Post-Game Talk: Pens 3, Caps 2 - Flower Power

[Old Gregg]

OV is now a player that requires another player to do something first in order for him to be effective. It's not that he's not trying; it's that more needs to go right in order for him to show up on a scoresheet. He doesn't need that many clean looks to beat a goaltender, but getting clean looks is a chore and beyond his control in a lot of ways. There's more variables involved in a sequence where OV scores than one where Kessel does.

And with as tightly as the Pens are checking him, he really doesn't have the space to get clean shots off. Every time the puck goes to him, someone just steps right into the space dead center in front of his body. Can't shoot like that. 8 years ago, his acceleration prevented this type of aggressive gapping, but that acceleration isn't there anymore, and hasn't been for a while.

Basically, he's a linebacker Brett Hull now, instead of a power forward Pavel Bure. The player he is now is still pretty effective, but he's a lot easier to mark than he used to be--and that's an athleticism thing, not a desire thing.

His shot still scares the **** out of me. I mean last game he's not noticeable but if not for Fleury's glove getting a piece of the puck last night he almost tied up the game.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Forgot to give love to Justin

Hopefully this is the kick up the bum he needed

Indeed. He scares me when up against Ovechkin, but last night he was good.

Forget Monday. End it Saturday without him and have him rested for the conf. finals.

That could be a little added incentive for the room to try to win it in 5. Win it for Sid!

In the past I've always hated this 3 day break in between, especially after coming off of a win. For some reason this year, I'm really happy about the extra day off. The guys need it big time the way our season has gone!!!!!

Horny, Hags and our entire 6 D will benefit big time from it

Don't forget Cullen, who has to play a little more with Sid out. And Kunitz, who needs the extra day to re-energize the batteries.

OV is just getting older. He's coming off his worst regular season ever. Still a great player, but not quite the dominant force he once was. He's more equivalent to Phil Kessel now in terms of production/ability than Crosby and Malkin.

I am fairly certain he is still feeling the effects of the Kadri hit. However, he was ordinary during the regular season, too. I think a LOT of that has to do with the Capitals' system. It seems to help a lot of their lesser players, but does little to enhance Ovechkin's play.

Imagine Ovechkin playing under Mike Sullivan!

 

[Shrimper]

Enjoyable waking up and see the result as it happened on here. 1 more!

 

[billybudd]

I agree about him slowing down, but it appeared his effort level wasn't there last night. He did not look like he was trying to win board battles.

Ovechkin's board play has been terrible for his entire career. Has no idea what he's doing on the wall and he's long since accepted that. OV's a rush and circles player (now mostly a circles player). Always has been.

 

[flaneur]

Maybe he didn't like what happened to Sid? Maybe he doesn't like some of his teammates? Maybe there is a poison in the culture (Orpik)? It seems similar to the Pens under DB. He wasn't even remotely running around last night and that's unusual for Ovi. He seemed disinterested.

I don't feel like they have a team commitment and there seems to be something pulling them away from one another. I could only randomly speculate on what it is. But that team's culture is broken. You can just tell.

I wrote this pre game but in his media scrum he came across as someone who was sincerely bothered by the Crosby injury. Only he knows what is actually going on in his head but it came across that way.

It could also be that the Kadri hit injured him more than they are revealing... he actually turned down Team Russia's invitation to play at the World Championships (if they lose this series)... which is huge for him.

Actually the Caps in general all have been really 'off' since the hit. They haven't been the same team.

The fourth win will be really tough. I doubt that the Caps will remain 'off'.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

I also wonder if they restrained some of the over the top stuff knowing that after Sid's concussion the refs would be quick to send them to the box. They were down 2-1 and 3-1 is almost an end not only to the season, but really this team's window realistically given the losses this coming off season. They held back to keep out of the box 7 or 8 times.

 

[Clare2904]

If Ovie is feeling bad because of what happened to Sid then I hope it eats him alive.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

Extremely proud of this team. And completely blown away by the heroics of Marc-Andre Fleury. I'll gladly eat a tasty pile of crow on that one. He's been the difference. Also very impressed and now pretty much sold on Mike Sullivan. You guys touched on it a bit last night but the difference between how he prepares his team and how he handles his team in-game (and in general) is night and day compared to what we saw with the last two clowns that tried to take on the job.

All that being said... yikes. That has to be one of the ugliest wins I've ever seen. I was saying all day yesterday, "Just win -- don't care about style points." They, uh... certainly fulfilled that request to the letter. I love how they dug deep and I realize how much they up against but man... their best players have to be better, they have to find a way to take better advantage of their chances (especially on the powerplay), avoid getting hemmed in their own end for vast tracts of time and STOP ICING THE DAMNED PUCK.

Still gotta close this thing out.

 

[spcastlemagic]

OV is now a player that requires another player to do something first in order for him to be effective. It's not that he's not trying; it's that more needs to go right in order for him to show up on a scoresheet. He doesn't need that many clean looks to beat a goaltender, but getting clean looks is a chore and beyond his control in a lot of ways. There's more variables involved in a sequence where OV scores than one where Kessel does.

And with as tightly as the Pens are checking him, he really doesn't have the space to get clean shots off. Every time the puck goes to him, someone just steps right into the space dead center in front of his body. Can't shoot like that. 8 years ago, his acceleration prevented this type of aggressive gapping, but that acceleration isn't there anymore, and hasn't been for a while.

Basically, he's a linebacker Brett Hull now, instead of a power forward Pavel Bure. The player he is now is still pretty effective, but he's a lot easier to mark than he used to be--and that's an athleticism thing, not a desire thing.

This is the best description of OV's current game, down to the comparables at the bottom, I've read. He's still the most frightening pure shooter in the league, but those opportunities to shoot are of lower quality than ever before.

