Post-Game Talk: Game 4: Caps vs. Flyers (mod note post #5)

[Stewie G]

That's the beauty of having depth, which is a hallmark of teams that make deep runs. The team has managed to have success even without much production from them so far, but will need them to come through at some point,

 

[Langway]

They are not. They are getting a lot of slack, but other than the one flukey goal in the last game, those three forwards have 2 goals in the last 15 games and Kuzy just the one in his last 25 games. I was hoping that break in g3 would ignite Kuznetsov. It didn't.

This remains a primary issue for this team. Ov Oshie and Backstrom are scoring. They are getting contributions from the bottom 6. The 2nd line has been invisible this series. so far.

Williams hasn't exactly been what you'd expect either. Trotz never should have broken that line up in taking Williams off in order to get the third line going. It was his one consistently effective line all year. Ever since he put them back together they haven't been the same.

This team is probably not crisp enough to go all the way if their 5-on-5 play is going to be crucial. They compensate for their lack of crispness by working really hard and playing shutdown defensive hockey but that's unlikely to cut it without a healthy share of bounces and phenomenal play from Holtby. The Caps got the bounces in Games 1-3. They didn't get them in Game 4. In Game 5 they need an engaged start for once and to then earn their bounces.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

We need to get back to making simple plays offensively at 5vs5. Enough with the fancy passing, put it on goal, we have the size and speed to get to the rebounds first.

 

[txpd]

Ever seen Tom Wilson take a shot at someone's knee from behind?

I haven't. As I said earlier in the series, Schenn is a far, far dirtier player than Wilson, and Philly fans celebrate it.

Wilson should have been suspended for his hit. Orlov was responsible for getting bumped into the boards head first. Not sure what they could be saying about Schenn's crosscheck to the knee. Isn't that the definition of low blow? a crosscheck to the knees?

 

[Empty Goal Net]

Wilson should have been suspended for his hit. Orlov was responsible for getting bumped into the boards head first. Not sure what they could be saying about Schenn's crosscheck to the knee. Isn't that the definition of low blow? a crosscheck to the knees?

According to an unnamed league official, Schenn's action can be attributed to a muscle spasm in his lower back, which caused him to bend his knees and involuntarily flex his arms forward and downward with force, holding his stick in front of him to brace himself for a potential collision with the ice surface or a goalpost. The fact that Kuzy was in the wrong place at the wrong time is unfortunate.

 

[RandyHolt]

Muscle spasm? No. Apparently Schenn's stick got caught in the netting, and as he freed it, it clearly inadvertently struck Kuznetsov in the leg.

Willy getting injured really sucked. It looked like a head shot. I hope its not serious for with he and Orpik out, we are soft as butter, and so goes our heavy game when needed. I suspect he plays friday but takes it easy for a few games.

Philly should have started Kitty over Leaky for game 3.

Chorney and Schmidt were meh. Was that Chorney penalty a good penalty to take? Of course it led to the PPGA.

I didn't see anyone on the flyers defense targeted once again. Sigh.

 

[Capitals40]

NHL will continue to be a second tier league until they finally address the absolute dumpster fire that is officiating on and off the ice and DoPS.

That is a clear shoulder to chin on Wilson at the end of the game. Won't hear a god damn thing about it.

That was icing. These ******* consistently get it wrong in multiple ways. How do you expect new fans to react to nonsense on one of the more black and white rules in the book?

Flyers twice in this game got away with Too Many Men with players coming off the bench on directly affecting the play on one end and the players changing on the other end on the bench still on the ice. Once was stopping a pass that would have been a pretty clean break and a second obstructing a Cap to the puck.

How do you **** up the "inadvertent" whistle for Too Many Men? If you don't have the situational awareness to check for a pulled goalie, you don't belong on NHL ice.

They call those nonsense holding penalties but don't catch the clear as day trip on Kuzy when he won the faceoff forward right after the Flyer's penalty?

They have a great game but they can't stop completely ****ing it up.

The Alabama spring football game earned a higher viewing audience than any hockey playoff game ytd...that's how much ratings suck. Some of the reasons for this are the items you addressed. I heard an NHL coach say publicly earlier in the year "I would like to know the definition of icing". That is pretty sad.

 

[trick9]

Wilson is going to kill Manning. Just hope he can hold that thought off until the regular season. He took 2 pretty big blows to the head in the 3rd period. Both you can make a pretty good argument that were clean but Manning and Wilson were already going at it after that brawl that followed the Orlov hit (Manning jumping guys from behind). Not sure if that was intended bit earlier but when McDonald had that hit on Wilson on the boards his helmet caught Wilson straight in the jaw.

Not really that worried. They didn't start well, but that was all Caps in the 3rd period. They are going to know better when heading to the home.

