Post-Game Talk: Washington Capitals @ Buffalo Sabres 7:00 PM ET NBCSN,SN1,CSN-DC+

[trick9]

Good thing Boston has the same issue.

I think Rask has played 6 times in back-to-back scenarios, 5-1-0 record in the 1st night and 0-4-2 in the 2nd nights.

 

[um]

Well he clearly deserved 5 for fighting IMO. Its not often that a player drops his gloves and throws 4 or 5 punches without getting that.

I'd have to see the Backstrom play again. Something was fishy about it but at first glance I thought it was clean until Joe B and Locker brought it up.

OV instigated the entire scrum and than proceeded to just hug Weber (edit: actually it looks like OV was attempting to fight back). Either way punches are always thrown in a scrum, especially by the guy getting attacked, not Weber's fault OV can't fight.

 

[BrooklynCapsFan]

OV instigated the entire scrum and than proceeded to just hug Weber, don't know what he thought was gonna happen.

The Backstrom hit was clean. It looked bad because he happened to be at a weird distance from the boards so when he fell, his face hit the boards.

You are 100% correct. Ovi needs to stop with the bodycheck retaliations for hits. Go in with your gloves off or don't go in.

 

[HunterSThompson]

I don't think Weber deserved a five, but I'm also not sure if OV deserved an extra two.

If they fought, OV would have gotten the instigator for sure, so I guess that is where the extra two comes in. They deemed it a scrum over a fight. I don't blame Weber for dropping his gloves, he was grabbed from behind after a borderline looking hit, and I guess the refs saw it that way too. OV was shoving and punching with gloves on anyway, the refs couldn't blame Weber for not knowing his gloves weren't off.

Basically OV got an extra rough for instigating and they offset roughs for the scrum. So, I talked myself into not caring.

The hit was borderline, nothing clear either way. Yes, he should have ridden him into the boards and shouldn't have extended at that distance from the boards, so there may be a board there, but it was more awkward than anything else.

 

[BobRouse]

OV instigated the entire scrum and than proceeded to just hug Weber (edit: actually it looks like OV was attempting to fight back). Either way punches are always thrown in a scrum, especially by the guy getting attacked, not Weber's fault OV can't fight.

I've seen a player get an unsportsman like for just dropping his gloves alone before.

Ovie did go in there first for sure. Weber dropped both gloves and started punching.

Once you drop the gloves and start punching its more than a scrum with face washes, gloved bumps to the face etc

Weber tried to get Ovie to fight and off the ice. Ovechkin did the smart thing there.

I still don't get why he got 4 minutes. He should have gotten 2 for roughing.

 

[tycoonheart]

What Ovi did was essentially what Marchand did to Wilson a couple of nights ago. Actually, I don't think it was as egregious as Marchand's, who only got 2. The extra 2 was baffling.

 

[Drakon]

The Backstrom hit was clean. It looked bad because he happened to be at a weird distance from the boards so when he fell, his face hit the boards.

You are 100% correct. Ovi needs to stop with the bodycheck retaliations for hits. Go in with your gloves off or don't go in.

I can't disagree more. A brutal but clean check is perfect retaliation. I wish players would do that more often instead of dropping the gloves.

 

[BobRouse]

I don't think Weber deserved a five, but I'm also not sure if OV deserved an extra two.

If they fought, OV would have gotten the instigator for sure, so I guess that is where the extra two comes in. They deemed it a scrum over a fight. I don't blame Weber for dropping his gloves, he was grabbed from behind after a borderline looking hit, and I guess the refs saw it that way too. OV was shoving and punching with gloves on anyway, the refs couldn't blame Weber for not knowing his gloves weren't off.

Basically OV got an extra rough for instigating and they offset roughs for the scrum. So, I talked myself into not caring.

The hit was borderline, nothing clear either way. Yes, he should have ridden him into the boards and shouldn't have extended at that distance from the boards, so there may be a board there, but it was more awkward than anything else.

Think of it this way...

Lets say Weber did the exact same thing.

Lets say Ovechkin, however, dropped his gloves and swung 1 punch the caught air.

