GDT: Game 61: Capitals @ Coyotes - 8:00pm - FSA, FSA+ - Smackdown Edition

[TheLegend]

Been driving home and have missed the last period on the radio....

But Phil The Thrill trolls F40 again!!!!!

 

[TheLegend]

Ovechkin with 17 shots tonight. Zippo!

 

[GiveAFlyingPuck]

Beat Washington twice, beat St. Louis twice, lose to the Wild three times. Makes sense.

Lose to Ottawa and beat Washington in regulation... Makes sense haha.

Glad to see a nice win! Would love to see more of them going forward.

 

[Bondurant]

History will not be made. Fantastic win. More of these.

I underestimated the Ovi fanboy numbers. There was a mouthy young lady that made all kinds of ruckus on the Caps goal but left when it was still 1-1.

 

[AJ171181]

Win


.

 

[TheLegend]

 

[TheLegend]

History will not be made. Fantastic win. More of these.

I underestimated the Ovi fanboy numbers. There was a mouthy young lady that made all kinds of ruckus on the Caps goal but left when it was still 1-1.

Someone on Caps twitter wants Ovi to be traded.

 

[TheLegend]

Islanders here Monday afternoon. They were shut out tonight in Vegas 1-0.

 

[PainForShane]

Kessel!!!! Wish I could've posted in real-time, his goal is exactly what I was talking about in last game thread.

For those who didn't follow last thread:
1) Kessel has been bad this year (bc of consistent turnovers / not being able to keep the puck in zone during the PP)
2) Kessel has also been misused this year (partly by gluing him on the left point on the PP), also something about linemates but that's beyond the scope for this callout

so

3) If coach (Tocchet or another) can make adjustments maybe Kessel won't be bad going forward which would go a lot way to fixing our secondary scoring woes. Maybe Kessel will be bad going forward, I don't know. But coach should try something because otherwise Kessel is guaranteed to be bad and would be a waste of player who was previously an offensive asset (we don't have many)

So, an adjustment. Finally. Here is the goal:



Coach's adjustment: Instead of Kessel creating turnovers at the point or half wall where we have seen him all year, the coyotes go with 2 D this PP (Goose and Chych), so Kessel can wander into soft space and get a deflection of the Chych shot instead of ineffectively playing setup man at the left point / half wall where he has been undeniably terrible all year.

This adjustment should have been made months ago, but better late than never I guess. Hope this keeps up.

 

[technoviking]

Kessel!!!! Wish I could've posted in real-time, his goal is exactly what I was talking about in last game thread.

For those who didn't follow last thread:
1) Kessel has been bad this year (bc of consistent turnovers / not being able to keep the puck in zone during the PP)
2) Kessel has also been misused this year (partly by gluing him on the left point on the PP), also something about linemates but that's beyond the scope for this callout

so

3) If coach (Tocchet or another) can make adjustments maybe Kessel won't be bad going forward which would go a lot way to fixing our secondary scoring woes. Maybe Kessel will be bad going forward, I don't know. But coach should try something because otherwise Kessel is guaranteed to be bad and would be a waste of player who was previously an offensive asset (we don't have many)

So, an adjustment. Finally. Here is the goal:



Coach's adjustment: Instead of Kessel creating turnovers at the point or half wall where we have seen him all year, the coyotes go with 2 D this PP (Goose and Chych), so Kessel can wander into soft space and get a deflection of the Chych shot instead of ineffectively playing setup man at the left point / half wall where he has been undeniably terrible all year.

This adjustment should have been made months ago, but better late than never I guess. Hope this keeps up.

Kessel’s been on that second PP unit for like five games now with the two D carl and keller. That was changed when schmaltz was promoted to PP1 with oesterle/oel dvorak hall and garland

 

[PainForShane]

Kessel’s been on that second PP unit for like five games now with the two D carl and keller. That was changed when schmaltz was promoted to PP1 with oesterle/oel dvorak hall and garland

Thx for sharing I haven't been able to watch the games in real-time for about that time (new baby). Has he still been causing turnovers on the PP? Am guessing not as many if he's not in the quarterback spot would love additional quality input

 

[technoviking]

Thx for sharing I haven't been able to watch the games in real-time for about that time (new baby). Has he still been causing turnovers on the PP? Am guessing not as many if he's not in the quarterback spot would love additional quality input

Ya I mean he has. Definitely still won’t shoot the puck ever which is annoying. I thought kessel was really good tonight though, before the goal he was doing some shit that we’ve rarely seen from him this season, effort plays, pucks on net, etc.