Kind of hilarious that Sportsnet -feed was highlighting Gudas late in the 3rd period because he had a really good game. He shouldn't have even been in the game for pounding on unwilling combatant. That's got to be 5+ games if Weber or Wilson would lose their mind and start pounding on Gostisbehere.

 

[Capitals40]

They are not. They are getting a lot of slack, but other than the one flukey goal in the last game, those three forwards have 2 goals in the last 15 games and Kuzy just the one in his last 25 games. I was hoping that break in g3 would ignite Kuznetsov. It didn't.

This remains a primary issue for this team. Ov Oshie and Backstrom are scoring. They are getting contributions from the bottom 6. The 2nd line has been invisible this series. so far.

Kuznetsov is averaging 16 minutes a game...that right there should be a crime within itself. I don't understand Trotz and how he dishes out ice time. Nisky is getting way too much ice time...his body can't take it.

 

[Calicaps]

That game pissed me off. I had to put it away for my sister's bday dinner, but I woke up sour. They better come out hard on Friday and finish this or I will be pissed.

I had picked the Caps in 6 but it shouldn't go that far when they get a 3-0 lead.

 

[Calicaps]

Kuznetsov is averaging 16 minutes a game...that right there should be a crime within itself. I don't understand Trotz and how he dishes out ice time. Nisky is getting way too much ice time...his body can't take it.

Kuzy has been mediocre to bad for 25+ games. That probably has something to do with it.

 

[txpd]

That game pissed me off. I had to put it away for my sister's bday dinner, but I woke up sour. They better come out hard on Friday and finish this or I will be pissed.

I had picked the Caps in 6 but it shouldn't go that far when they get a 3-0 lead.

nah...the Caps can win the Cup if they win the games. With a 3-0 lead they needed to win it in 4. A soft loss like that is their one mulligan. If they lose g5, the storyline will be full on Caps in choke mode again.

I am buoyed by one thing at this point. They haven't lost two in regulation back to back all season. I guess they could lose in OT in g5 and keep that going, but that's just looking for trouble.

Bottom line for me is, get a two game series lead. Win the series without monkeying around. I wont waste my time with any g6 or g7 in this series.

 

[txpd]

Kuznetsov is averaging 16 minutes a game...that right there should be a crime within itself. I don't understand Trotz and how he dishes out ice time. Nisky is getting way too much ice time...his body can't take it.

Kuznetsov plays 16 because he gets no pk time and he gets pp2 time which is pretty limited. As a result he leads all Caps forwards in even strength ice time. He is not getting held back at all.

Meanwhile Niskanen is playing 25:03 per game in the playoffs. He played 24:39 per game in the regular season. He has played this much all season. this is nothing new. Niskanen played 23:47 per game in the playoffs last season.

 

[HecticGlow]

I think because Kuzy's line is doing well at puck possession - so at the very least that limits the Flyers chance of scoring. But it's a reason I'd change that line up. Williams broke the third line's scoring drought when he was moved there, and hasn't really done anything productive much since. At this point it might be productive to move him down a line (or move Mojo and Chimera up a line, however you think of it) would be worth doing if it got that line more productive. The issue is more who do you replace him with - Beagle? At this point you might as well have Galiev on that line - he's not bad defensively, and has speed and skill, just won't score any points... So something of an improvement on the current line two then.


I maintain, though, Burakovsky and Kuzy should be broken up. Hell, throw Kuzy on the third line and Mojo on the second - based on his play so far Mojo shouldn't be a liability, and line two isn't scoring. Maybe if that line tried to do a little less and was a little more in sync with one another they'd get it done again. The fact that this well predates the playoffs gives me no hope it'll just go away overnight now. One of my concerns about Burakovsky was that his success was dependent on Kuzy's - 65 stopped scoring when paired with 19 instead - and right now no one much is scoring on any line with Kuzy (including Ovi a couple of weeks ago). This is precisely the time Trotz's 'they have to earn their ice time' logic should kick in.

And I'll be pretty ticked off if Richards is 3C next game. Mojo/Beagle/Kuzy (see above) only, please. Richards = offence killer, except occasionally when going full grind with 4th liners. If Trotz has noticed they need more ES scoring, and doesn't change anything to our ES lines, I'll be perplexed to say the least.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Kuzy has been mediocre to bad for 25+ games. That probably has something to do with it.

He gets scoring chances, but he's too fancy/nonchalant with the puck. Trotz should set him straight, Kuzy needs to use his straight line speed like he did during the regular season before his slump. He's forcing passes right now, and it's affecting Bura and J-Dub.

Special delivery for me this morning. Hope it brings good luck to the Caps when I wear it.

 

[txpd]

very likely you will not see a line change until you see Beagle bumped up to the 3rd line. If something happens to the 2nd line, it will be Johansson returning to the 2nd line LW and Burt being moved down.

That wont happen til the Caps play a team that doesn't roll four lines.