They'd both get 5 for fighting and Ovie 2 for instigating+10 misconduct.

Weber doing the exact same thing in that instance (I'm talking EXACT) would have earned him 5 minutes easy.

 

[Langway]

That the checking line couldn't muster up much activity in either recent Buffalo game is pretty concerning. I would think about this bottom six when healthy:

Chimera - Fehr - Beagle
Johansson - Laich/Latta - Ward

Burakovsky will be needed at some point. He may not dress at the beginning of the playoffs (knock knock) but I expect he'll be needed.

They're definitely fortunate to pick up two wins without a single ESG from a forward.

 

[BrooklynCapsFan]

I can't disagree more. A brutal but clean check is perfect retaliation. I wish players would do that more often instead of dropping the gloves.

Well the end result is that players like Weber are going to start swinging when they get hit from behind/bear hugged. So, ok.

 

[BobRouse]

That the checking line couldn't muster up much activity in either recent Buffalo game is pretty concerning. I would think about this bottom six when healthy:

Chimera - Fehr - Beagle
Johansson - Laich/Latta - Ward

Burakovsky will be needed at some point. He may not dress at the beginning of the playoffs (knock knock) but I expect he'll be needed.

They're definitely fortunate to pick up two wins without a single ESG from a forward.

I don't think you will find one person here or on any Caps blogs that would not put Bura in. He should be in the lineup right now.

I think Fehr had a bad night. Ward wasn't terrible. Chimera was awful. He performed many "skate bys" and pitched a no-hitter.

Laich has been better lately. He made a couple errors but I think he's going to get bumped up and Chimera down again.

 

[tycoonheart]

That the checking line couldn't muster up much activity in either recent Buffalo game is pretty concerning. I would think about this bottom six when healthy:

Chimera - Fehr - Beagle
Johansson - Laich/Latta - Ward

Burakovsky will be needed at some point. He may not dress at the beginning of the playoffs (knock knock) but I expect he'll be needed.

They're definitely fortunate to pick up two wins without a single ESG from a forward.

Agreed 100%.

Ward in the defensive zone isn't the best, typically a lot of times when the 3rd line gets hemmed in, you can see Ward struggling to do anything to push the puck out. He was woeful in that area last night. The entire line didn't have much compete in them, they seemed to be out of energy.

I think Beags on that line might help energize them. Kuz seems to work well with Glencross, so Beags to the 3rd is doable.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

The Backstrom hit was clean. It looked bad because he happened to be at a weird distance from the boards so when he fell, his face hit the boards.

You are 100% correct. Ovi needs to stop with the bodycheck retaliations for hits. Go in with your gloves off or don't go in.

Absolutely not. The last thing Ovie needs to be doing with his hands is bare knuckle punching plastic, visors, or faces. He breaks his hand and we are ****ed. I'm fine with him checking or bear hugging to send the message.

 

[BrooklynCapsFan]

Absolutely not. The last thing Ovie needs to be doing with his hands is bare knuckle punching plastic, visors, or faces. He breaks his hand and we are ****ed. I'm fine with him checking or bear hugging to send the message.

You misread me. He shouldn't be doing anything. Wilson was literally 6 feet away.

He hits Weber from behind and gets caught off guard with an ungloved right to the chin and we're equally ****ed.

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

You misread me. He shouldn't be doing anything. Wilson was literally 6 feet away.

He hits Weber from behind and gets caught off guard with an ungloved right to the chin and we're equally ****ed.

Eh, I think it's hard for Ovie not to do anything in that scenario. He sees his buddy take what he saw as a dirty hit and reacted accordingly. Would have preferred Wilson to just deck Weber and be done with it, but doesn't always work out that way. What if it happened when Johansson was on the ice?

I agree that getting a concussion is risky, but I think the chances of that happening in a scrum is less than an injury occurring in a 1-on-1 fight. Either way, not ideal, but my preference is Ovie keeps his gloves on.

