Pre-Game Talk: GAME 36 7:08 PM - Washington

[Fenway]

Monday, December 23 (TD Garden | Boston, MA)
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• Morning skate, 10:30 a.m.​
• Interim Head Coach Joe Sacco and select players available to media following morning skate​
• Game vs. Washington Capitals, 7 p.m. (TV: NESN | Radio: 98.5)​
• Interim Head Coach Joe Sacco and select players available to media following the game​

​

Click to read more...

 

[Aeroforce]

Did anyone see coming what the Caps have done thus far? First place in the Metro at Christmas, with games in hand. Their success is as much a surprise as the Rangers imploding.

Whatever Spencer Carbery is preaching, the Caps are buying it.

 

[bobbyorr04]

F**k the Craps

B's win 4-2

 

[Blitzkrug]

Did anyone see coming what the Caps have done thus far? First place in the Metro at Christmas, with games in hand. Their success is as much a surprise as the Rangers imploding.

Whatever Spencer Carbery is preaching, the Caps are buying it.

Little bit of column A and column B for the Caps.

It's part Carbery and part they went out and got a bunch of guys in the offseason to help him out. They hit on pretty much every pickup. Roy and Chychrun have been huge for the backend giving them a legit top 4 between those two, a still fairly potent John Carlson and Rasmus Sandin. PLD decided to start giving a shit again and is on pace for a career season in points. Hell even randomly bringing back Jakub Vrana has worked out pretty well given he's got 10 points in 20 games after his very public struggle with addiction. Logan Thompson has been effective in a tandem with Charlie Lindgren.

Where Carbery has really shined is his development of the younger Caps. Connor McMichael has been fantastic and idk who the hell Aliakesi Protas is, but he's already tied his career high in points at 29 in roughly half the games it took for him to hit that last year.(Washington probably has an enormous bargain on their hands given they moved to lock him up real f***in' quick) And then there's just getting good stuff out of the guys you already had like Strome and Ovechkin before he got hurt.

Nothing about their underlying stats/numbers say they're frauds or a mirage either. This is just an all around good hockey team. Especially defensively.

 

[Fenway]

Did anyone see coming what the Caps have done thus far? First place in the Metro at Christmas, with games in hand. Their success is as much a surprise as the Rangers imploding.

Whatever Spencer Carbery is preaching, the Caps are buying it.

The proof is in the metrics

 

[Aeroforce]

Little bit of column A and column B for the Caps.

It's part Carbery and part they went out and got a bunch of guys in the offseason to help him out. They hit on pretty much every pickup. Roy and Chychrun have been huge for the backend giving them a legit top 4 between those two, a still fairly potent John Carlson and Rasmus Sandin. PLD decided to start giving a shit again and is on pace for a career season in points. Hell even randomly bringing back Jakub Vrana has worked out pretty well given he's got 10 points in 20 games after his very public struggle with addiction. Logan Thompson has been effective in a tandem with Charlie Lindgren.

Where Carbery has really shined is his development of the younger Caps. Connor McMichael has been fantastic and idk who the hell Aliakesi Protas is, but he's already tied his career high in points at 29 in roughly half the games it took for him to hit that last year.(Washington probably has an enormous bargain on their hands given they moved to lock him up real f***in' quick) And then there's just getting good stuff out of the guys you already had like Strome and Ovechkin before he got hurt.

Nothing about their underlying stats/numbers say they're frauds or a mirage either. This is just an all around good hockey team. Especially defensively.

Absolutely.

I think Washington also benefited from injuries and such to grizzled vets, that created playing time and cap space for the young guys to shine - Backstrom, Oshie, Kuznetsov.

From what I recall, the consensus in the off-season was the Caps were just trying to be competitive while Ovechkin chased the record, but they weren't considered contenders.

 

[caz16]

A win with no injuries would be a nice Christmas present. We always seem to end up with injuries when playing the Caps. Tampa did their job and lost to the Panthers, hopefully that happens again today.

Our internet was down last night, they told us 12-24 hours to try to fix it remotely but that it would be Tuesday to send someone out if they couldn't. Magically, it is working this morning. Fingers crossed it has been fixed remotely, I don't want to lose it over the holidays and for the game tonight. Not to mention the many contests I enter, that is serious withdrawal!

 

[Thirty Seven]

Hopefully a good effort from everyone.

