Series Discussion: Caps vs Canadiens de Montréal

[AlexModvechkin8]

Sleeping on it, last night was a great result. I was worried the Habs would come in guns blazing and the Caps would take a minute to adjust to no Fever or Protas and playing their first competitive game in about three weeks. Plus, LT hadn’t played in weeks either. Blowing a lead will be a good teaching moment for them.

 

[AlexModvechkin8]

Caps announce Fehervary is out for the playoffs after meniscus surgery. Brutal. Reminds me of when Kempny went down in 2019 and the defensive pairs were all discombobulated after that.

Hopefully they trust AA and give him minutes. I just don’t see Chyrchrun-Carlson as being your shutdown pairing or the pair you throw on the ice to protect a lead late in the game.

 

[caps4cup]

Caps announce Fehervary is out for the playoffs after meniscus surgery. Brutal. Reminds me of when Kempny went down in 2019 and the defensive pairs were all discombobulated after that.

Hopefully they trust AA and give him minutes. I just don’t see Chyrchrun-Carlson as being your shutdown pairing or the pair you throw on the ice to protect a lead late in the game.

Yeah I think from that perspective, give Chychrun-Carlson the offensive minutes, Sandin-Roy the harder assignments, and then you can still use Alexeyev-TVR defensively as needed, or put TVR on the left side of Carlson occasionally as well.

 

[Corby78]

Poor feverbaby

 

[TheSmokingMan]

Montreal fans have gone very salty. If we go up there tied at one, it will be a long series.

I expect a much better effort tomorrow night. Blowing that two goal lead could have been beneficial.

A lot of them think the refs are conspiring against them (even though they got plenty of breaks themselves).

 

[Calicaps]

A lot of them think the refs are conspiring against them (even though they got plenty of breaks themselves).

It’s hilarious! The whining on the mains GDT was delusional. And coming from an Original 6 Canadian team. Oh the irony!

 

[Agent37]

Canadiens fans whining about the refs helping the Caps out is priceless given that the Canadiens got away with way more than the caps did.

 

[895]

Sleeping on it, last night was a great result. I was worried the Habs would come in guns blazing and the Caps would take a minute to adjust to no Fever or Protas and playing their first competitive game in about three weeks. Plus, LT hadn’t played in weeks either. Blowing a lead will be a good teaching moment for them.

The player I was most worried about was LT.

Since he seems to be in form, I feel very good about this series.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Just saw the highlights of the 2010 first round against the Habs. Lol i forgot

- how fast peak Ovechkin was
- how bad Mike Green was defensively
- that Varlamov played for the Caps

My youngest sister had a college graduation awards dinner and I would sneak to the car to listen to game 7 in the parking lot. I heard Walton mention Green takes a penalty and went off and the car battery died. I made it home with final minutes standing in front of the tv after rushing in the house. It’s up there in intense Caps history memory for me.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

Canadiens fans whining about the refs helping the Caps out is priceless given that the Canadiens got away with way more than the caps did.

Expected from passionate fans and the NHL officiating is terrible. Quite a few weren’t called on them, but overall for game one, it wasn’t bad.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

The main difference in 2025 vs years past is we have Carbery who is the odds-on favorite for the Jack Adams and rightly so.

Was Lavi (or lol Reirden) the guy to motivate this team and keep them in line for this kind of switch-flipping? Doesn't look like it.

Carbery still has control of the locker room and is THAT GUY on the bench, without the asshole factor of a Torts (edited: typo) or Keenan or Babcock.

I think they will run through walls for him but have been waiting for the right wall.

Love the guy. He has a long NHL coaching ahead of him.

 

[CapsSkins]

Yeah I think from that perspective, give Chychrun-Carlson the offensive minutes, Sandin-Roy the harder assignments, and then you can still use Alexeyev-TVR defensively as needed, or put TVR on the left side of Carlson occasionally as well.

Sandin-Carlson and Chychrun-Roy would help me sleep better at night.

Chychrun-Carlson for an entire series has "high event" written all over it.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

That's what I'm looking for, they gotta move their feet. When they skate, they play more physical. I remember the Edmonton game earlier in the season, where McDavid said something to the effect of "they just come at you in waves". That's how we played the first 3/4 of the season, if we get back to that, I'm confident we make this a short series.

Yep they were built for heavy game and need to live or die playing it. Management went out and fixed what was lacking last year in defense, speed, and utility. The PLD trade is great for both trade partners.

 

[trick9]

Yep they were built for heavy game and need to live or die playing it. Management went out and fixed what was lacking last year in defense, speed, and utility. The PLD trade is great for both trade partners.