 

[Raikkonen]

That the checking line couldn't muster up much activity in either recent Buffalo game is pretty concerning. I would think about this bottom six when healthy:

Chimera - Fehr - Beagle
Johansson - Laich/Latta - Ward

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Glencross-Kuznetsov-Burakovsky

+

your 3rd line

= good plan for next season's top9

 

[trick9]

Same incident happened in the PHI-BOS game few weeks back were the penalties were handled very differently. McQuaid put big clean check on Voracek, Rinaldo came after him and pushed him and then McQuaid dropped his gloves and started ragdolling Rinaldo (who never took his gloves off). The result was 2 minutes for McQuaid and no penalty to Rinaldo.

 

[ChibiPooky]

I'm OK with what Ovechkin did and the penalties that were called, but Wilson cannot let Ovechkin take the brunt of Mike Weber (or anyone else).

 

[trick9]

I'm OK with what Ovechkin did and the penalties that were called, but Wilson cannot let Ovechkin take the brunt of Mike Weber (or anyone else).

I don't really know what was going on there with Wilson but i don't think he at any point really realised what was going on around him laugh. He did go after Weber later on when they were both in front of the Buffalo net but Weber isn't going to fight him.

Had Wilson realised what was going on, i think he would have jumped Weber right away. He has already taken one beatdown in Backstrom's behalf when Ryan Reaves (who'se arguably the best fighter in the NHL) went after Backstrom who was guilty of boarding some Blues player before.

 

[BobRouse]

I found it funny that Weber started swinging at Ovechkin without second thought but he was very unwilling to take up Wilson a bit later.

It was probably partly calculated (taking Ovechkin off) and partly picking his spot.

 

[Maruk moustache]

I can't disagree more. A brutal but clean check is perfect retaliation. I wish players would do that more often instead of dropping the gloves.

Yeah I think Ovie just lost his head there. I would've expected him to do exactly what you said.

In fairness to Ovie, I think Backstrom has some concussions in his history--maybe it was before the NHL but I think I've heard that--and I know he has migraine issues, and this close to the playoffs, yeah, I think Ovie saw red for a bit there seeing his buddy's head hitting the boards. I bet he'd tell you after some reflection that he wished he would have done what you said and not what he actually did.

 

[trick9]

I found it funny that Weber started swinging at Ovechkin without second thought but he was very unwilling to take up Wilson a bit later.

It was probably partly calculated (taking Ovechkin off) and partly picking his spot.

Didn't this happen last season too?

Weber took a run at someone (knee-on-knee attempt if i remember correctly?) and missed, then later on he had that headshot on Johansson and when Wilson came calling he declined.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

The Backstrom hit was clean. It looked bad because he happened to be at a weird distance from the boards so when he fell, his face hit the boards.

You are 100% correct. Ovi needs to stop with the bodycheck retaliations for hits. Go in with your gloves off or don't go in.

That's genious....advising the best goalscorer on the planet to risk his hands? Is that you Mike "save yourself, don't try hard" Knuble? As the Captain, I have no problem with him sticking up for his best friend. Only on the Internet do people take issue with HOW he responded. Be goddamnned glad he responded.

 

[BrooklynCapsFan]

I found it funny that Weber started swinging at Ovechkin without second thought but he was very unwilling to take up Wilson a bit later.

It was probably partly calculated (taking Ovechkin off) and partly picking his spot.

I think Buffalo had the lead at the point where Wilson really went after him. Weber made the smart decision and it likely had nothing to do with fear.

 

[BobRouse]

I think Buffalo had the lead at the point where Wilson really went after him. Weber made the smart decision and it likely had nothing to do with fear.

Didn't this happen last season too?

Weber took a run at someone (knee-on-knee attempt if i remember correctly?) and missed, then later on he had that headshot on Johansson and when Wilson came calling he declined.

I don't follow Weber enough to know much about him but I still found that funny. Its not like his team is playing for much if he didn't want to fight due to them being up.

Heck they were cherry picking the entire game and not "playing the right way". They played like a team who ran out of damns to give.

I think he saw low hanging fruit with Ovechkin and didn't want to answer the bell when Wilson came calling for other reasons than score effects.