 

[Allie Kitsune]

Maybe he didn't like what happened to Sid? Maybe he doesn't like some of his teammates? Maybe there is a poison in the culture (Orpik)? It seems similar to the Pens under DB. He wasn't even remotely running around last night and that's unusual for Ovi. He seemed disinterested.

I don't feel like they have a team commitment and there seems to be something pulling them away from one another. I could only randomly speculate on what it is. But that team's culture is broken. You can just tell.

I don't know what it is, but there's something about the Caps, starting from the time BBQ Bruce was coaching, where they've never felt like a cohesive team to me. They've always just felt like a random collection of guys. It's hard for me to really go into any sort of detail, I've just always got that vibe from them. They never seemed close, they never seemed committed to each other.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

 

[Shady Machine]

If PH has just been "ok", I'm not sure what you want the guy to do. 6 points in basically 8 games since he was knocked out of one game blocking a shot, +5, no PIM's, and in the middle of every scrum. If he was on L1 from the beginning he'd be a ppg+ player.

Posters continue to crap on him. They've been doing it all season. I said "wait until the playoffs" a million times and he's performing exactly as expected and people are still downplaying his contributions.

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Ovechkin's board play has been terrible for his entire career. Has no idea what he's doing on the wall and he's long since accepted that. OV's a rush and circles player (now mostly a circles player). Always has been.

Yeah we all knew this was coming when he got older.

 

[TheSniper26]

Posters continue to crap on him. They've been doing it all season. I said "wait until the playoffs" a million times and he's performing exactly as expected and people are still downplaying his contributions.

Believe it or not, there is still a small contingent on here that would go back and undo the Horny/Neal trade if they could.

 

[Terrapin]

It's not like the Caps aren't trying. They've pretty much dominated play most of the series. This reminds me of the year we were stoned by Halak. It happens. I don't think the Caps are/were in any kind of disarray. Fleury is just playing out of this world, and truth be told, we're getting some very good puck luck (Jake's goal last night). And this is taking nothing away from us or our effort. Fleury has just been THAT GOOD

 

[UnderratedBrooks44]

Sorry I have to mention this though: There's a thread on the main board titled "Name A Player Who Is the Same Age as You". That's worse than the worst summer threads I've seen. What's next? Name a player with the same hair color as you?

 

[JimmyTwoTimes]

Extremely proud of this team. And completely blown away by the heroics of Marc-Andre Fleury. I'll gladly eat a tasty pile of crow on that one. He's been the difference. Also very impressed and now pretty much sold on Mike Sullivan. You guys touched on it a bit last night but the difference between how he prepares his team and how he handles his team in-game (and in general) is night and day compared to what we saw with the last two clowns that tried to take on the job.

All that being said... yikes. That has to be one of the ugliest wins I've ever seen. I was saying all day yesterday, "Just win -- don't care about style points." They, uh... certainly fulfilled that request to the letter. I love how they dug deep and I realize how much they up against but man... their best players have to be better, they have to find a way to take better advantage of their chances (especially on the powerplay), avoid getting hemmed in their own end for vast tracts of time and STOP ICING THE DAMNED PUCK.

Still gotta close this thing out.

Last night was one of the games where we miss not having a few physical players who can dish out big hits. That goes a long ways in the 3rd period when protecting the lead. We saw it for a brief minute around the 10 minute mark in the 3rd when we finally got control of the puck, hit a few guys and then it took the momentum away from the caps. Didn't last long but it really does show what having a few physical players can do.

 

[Pancakes]

It's not like the Caps aren't trying. They've pretty much dominated play most of the series. This reminds me of the year we were stoned by Halak. It happens. I don't think the Caps are/were in any kind of disarray. Fleury is just playing out of this world, and truth be told, we're getting some very good puck luck (Jake's goal last night). And this is taking nothing away from us or our effort. Fleury has just been THAT GOOD

We'll definitely need better in game 5 on the road to win you would think. But I will take the wins any way we can get them, ugly or pretty.

 

[Shady Machine]

Believe it or not, there is still a small contingent on here that would go back and undo the Horny/Neal trade if they could.

I believe it

I saw a protection list earlier today that had Tom Kuhnhackl on it over Carl Hagelin. Lots of different opinions around here.

 

[Shady Machine]

It's not like the Caps aren't trying. They've pretty much dominated play most of the series. This reminds me of the year we were stoned by Halak. It happens. I don't think the Caps are/were in any kind of disarray. Fleury is just playing out of this world, and truth be told, we're getting some very good puck luck (Jake's goal last night). And this is taking nothing away from us or our effort. Fleury has just been THAT GOOD

That's too simplistic IMO. Fleury is playing really well, but this team is also making it pretty hard on the Capitals (just like the did with the Jackets) to get to the paint, get shots through, tips pucks, and get high quality chances off the rush. When they have gotten them, Fleury's made the big timely saves. This series is definitely different if Fleury was average, but give the Pens credit.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I know it seems like petty harping, particularly in the face of a 3-1 series lead against the odds. But I just really, really want Kessel and especially Malkin to take this thing by the balls. Malkin was kind of along for the ride last year and despite the points, also this year. Or at least it feels and looks that way more often than it probably should (and no... I don't think it's an effort thing). I'd love to see him and Phil break it open.

 

[TheSniper26]

I believe it

I saw a protection list earlier today that had Tom Kuhnhackl on it over Carl Hagelin. Lots of different opinions around here.

Very kind way of putting it, Shady.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Cool animation of McCurdy's odds over the course of the playoffs. Watch how the Pens' chances changed over the last month.

 

[ColePens]

Heading back to the series thread now.