 

[PainForShane]

Ya I mean he has. Definitely still won’t shoot the puck ever which is annoying. I thought kessel was really good tonight though, before the goal he was doing some **** that we’ve rarely seen from him this season, effort plays, pucks on net, etc.

He shot a lot in the first half-ish of the season, but he was mostly looking pass first / therefore taking too much time to shoot, goalies were set so no chance of them going in. Plus he was shooting to score rather than to generate rebounds so most (maybe all) of those shots were easily swallowed.

Not sure we're ever consistently going to see effort plays from Kessel, that's not his game. But if he can make 3-4 skill plays a game (like tonight's goal) and not make egregious turnovers all the time, maybe that's around 60-65 point pace per season and I call that a win -- we'd certainly be better off from what he's been doing offensively for most of this year

 

[Fuhrious]

Kessel!!!! Wish I could've posted in real-time, his goal is exactly what I was talking about in last game thread.

For those who didn't follow last thread:
1) Kessel has been bad this year (bc of consistent turnovers / not being able to keep the puck in zone during the PP)
2) Kessel has also been misused this year (partly by gluing him on the left point on the PP), also something about linemates but that's beyond the scope for this callout

so

3) If coach (Tocchet or another) can make adjustments maybe Kessel won't be bad going forward which would go a lot way to fixing our secondary scoring woes. Maybe Kessel will be bad going forward, I don't know. But coach should try something because otherwise Kessel is guaranteed to be bad and would be a waste of player who was previously an offensive asset (we don't have many)

So, an adjustment. Finally. Here is the goal:



Coach's adjustment: Instead of Kessel creating turnovers at the point or half wall where we have seen him all year, the coyotes go with 2 D this PP (Goose and Chych), so Kessel can wander into soft space and get a deflection of the Chych shot instead of ineffectively playing setup man at the left point / half wall where he has been undeniably terrible all year.

This adjustment should have been made months ago, but better late than never I guess. Hope this keeps up.

I haven't been able to consistently watch games the past month or so, but Kessel being deployed on the point in extra man situations was a new development to my understanding. As @XX pointed out in your recent back and forth, Kessel spent the entirety of the first half of the season on the half board in a 1-3-1 PP setup and was, as many have repeatedly noted, almost comically ineffective.

Saying he's been "glued to the left point" is simply not accurate. Hell, I'd argue some of Keller's best showings were the handful of games in late November or early December where they tried him on the point with PP1.

 

[Grimes]

Man was Raanta good tonight. The whole team looked sharp. Pretty crazy how they can somther a team like the Caps but can't hang with a bulk team like Dallas.

 

[PainForShane]

I haven't been able to consistently watch games the past month or so, but Kessel being deployed on the point in extra man situations was a new development to my understanding. As @XX pointed out in your recent back and forth, Kessel spent the entirety of the first half of the season on the half board in a 1-3-1 PP setup and was, as many have repeatedly noted, almost comically ineffective.

Saying he'seen "glued to the left point" is simply not accurate. Hell, I'd argue some of Keller's best showings were the handful of hands in late November or early December where they tried him on the point with PP1.

We can disagree I'm not fussed about it. Honestly don't think the distinction matters, if you think it does then sure, we work a 1-3-1, of course PPs are fluid so we also work a more traditional setup sometimes depending on the play (like the goal above where Chych shoots from pretty much the left point which I would say is more of a 2-D point setup).

So yes, Kessel has been spending his time between the left half wall and the left point and like everyone agrees he was so, so bad in that role (continuously created turnovers and was also terrible at keeping the puck in the zone). If he is out of a role that requires those skills the team has a better chance of succeeding and I'm happy / grateful / relieved the coaches finally saw that and were able to generate good results from the move

 

[PainForShane]

I haven't been able to consistently watch games the past month or so, but Kessel being deployed on the point in extra man situations was a new development to my understanding. As @XX pointed out in your recent back and forth, Kessel spent the entirety of the first half of the season on the half board in a 1-3-1 PP setup and was, as many have repeatedly noted, almost comically ineffective.

