would be considered a very good period, IMO. And the longer the game stays close, the more pressure I think the Pens will feel.

And my mantra will continue to be "Shoot at Murray's Glovehand at all times!!" (then go the other direction, when he's not expecting it, and starts to cheat the glove).

Get in Murray's head. If they can do that, its game over.

 

[hockeykicker]

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

Just win. Turn the tables on that wretched franchise. Let’s go Caps!!!

 

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

I like Randy's idea of coming out and playing the trap for a while.

I don't have faith in our ability to ever get out of the trap if we start it. We're not exactly great at transitioning our play style into a more proactive offense. I say stick to what has worked the last two games, comes out and try and gut them early. If we don't take a stinker in the 3rd of the Game 1 we're looking at a 2-0 series, our game plan has largely been effective the last two games save for one critically flawed 5 minute period.

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Gonna play in my beer league game tonight. I think we have a good chance to win or at least spilt in Pittsburgh. Will still rock the lucky shirt that is 5-0 in this playoffs.

 

[RandyHolt]

Known injuries. Guentzel right shoulder - he cannot extend the arm and then pull back with resistance. Dumo's head. Malkin knee, Hagelin head. Kuzy right hand/wrist. Bura's got a wet willy ear wax induced fingernail infection. Oshie the right side of his body. And possibly left. His one hand clear deftly avoiding an icing is one for the memory bank.

Apartment for Rent: I wonder if anyone warned him beforehand....

 

[Corby78]

Can they break the hearts of Pens fans, just once? Like, have Tom Wilson tie the game late and win it in 4OT.

I would rather see a Gordie Howe Hat Trick in a 5-0 drubbing

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

I would rather see a Gordie Howe Hat Trick in a 5-0 drubbing

Sounds good. I’ll have one of those.

 

[Return of the Paek]

lol... I have always enjoyed hearing people wanting ovechkin run or wilson, etc.. it just doesn't work. They are tough enough that they enjoy that type of game and give it back.

Ovechkin is an all-time great who plays the game hard but clean. I am a huge fan of his game even though I am a Pens fan? Honest question, what is everyone's objective take on Wilson? Do people really believe that he is not dirty?

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Wilson was a goon as a younger player but has turned into a real hockey player. If hitting to hard is dirty then he is.

 

[Corby78]

Ovechkin is an all-time great who plays the game hard but clean. I am a huge fan of his game even though I am a Pens fan? Honest question, what is everyone's objective take on Wilson? Do people really believe that he is not dirty?

I wouldn't say dirty. He plays on the edge that's for sure, and at times he goes too far. When he does, most here are quick to point it out. The hit that got him suspended in the pre-season was stupid, the penalty he took late in the Columbus game was dumb. But he has done a much better job lately of playing on the clean side and drawing more penalties than he takes. When I think of dirty, I think of guys swinging sticks, sweeping legs, going for knees, and taking cheap shots then running away. Wilson is just a hard hitter and somebody who plays physical.

 

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

Let Tommy Wilson lose on their D-men early and often.

No, no, no, no, no... NO.


The guy is an arrant sneeze away from being suspended. Play smart, draw penalties, engage in only physical contests that you know are clear and safe.

Wilson has to step away from the borderline play tonight and likely game 4 too. I know a lot of his play rides that line but he must play conservative tonight. If he's invisible tonight I actually am taking that as a victory.

 

[ovikovy817]

Ovechkin is an all-time great who plays the game hard but clean. I am a huge fan of his game even though I am a Pens fan? Honest question, what is everyone's objective take on Wilson? Do people really believe that he is not dirty?

He's not dirty, he's a tough guy, it's different. He plays hard all the time. He doesn't tap in the opponents nuts with his stick by behind, or chop fingers, like Marchand or Crosby, that is dirty.

 

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

Ovechkin is an all-time great who plays the game hard but clean. I am a huge fan of his game even though I am a Pens fan? Honest question, what is everyone's objective take on Wilson? Do people really believe that he is not dirty?

I believe it's 80% reputation, 20% actually over the line play.

He's a big, fast, and tough kid. When he first was put into the lineup he was given terrible advice and shaped into a useless fighter. In the last few years he's actually begun to realize his potential and demonstrated a scoring touch. I don't think he's dirty, I think he plays up to the line and he more often than not stops right before it. He's only been suspended twice but his hits are frequently reviewed. Like a hitter that knows his strike zone Wilson is incredibly adept at knowing what is actually illegal and pulling up right to the point where that begins.

But thanks for stopping by and asking if we "honestly believe" one our beloved players "is not dirty", definitely not a loaded question.

 

[BiPolar Caps]

Ovechkin is an all-time great who plays the game hard but clean. I am a huge fan of his game even though I am a Pens fan? Honest question, what is everyone's objective take on Wilson? Do people really believe that he is not dirty?

Well if we are going by what Penguin fans define as dirty,
Let's see:
- Has Tom Wilson ever slashed an opponent, to where the tip of the opponent's finger was just about severed, as Sidney Crosby did to Mark Methot. NO
- Has Tom Wilson ever tried to spear an opponent in the opponent's groin as Sidney Crosby has done against Ryan O'Reilly. NO
- Has Tom Wilson ever crosschecked an opponent's goalie in the head/face mask as Chris Kunitz did against Semyon Varlomov during the playoffs. NO
- Has Tom Wilson ever deliberately tried to injure an opponent as Matt Cooke did against Marc Savard. NO
- Is Tom Wilson a known slasher like Sidney Crosby. NO

Tom Wilson hits and hits hard, perhaps at times too hard but by the aforementioned Penguins incidents, he's a choirboy!

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

Ovechkin is an all-time great who plays the game hard but clean. I am a huge fan of his game even though I am a Pens fan? Honest question, what is everyone's objective take on Wilson? Do people really believe that he is not dirty?

He hits people hard and sometimes people get hurt. He also takes a lot of abuse back and doesn’t complain about it. He stirs things up and draws a lot of penalties.

Dirty players spear people in the junk, slewfoot people, try to take out people’s knees, etc. Know any players that do that sort of thing?