 

[DKH]

Best team, coach, MVP candidate (Strome)

See where Bruins are- huge game

I’m going which usually means Victory

Taking cousins from Maine (U Maine athletes) so you see any good looking people on TV behind net in U Maine garb (I think they got Swayman hockey jerseys) it’s them

 

[Aussie Bruin]

Did anyone see coming what the Caps have done thus far? First place in the Metro at Christmas, with games in hand. Their success is as much a surprise as the Rangers imploding.

Whatever Spencer Carbery is preaching, the Caps are buying it.

Caps have been excellent so far. A real surprise. Best win percentage in the league at present. No Ovi no worries. Carbery knows his business.

Just how serious they are we will see but right now they are the benchmark so let's find out how the Bruins measure up. Should be a good pre-Christmas clash, hopefully with a positive outcome to take us joyfully into the mini-break. Realistically though if the Bs can at least hang with Washington and make a hard, competitive game out of it, then win or lose I'll take that.

Looking forward to it.

 

[quietbruinfan]

I think this will be easy for the Caps who really work and dig in all phases. i just want the Bruins to do the same and keep it close.

 

[Blowfish]

 

[Ned Bouhalassa]

They’re +39, we’re -17.
Should be easy to blow them away.

Not! I’m scared.

Then again, I hate the Caps. Bruins win 5-3.

 

[nORRis8]

Ovechkin has no points in the last 6 games as he's out with a broken leg.
Fredric has no points in his last 6 games as well. No reason

Love to see Korpi in goal as he rarely gives up a bad goal unlike the Accountant.
Can't afford crap play vs the Caps

 

[Boston Bandit]

Should Bruins be playing Joonas Korpisalo more?

Since arriving in Boston, Korpisalo has improved on his save percentage, goals against average and win percentage compared to his previous season in Ottawa and has racked up a 7-3-1 record.

As of Monday, Korpisalo is on pace for 26 starts this season and Swayman is on pace for 56. But, Korpisalo has handled bigger minutes in the past. He’s logged more than 30 starts in five of his previous nine seasons, with a career-most 55 starts last year in Ottawa.

So, should the Bruins be playing Korpisalo more?

So far he’s yet to play back-to-back games this season, but has handled the starts he’s been given successfully and has come up with some timely saves when the Bruins have needed him to.

Korpisalo’s advanced stats show that he’s also been more effective than Swayman at handling high-danger chances.

Out of 55 goalies who have played more than 600 minutes, Korpisalo ranks sixth-best in high-danger save percentage (.849), meaning he has been one of the best goalies in the league at saving the most dangerous shots. Swayman, meanwhile, ranks dead last (.711).

Simply put, Korpisalo has been reliable for the Bruins when they’ve needed him to make big saves.

So, maybe it’s time for the Bruins to rotate their goalies more. Giving Korpisalo more ice time would reward his strong play so far, as well as give Swayman more rest. And maybe a little more rest and a little less pressure could do Swayman some good.

 

[wintersej]

Little bit of column A and column B for the Caps.

It's part Carbery and part they went out and got a bunch of guys in the offseason to help him out. They hit on pretty much every pickup. Roy and Chychrun have been huge for the backend giving them a legit top 4 between those two, a still fairly potent John Carlson and Rasmus Sandin. PLD decided to start giving a shit again and is on pace for a career season in points. Hell even randomly bringing back Jakub Vrana has worked out pretty well given he's got 10 points in 20 games after his very public struggle with addiction. Logan Thompson has been effective in a tandem with Charlie Lindgren.

Where Carbery has really shined is his development of the younger Caps. Connor McMichael has been fantastic and idk who the hell Aliakesi Protas is, but he's already tied his career high in points at 29 in roughly half the games it took for him to hit that last year.(Washington probably has an enormous bargain on their hands given they moved to lock him up real f***in' quick) And then there's just getting good stuff out of the guys you already had like Strome and Ovechkin before he got hurt.

Nothing about their underlying stats/numbers say they're frauds or a mirage either. This is just an all around good hockey team. Especially defensively.

I stopped going back after ten years trying to find one team that beat them in shooting percentage. McMichael and Protas and the like aren’t going to keep shooting 25%

 

[Fenian24]

Caps 4-1, Wilson with 2 goals.

 

[Ludwig Fell Down]

Did anyone see coming what the Caps have done thus far? First place in the Metro at Christmas, with games in hand. Their success is as much a surprise as the Rangers imploding.

Whatever Spencer Carbery is preaching, the Caps are buying it.

If you had Dylan Strome as one of the most important offseason acqusitions, step up and collect your prize.