 

[Calicaps]

He gets scoring chances, but he's too fancy/nonchalant with the puck. Trotz should set him straight, Kuzy needs to use his straight line speed like he did during the regular season before his slump. He's forcing passes right now, and it's affecting Bura and J-Dub.

Special delivery for me this morning. Hope it brings good luck to the Caps when I wear it.

 

[4thTierSport]

I'd like the league to look at this son of a *****
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNo0F8DSB6Y

Hope he'll be suspended for game 5, but he won't because we're not the Hawks, Pens or Rags.

Intent is hard to point out, but that is one of the more obvious attempt to injure actions…

This goes back to my rant and there is more of this crap happening to all teams. Letang knocks out 3 teeth with a swing of his stick. Sorry, Letang isn't generating that kind of force from "getting caught" on the boards. Lovejoy dumping Stepan into the boards that was very similar to Bellemare's hit. Crawford getting free reign to throw his blocker around all he wants. That's not entertaining. Sure, I like the physical step up and I don't mind player being allowed to grind a little more but that isn't what is happening. The rules are drastically shifting from event to event within a game.

Orpik gets called for a head check when there is very little to no initial contact with the player's head and the player wasn't in a vulnerable position. Yet, White gets free reign to smash Orpik's head into the boards when Orpik was clearly in a position that White could have changed or avoided contact. Hell, look at Buf smashing one of the Wilds heads into the board with his leg/rear end earlier this year when it was clearly avoidable. NHL has stated many times that it is the hitter's responsibility to lessen/avoid contact on vulnerable player if there is time to react.

 

[Capsman]

They are not. They are getting a lot of slack, but other than the one flukey goal in the last game, those three forwards have 2 goals in the last 15 games and Kuzy just the one in his last 25 games. I was hoping that break in g3 would ignite Kuznetsov. It didn't.

This remains a primary issue for this team. Ov Oshie and Backstrom are scoring. They are getting contributions from the bottom 6. The 2nd line has been invisible this series. so far.

Bura has done some nice things, but he hasn't been finishing. You can see that he has the potential to get on a roll though.

Team really isn't on the same page, especially on rushes. Feel like that's an area being neglected.

 

[strungout]

Poking the bear...not a good idea.

 

[Raikkonen]

If 2nd line were to win us every series it would be 1st line probably. Understandable they have some problems. Rookie, skinny wizard, old guy - it's not like they're GOAT LW, star 1C and softHandsBull.

Kuzy and Co still have some time to figure it out. Then it will be Mojo at LW probably. IIRC Kuzy didn't start to score until G6 last year or smth like that. Maybe he's getting to know the opponent.

Williams is the one I'm concerned about. He isn't clutch so far.

 

[Calicaps]

If 2nd line were to win us every series it would be 1st line probably. Understandable they have some problems. Rookie, skinny wizard, old guy - it's not like they're GOAT LW, star 1C and softHandsBull.

Kuzy and Co still have some time to figure it out. Then it will be Mojo at LW probably. IIRC Kuzy didn't start to score until G6 last year or smth like that. Maybe he's getting to know the opponent.

Williams is the one I'm concerned about. He isn't clutch so far.

JDub has missed some prime scoring chances, which sucks, but he has been all hustle and work in this series. That's the leadership we need from him.

Yesterday was their first taste of real adversity: Orpik out. And they did not rise to the occasion until it was too late. Now they have lost a game and we will see if that kind leadership can make a difference.

 

[Langway]

Team really isn't on the same page, especially on rushes. Feel like that's an area being neglected.

It is in a big way. You give up two goals on the road in the playoffs and you should be able to win the ****ing game. Period.

Too much is left up to raw skill making a difference rather than actually polishing it up and displaying strong offensive fundamentals. Sure, they do have some game-breakers but the coherence and cohesion is often lacking. I don't think they have built much of anything 5-on-5 in this series thus far and that's pretty disappointing. They have been tight defensively for the most part, gotten some bounces and savaged them on special teams but their possession game remains loose and sloppy. If they're going to go on a run that dynamic has to change.

 

[4thTierSport]

JDub has missed some prime scoring chances, which sucks, but he has been all hustle and work in this series. That's the leadership we need from him.

Yesterday was their first taste of real adversity: Orpik out. And they did not rise to the occasion until it was too late. Now they have lost a game and we will see if that kind leadership can make a difference.

It's not a lack of effort from JDubs. Keep that line together and tell them to be a little less cute and they will get the points.

I think they were better off going with Weber since he has actually played recently and Philly isn't to aggressive on the forecheck. Chorney was a scratch for a while iirc. Hopefully they stick with him and he gets the rust off quickly.

 

[RandyHolt]

I liked seeing Bura going after Schenn for his dirty cross check of Kuz's knee. He genuinely seemed pissed. I was hoping reinforcements would come in but whatever.

But who the hell does that? Talk about a deliberate intent to injure.