GDT: cops @ sobres, 7:07pm

[Ridley Simon]

Why not Protas? Lol the dude is the only consistent offense right now. Let the guy take the SO.

Or Wilson!

Seems about right, though Roy seems high. So many passengers.

Why didn’t those top 3 skaters get the SO attempts?!

 

[Tachycineta]

Monumental Sports is the new version of NBC Sports Washington and the Caps' RSN broadcaster. If you're in the DC market you can watch there on cable. You can also stream it through their website or Roku app by either signing in through your cable or paying I think $200 for the entire season. Be warned though that if you're traveling and want to stream it through Monumental you can't.

ESPN+ will only let you watch any nationally televised games or any out-of-market games. Any in-market games from wherever you are streaming from will be blacked out though.

If you're looking to watch Sabres games in Gaithersburg ESPN+ is your best bet -- you just won't get the 3 a year they play against DC where it's on Monumental. If you're trying to watch Caps games I'd go with Monumental. I often find that a certain google search can find you most games as well if that's your kind of thing ...

Thank you very much for the information. I will check and see if my cable has Monumental. I remember when games were on NbC Sports Washington. I like the Capitals as well (they are my # 2 team) and you have to have sympathy because we all know the state of the Sabres.

I'm more of a state watcher at this point (with work and tax season coming up) but I do miss going to Capitals games!

 

[WanderingCapsFan]

Sign Matt Hendricks.

 

[DWGie26]

It’s a long season. Even playing as poorly as we have, we have 12 points in last 10 games. In EC one team has 16, one 14, and two Including us) has 12. Still in top half of playoff teams.

Sometimes you have to hunker down. Winter is coming!

 

[Holtbyisms]

So annoying to keep losing to junk teams we should be stacking points on. Team continues to struggle in front of Chuckya Lindsonov as he rapidly approaches a .500 record.

 

[Lou Sassole]

So annoying to keep losing to junk teams we should be stacking points on. Team continues to struggle in front of Chuckya Lindsonov as he rapidly approaches a .500 record.

Yup, and we need to clean shit up in our own zone. Way too many turnovers, and we allow way too many odd man rushes and breakaways.

 

[Kuz]

We started the season extremely well and its hard to keep it up for an entire season. Almost all teams have periods where they arent playing as good. Im fine with them having a slump midways in the season as long as they are able to find back their game in the last 20-25 games. They are still picking up a decent amount of points.

The positive thing is they are playing better against the stronger team. Last 10 Caps have beaten LAK, CAR, TOR, BOS and NYR. Also a loss in SO against Minnesota and Buffalo. While they lost against Chi, Det and BOS. So against playoff teams they are 4-1-1 last 10 and 1-2-1 vs non playoff teams.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Watched the entirety of the shootout. PLD zips a nice shot past UPL, Lindgren saves the first 2 but then chokes on the 3rd attempt(Lindgren overplayed his movement and backed too quickly in his crease). Carlson looked disinterested in being in the shootout and OV wasn't even used. Chychrun actually made a good move going wide, but UPL matched him well getting a good push and staying square. Maybe Chychrun could have shot in motion while going wide, but UPL played it well in using his size. Just a bit of Psychology here, Tuch scored on a breakaway, firing a quick high shot on Lindgren. In the shootout, Lindgren played Tuch hesitant, as he backed up in his crease too deep. Lindgren is only 6'2", so if I were him I would have played aggressive on the breakaway goal and shootout attempt.

Bottom line for Lindgren. His GAA is just about the same as last season(2.70 vs 2.67), but the SV% is down .011(.911 vs .900). Last season probably was an over achievement season for Lindgren, and now he's come back down to earth quite a bit.

 

[Fred22406Capsfan]

Yup, and we need to clean shit up in our own zone. Way too many turnovers, and we allow way too many odd man rushes and breakaways.

This as much as the anemic offensive zone play irked me last night. Just crap all around with the puck.