Should be even better when Protas gets back. Such a shame he misses these home games. That line with him, Dubois and Wilson were unstoppable earlier and whanever i got stuck with a home feed on road games they were gushing how hard it is to defend vs. Size like that when all those players actually go to the net too. Would have been really fun to see them against the Habs top-line and some shifts against smaller Habs D's like Hutson and Carrier.

Should still be mis-match with CMM in there instead but still, Protas is a mountain and huge piece of this team. Taking out Ovi and his accomplishments i'd still say Protas was the best player on this team even though there are great other candidates close.

 

[um]

Sandin-Carlson and Chychrun-Roy would help me sleep better at night.

Chychrun-Carlson for an entire series has "high event" written all over it.

Isn't Chychrun-Roy one of our worst pairings? I wonder what the fancy stats say.

I agree Chychrun-Carlson isn't ideal. I'd be fine sticking with what has proven to work:

Sandin-Carlson
Chychrun-TVR
AA-Roy

Also, Roy shouldn't be playing 26 minutes. Roll the pairings.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Vrana is a player who can bring some offense in a situation like last night. /ducks shoe

 

[um]

Vrana is a player who can bring some offense in a situation like last night. /ducks shoe

It isn’t his offence that keeps him from the NHL.

 

[stephenball]

I made the mistake of checking the main boards, won’t be doing that more. Apparently the Caps beat the Habs because a biased butterfly flapped its wings in China or something.

 

[DWGie26]

What a game last night. Great crowd. Great win. Really sucks about Fever but Alexeyev has stepped up. But good lord, we have no more LD that can play. You can move TVR over. Priskie as well if it gets to that point. I guess Bear is listed at LD right now. We need to stay healthy on Left side of Dee.

On Protas, I would like to slot him at 3LW when he comes back. The chemistry on top line is strong with Beauvillier. But main reason for Protas on third line is I think Leonard benefits from him being there. Gives the third line some offensive punch and a really strong defensive unit as well. I think Mangi has to come out as Raddysh looked good on 4th line.

 

[Blades of Steel]

To those of you who said LT would start Game 1 and I basically said no way but hope you were right.

GG, you were right. Shocked me and he didn't seem cold or unfocused.

 

[Kazer]

Isn't Chychrun-Roy one of our worst pairings? I wonder what the fancy stats say.

I agree Chychrun-Carlson isn't ideal. I'd be fine sticking with what has proven to work:

Sandin-Carlson
Chychrun-TVR
AA-Roy

Also, Roy shouldn't be playing 26 minutes. Roll the pairings.

Fancy stats did not favor Chychrun - Roy.

Having said that, AA - TvR has been a super effective pairing (both regular season & last night). I would keep Chychrun - Carlson together at least for game 2 (use the last change advantage to mix and match partner as needed, even if Chychrun ends up getting a bit less ice). They were 50% on xGF% for the year when together, and the fancy stats love the other two pairings.

 

[CapsSkins]

Isn't Chychrun-Roy one of our worst pairings? I wonder what the fancy stats say.

I agree Chychrun-Carlson isn't ideal. I'd be fine sticking with what has proven to work:

Sandin-Carlson
Chychrun-TVR
AA-Roy

Also, Roy shouldn't be playing 26 minutes. Roll the pairings.

Yeah not sure. My thought was pairing a faster guy with a slower guy but maybe Chychrun needs a faster guy to cover for him when he gets in hot water as compared to Carlson.

I do agree they need to find a way to get Alexeyev up to at least 18 minutes a game.

 

[qcal1427]

Vrana is a player who can bring some offense in a situation like last night. /ducks shoe

Vrana had 3 points in 13 games with Nashville and 8 in 38 playoff games

Come on

 

[usiel]

I seem to remember the league cracking down on celly's and Ovi saying what, they want us to be robots or something like that.

We live for playoff OTs celly's and was happy to see Ovi be himself

Was a like a Spartan spear thrust there at the end of that celly.

If AO brings back the fire stick celly and no one freaks out then times have really changed.

 

[IafrateOvie34]

I will say this. For all those main forum whiners we had to suck it up with officiating. We had at least three series clinchers taken away from us in 2010, 2012, and 2015. Joel ward got a screwed against the Rangers and of course there is the 2010 game 7 no goal. Don’t get me started with 2011 with back to back games because St Pete Times forum scheduling for high school graduations and Sean Bergenheim owning the Caps. To those opposing fans, deal with it because we did.