We have only one forward in our top 6 that wins pucks battles and that’s Erat, and he was hurt. Did you see any net presence last night? Didn’t think so. Why this team believes it can beat a team like the Rangers and goalie like Lundquist in a game 7 playing a perimeter game is beyond me.
Beyond that, I like John Erskine and really respect his battle level and the degree to which he makes the most of the tools he has – but he was terrible the entire series.
He couldn't clear the puck to save his life last night - in the first period he moved the puck to a Ranger at least as many times as he did to a Cap. Alzner was pretty weak at the beginning of the game last nite as well
As a result, Caps were under a lot of stress early on last night - I disagree with people that say we dominated early last night. We didn't - we had a few scoring chances, and one grade A chance from Green jumping up that lead to a jail break the other way. But we were bottled up in defensively a lot, and our top 6 forwards reverted to their habit of trying to generate offense by blowing the zone early and failing to support our D guys who were under pressure from the Ranger forecheck.
Lastly, the Holtby remark about guys being "comfortable" after game 2 is now pretty haunting. The idea that this team still has not learned that it can NEVER get comfortable/happy with itself just because it's won a game or two in a playoff series is just flabbergasting.