GDT: GM36: Caps @ Wings 5:00PM EST

[troyerlaw]

Sorry that was meant in a joking "I can't believe you don't like Locker" way

Oh, no worries. I realized it might be bad timing for a comment like that anyway with Locker out for personal reasons. I love Locker as a person and hope all's okay.

In other news... we looked good with extra attacker. Well, 2 extra attackers, I guess. With the PP. Too bad we couldn't pot one more.

Ovie looks very engaged though. Awesome to have him back

 

[SherVaughn30]

Everybody trying to pick corners rather than just getting it on net.

NHL goaltending forcing that more from all teams shooters. The goalies drop into the butterfly, so the shooter either has to fire it off the opposite leg pad for a rebound for a teammate to try to pounce on, shoot just over the goalie leg pads, or pinpoint over the goalies shoulder blades(also referred to the apex between blocker/glove and shoulder). Five-hole an option if you catch the goalie moving right.

 

[twabby]

The big man gets today's game puck with a goal and an overall good effort. Nic Dowd gets today's only HM.

 

[Capsman]

CMM kind of reverting back to his no-finish days. Still a good 200 ft game.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Bad 1st period and they couldn't make it up. You give up 4 against in a period against any team and it will most likely be hard to come back from.

I see some similarities to the Leafs game to this one, but opposite team winning. First 2 goals Caps scored on Matt Murray were stoppable shots for Murray. First 2 on Lindgren today were stoppable shots.

I just think Lindgren's reads were not so good today, and some were saying he's giving up bad rebounds in the game.

 

[SherVaughn30]

The way I see it, this game was somewhat reflective of the game against the Bruins. 2nd day of back2backs, and they just didn't have a good enough game to win it.

I hate the back2backs overall. Good news Caps playing every other day games until the 10th/11th.

 

[marcel snapshot]

Not really worth talking about this one. Yay Ovie goal. Otherwise, looked like a game from last year: terrible start, sluggish pace, disconnected, poor passing, ineffective PP, defensively unsound, no finish. Burn the tape, and come out sharp and determined Tuesday

 

[Holtbyisms]

Not really worth talking about this one. Yay Ovie goal. Otherwise, looked like a game from last year: terrible start, sluggish pace, disconnected, poor passing, ineffective PP, defensively unsound, no finish. Burn the tape, and come out sharp and determined Tuesday

Lots of burn the tapes lately. Starting to become a problem.

 

[SecretaryofDefense5]

Lots of burn the tapes lately. Starting to become a problem.

This. Their game is not trending well.

 

[SherVaughn30]

This. Their game is not trending well.

4 bottom teams beat higher seeded teams today, so how do explain that?
Wings 4 Caps 2 in Detroit
Ducks 5 Oilers 3 in Anaheim
Habs 5 Bolts 2 in Tampon Bay
Sabres 4 Blues 2 in St. Louis

3 of the 4 teams that lost here, played back2backs.

This. Their game is not trending well.

What is this social media stuff! Bad start, but also not so good goaltending from a fresh goalie. Caps have had multiple not so good starts, but still won because the goaltending was good.

 

[Empty Goal Net]

4 bottom teams beat higher seeded teams today, so how do explain that?
Wings 4 Caps 2 in Detroit
Ducks 5 Oilers 3 in Anaheim
Habs 5 Bolts 2 in Tampon Bay
Sabres 4 Blues 2 in St. Louis

3 of the 4 teams that lost here, played back2backs.

. . . and two of the bottom teams that won were also on b2bs, with one of them (the Habs) also having won their game yesterday.

Some of this is just randomness.

Some times you're gonna lose.

Going into today's games, Caps had played 8 b2bs (2nd-most in the league) and had the eight-best points percentage with zero rest days, according to https://morehockeystats.com/teams/gamedays

edited to remove incomplete stats.

 

[wickedwitch]

. . . and two of the bottom teams that won were also on b2bs, with one of them (the Habs) also having won their game yesterday.

Some of this is just randomness.

Some times you're gonna lose.

Going into today's games, Caps had played 8 b2bs (2nd-most in the league) and had the eight-best points percentage with zero rest days, according to https://morehockeystats.com/teams/gamedays

edited to remove incomplete stats.

They've had 3 recent b2b games (Chicago, Boston, this) where they've not just lost, but played really poorly. Those have been arguably their worst games of the season. I don't know why. They shouldn't be that fatigued even on a back-to-back. And if it is due to fatigue, that does not bode well for the potential of multiple OTs in the playoffs. Maybe it's mental?

(There's a joke to be made about how Lappy didn't play in any of those while he did play in the Caps 2 most recent wins and versus Dallas where they played well despite the loss.)

 

[notDkristich]

This. Their game is not trending well.

Dec/Jan struggle = playoff run. book it

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

My main concern with the team at this point is how often we give up the first goal of the game. We can’t be trying to mount comebacks every night. It’s tiring and unsustainable.

I think the team got a bit too comfortable and some of the fundamentals are starting to slip. However, I trust Carbs is aware of this and working on a solution as we speak.

 

[DWGie26]

We lost because we didn’t come to play. That simple. Everything else is noise.

 

[SecretaryofDefense5]

We lost because we didn’t come to play. That simple. Everything else is noise.

This. You could point to something every night with some outside excuse but at the end of the day, all teams have to deal with the same sh*t.

 

[ovikovy817]

At least Ovi scored.

 

[Blades Ov Steel]

We lost because we didn’t come to play. That simple. Everything else is noise.

yup, on a B2B. Ovie is back, lines are again slightly shuffled, they'll gel again. I remember when he first got hurt there was a slight slump, until there wasn't.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Not really worth talking about this one. Yay Ovie goal. Otherwise, looked like a game from last year:

I had that exact same thought as I was watching it. This game looked like something out of last season - except this was a back to back whereas last year it was just a team characteristic.

 

[zappa4ever]

Credit to DET, they skated hard and wanted that 1st win for new HC, shit happens

team hasn't been able to string together consecutive quality starts for awhile now, not to use b2b excuse but this is the 5th pair of b2b's in 30 days; season's a marathon and Caps have done great to not let any dip last long so far

if OV keeps getting GPG I'm fine with going .500 the next 10gms

 

[Kazer]

Caps are 6-4 in their last ten. The freaking out seems a bit overblown to me, particularly since the Caps beat the Kings, Hurricanes, and Leafs in their last 5. This team isn't good enough to just show up and win, so they're going to drop a few clunkers when they aren't playing hard.