Discipline Daddy
Brentcent Van Burns
Washington was easily the better team last night and deserved the win. We came a live for parts of the third, but part of that is desperation we should have shown earlier, and part of that is score effects. I'm not too worked up regardless. Both teams are playing very well.
The Caps are giving us nothing out there. With New Jersey, Dumo, Pesce, and Seigenthaler were taking away space but we could exploit matchups against Hamilton and to a lesser extent Nemec. The top 6 D on the Caps team are healthy, and playing much better. AA is a total liability but they aren't playing him. The other guys are locking it down for the most part, including John Carlson.
Our "John Carlson" Ghost is playing much worse defensively. I feel like since Ghosts's kid was born, he just hasn't had it. He giveth and he taketh - the second goal we may not score without Ghost. And the first goal was a truly unfortunate unlucky bounce. But still, Ghost is most often there when a mistake is made. I just don't think you can take out Ghost unless you know for sure Nikishin can make it work on the PP.
Burns is very poor offensively right now, but I still think he's fine defensively. He plays the hard matchups and does OK. He coughed up the puck yes on the ENG but he was pressured in no-man's land with two Caps on him. Only Slavin could have salvaged that situation, and Slavin didn't have the puck. Where Burns is hurting is is on the offensive zone. The puck is bouncing right off his stick. He can still make some simple plays, but even Walker and Chatfield are making better offensive decisions in the perimeter cycle. In the same breath, you put Morrow out there and our chance of success goes down dramatically - I don't trust Morrow at all out there against playoff teams, not right now.
Unfortunately, so much of this game is going to be won by who scores first. Both teams are leaning heavy defense, not cheating at all on offense, and clogging up lanes. It's the most boring game imaginable but who cares since our team is in it. It's a winning strategy, and both teams are doing it right. The Caps' forwards also commit way more to the defensive game than the Devils. It's the reason why we aren't getting any scoring chances. Conversely, it's also why the Caps are hardly scoring either; they're committing so faithfully to the defensive game. The team that scores first has their % chance at winning jump from, say, 50% to 90%. It's that important in this series. We got quite the unlucky bounce on that first goal. Walker chips the puck up, it catches Ghost right in the neck, in the few inches below the visor and above the chest padding. The puck coincidentally lands 1 foot from the tape of McMichael, who now has a clear lane for a breakaway. Ghost probably gets the puck in the adams apple and gags, pausing for 1-2 seconds to cause that breakaway. It's the equivalent of a linesman knocking our guy out of the play. Just bad luck.
Last thing, both 2nd periods haven't been our best. In the Devils series, we dominated most of the 2nd period long changes. Perhaps the Caps scoring first 0-1 early in both 2nd periods puts pressure on our team. For whatever reason, the 2nd periods have been our worst. In the regular season too we were great in the 2nd period. If you take out both second periods, we've clearly been the better team. Odd.
The Caps are giving us nothing out there. With New Jersey, Dumo, Pesce, and Seigenthaler were taking away space but we could exploit matchups against Hamilton and to a lesser extent Nemec. The top 6 D on the Caps team are healthy, and playing much better. AA is a total liability but they aren't playing him. The other guys are locking it down for the most part, including John Carlson.
Our "John Carlson" Ghost is playing much worse defensively. I feel like since Ghosts's kid was born, he just hasn't had it. He giveth and he taketh - the second goal we may not score without Ghost. And the first goal was a truly unfortunate unlucky bounce. But still, Ghost is most often there when a mistake is made. I just don't think you can take out Ghost unless you know for sure Nikishin can make it work on the PP.
Burns is very poor offensively right now, but I still think he's fine defensively. He plays the hard matchups and does OK. He coughed up the puck yes on the ENG but he was pressured in no-man's land with two Caps on him. Only Slavin could have salvaged that situation, and Slavin didn't have the puck. Where Burns is hurting is is on the offensive zone. The puck is bouncing right off his stick. He can still make some simple plays, but even Walker and Chatfield are making better offensive decisions in the perimeter cycle. In the same breath, you put Morrow out there and our chance of success goes down dramatically - I don't trust Morrow at all out there against playoff teams, not right now.
Unfortunately, so much of this game is going to be won by who scores first. Both teams are leaning heavy defense, not cheating at all on offense, and clogging up lanes. It's the most boring game imaginable but who cares since our team is in it. It's a winning strategy, and both teams are doing it right. The Caps' forwards also commit way more to the defensive game than the Devils. It's the reason why we aren't getting any scoring chances. Conversely, it's also why the Caps are hardly scoring either; they're committing so faithfully to the defensive game. The team that scores first has their % chance at winning jump from, say, 50% to 90%. It's that important in this series. We got quite the unlucky bounce on that first goal. Walker chips the puck up, it catches Ghost right in the neck, in the few inches below the visor and above the chest padding. The puck coincidentally lands 1 foot from the tape of McMichael, who now has a clear lane for a breakaway. Ghost probably gets the puck in the adams apple and gags, pausing for 1-2 seconds to cause that breakaway. It's the equivalent of a linesman knocking our guy out of the play. Just bad luck.
Last thing, both 2nd periods haven't been our best. In the Devils series, we dominated most of the 2nd period long changes. Perhaps the Caps scoring first 0-1 early in both 2nd periods puts pressure on our team. For whatever reason, the 2nd periods have been our worst. In the regular season too we were great in the 2nd period. If you take out both second periods, we've clearly been the better team. Odd.