 

[RandyHolt]

I'd like to see Mahoney be in the booth more often to talk prospects during games

 

[Caps8112]

was almost certain they would lose to Buffalo. trap game is annoying but it was. The sabres are god awful but exactly the the game the caps would lose too. Its like they only lose to the horrible teams. Sharks, Hawks, Red Wings, Sabres. Have to wonder if they overlook these teams or have a motivation problem when the opponent is clearly inferior

 

[Kazer]

Watched the entirety of the shootout. PLD zips a nice shot past UPL, Lindgren saves the first 2 but then chokes on the 3rd attempt(Lindgren overplayed his movement and backed too quickly in his crease). Carlson looked disinterested in being in the shootout and OV wasn't even used. Chychrun actually made a good move going wide, but UPL matched him well getting a good push and staying square. Maybe Chychrun could have shot in motion while going wide, but UPL played it well in using his size. Just a bit of Psychology here, Tuch scored on a breakaway, firing a quick high shot on Lindgren. In the shootout, Lindgren played Tuch hesitant, as he backed up in his crease too deep. Lindgren is only 6'2", so if I were him I would have played aggressive on the breakaway goal and shootout attempt.

Bottom line for Lindgren. His GAA is just about the same as last season(2.70 vs 2.67), but the SV% is down .011(.911 vs .900). Last season probably was an over achievement season for Lindgren, and now he's come back down to earth quite a bit.

It's tough to judge Lindgren since he only has 14 NHL games played outside of Washington. Having said that, we now have three decent sized samples to look at.

31 games in 22-23 [26 starts] - .899 sv%
50 games in 23-24 [48 starts] - .911 sv%
20 games in 24-25 [20 starts] - .898 sv%

Basically, I agree. It feels like 23-24 is the outlier given the samples we have. He's still a very solid backup, but he's not stealing games like he did last year.

 

[wickedwitch]

I feel like Lindgren was one of the better Caps players last night. Do others think he was largely to blame for last night's loss?

 

[SherVaughn30]

I feel like Lindgren was one of the better Caps players last night. Do others think he was largely to blame for last night's loss?

I think it depends from what perspective you are looking at. Since I look at games with the goaltending aspect in mind, as a goalie you need to stop breakaways as it's part of a goalies job. Plus, the first 2 Sabres goals Lindgren was caught too deep in his crease on both. He's playing more passive this season, which I think is costing him(he's only 6'2" and doesn't have a wing span of a 6'4" goalie to play deeper in his crease). The other thing is teams scout opponents goalies so they know Lindgren's tendencies from 50 games last season. You could say opponents have adjusted to him, but Lindgren/Scott Murray have not counter adjusted. Lindgren has to be better or there is no doubt LT should be getting more starts.

From the overall team perspective, 1st goal one of the d-men made the wrong defensive move. On the 2nd one, Chychrun has to be a bit more responsible with the puck inside the offensive zone blue line, where he doesn't allow Tuch to poke-check the puck away and go on a breakaway. Overall the team didn't play good enough to win the game, but they could have stole the 2nd point in the shootout with a clutch save or goal.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I think it depends from what perspective you are looking at. Since I look at games with the goaltending aspect in mind, as a goalie you need to stop breakaways as it's part of a goalies job. Plus, the first 2 Sabres goals Lindgren was caught too deep in his crease on both. He's playing more passive this season, which I think is costing him(he's only 6'2" and doesn't have a wing span of a 6'4" goalie to play deeper in his crease). The other thing is teams scout opponents goalies so they know Lindgren's tendencies from 50 games last season. You could say opponents have adjusted to him, but Lindgren/Scott Murray have not counter adjusted. Lindgren has to be better or there is no doubt LT should be getting more starts.

From the overall team perspective, 1st goal one of the d-men made the wrong defensive move. On the 2nd one, Chychrun has to be a bit more responsible with the puck inside the offensive zone blue line, where he doesn't allow Tuch to poke-check the puck away and go on a breakaway. Overall the team didn't play good enough to win the game, but they could have stole the 2nd point in the shootout with a clutch save or goal.

You didn’t really answer his question, but I’ll bite on part of your reply.

What goalie tendencies are alterable season to season that you’re suggesting Murray/Lindgren implement as a counter adjustment? The league is always going to spot tendencies with video scouting. I wasn’t aware goalies deploy countermeasures with the coaches as you’re suggesting. If he’s not challenging more that seems more a technical flaw, unless he was coached to be less aggressive, which seems odd/unlikely.