Saying he'seen "glued to the left point" is simply not accurate. Hell, I'd argue some of Keller's best showings were the handful of hands in late November or early December where they tried him on the point with PP1.

Actually -- you're right. Thanks for bringing this up. Someone reading the posts without seeing the games would get the wrong idea of how our PP works based on my careless language.

I'll try to be more specific with my language next time. Good night!! (i hope) :/

EDIT: I probably should have said something like 'spending significant time quarterbacking the PP' instead of saying the position he was playing. That'd be the best description -- in other words the half-wall guy in a 1-3-1 could have any number of roles e.g., trigger man, quarterback etc. Lesson learned for next time

 

[Bandit34]

Gotta hand it to Tocchet.

Well coached game by him.

 

[Fuhrious]

We can disagree I'm not fussed about it. Honestly don't think the distinction matters, if you think it does then sure, we work a 1-3-1, of course PPs are fluid so we also work a more traditional setup sometimes depending on the play (like the goal above where Chych shoots from pretty much the left point which I would say is more of a 2-D point setup).

So yes, Kessel has been spending his time between the left half wall and the left point and like everyone agrees he was so, so bad in that role (continuously created turnovers and was also terrible at keeping the puck in the zone). If he is out of a role that requires those skills the team has a better chance of succeeding and I'm happy / grateful / relieved the coaches finally saw that and were able to generate good results from the move

Yeah, I mean I'm not "disagreeing with you" per se. He spent the first 40 games of the season on the half wall on the PP. It's not an opinion for us to agree or disagree with, it's an observable thing that can be objectively pointed to.

You kinda clean that up in your subsequent post, but I think this distinction was what led to your last exchange with @XX getting a little heated.

 

[AJ171181]

Gotta hand it to Tocchet.

Well coached game by him.

Well coached!?

Raanta

 

[cobra427]

Rannta played great but so did Holtby, thought it was a wash. Chych miss played his man on the goal, and I know he lost his stick. He could be elite if he cleans up his D play. Team D was better and we had plenty of opportunities snuffed out by Holtby. The Richardson line was great tonight, shut down their top line and was tough on the forecheck. I thought the caps played well too. Maybe they took us a bit lightly at the start?

This team is pretty inconsistent with their execution, flips back and forth from poor to good on a whim. I am glad we got 2 points.

 

[MIGs Dog]

He shot a lot in the first half-ish of the season, but he was mostly looking pass first / therefore taking too much time to shoot, goalies were set so no chance of them going in. Plus he was shooting to score rather than to generate rebounds so most (maybe all) of those shots were easily swallowed.

Not sure we're ever consistently going to see effort plays from Kessel, that's not his game. But if he can make 3-4 skill plays a game (like tonight's goal) and not make egregious turnovers all the time, maybe that's around 60-65 point pace per season and I call that a win -- we'd certainly be better off from what he's been doing offensively for most of this year

Kessel average SOG per game by season. He's at a career-low.

Shot attempts per game also at a career-low.

I don't like the trajectory. How long is he under contract? That's right...he scores the game winner and I'm throwing him shade.

 

[AJ171181]

Rannta played great but so did Holtby, thought it was a wash. Chych miss played his man on the goal, and I know he lost his stick. He could be elite if he cleans up his D play. Team D was better and we had plenty of opportunities snuffed out by Holtby. The Richardson line was great tonight, shut down their top line and was tough on the forecheck. I thought the caps played well too. Maybe they took us a bit lightly at the start?

This team is pretty inconsistent with their execution, flips back and forth from poor to good on a whim. I am glad we got 2 points.

We only win those low scoring games. Cant image we won a game like 6-4, 7:6 etc...

So yeah, we have to get a great goalie performance.

You get your wins, but not enough to play hockey in april.

 

[MIGs Dog]

We only win those low scoring games. Cant image we won a game like 6-4, 7:6 etc...

You are right. Holtby's S% and GAA numbers are not very good, but he has a lot of wins, cuz his team normally scores a butt load of goals. Caps #3 in the league for goals scored. We need to score more. duh

 

[awfulwaffle]

Hey we won. Next!