GDT: The Washingtons vs Not Washingtons Boourns

[SherVaughn30]

They moved the puck well on the PP IMO.

A good deal, but no finish.

Do we get CMM tonight?... Please?...

I hope so because Eller was a ghost all but one play where he could have scored a goal, but fired a weak shot on Ullmark.

 

[twabby]

Do we get CMM tonight?... Please?...

 

[ScruggsCO]

Line wasn't super effective offensively. It seems like it would be easy to say Brown needs some more time to gel with Ovechkin/Kuznetsov, but I think if Kuznetsov specifically can support / take advantage of Brown's forechecking and board work, there is a lot of potential there.

Given Strome and Brown's apparent chemistry, I'd also be interested to see:

Ovechkin Strome Brown
Protas Kuznetsov Mantha

That's pretty interesting, but you kinda neuter the second line in that build. Likely a better move would be the send Brown to 2 and take Mantha up.

At this point, I say we run the lines again to see if there were cobwebs in game 1. Second line created chances.

Turnovers on zone entry and lack of covering the slot or third man caused some issues in game 1. Need to get the puck deeper and not commit neutral zone or zone entry turnovers.

 

[pman25]

i have to say i didn't notice Lars Eller for any single moment last night

 

[Midnight Judges]

I hope so because Eller was a ghost all but one play where he could have scored a goal, but fired a weak shot on Ullmark.

yeah at one point someone passed the puck to Eller as he was open and going up ice. He looked surprised to have the puck. It was weird.

 

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

Classic Kuz game.


The best way I can describe Kuzy, is he plays like the type of guy who is playing beer league but is much better than everyone else so he tries to do something to make it harder like play opposite handed, out of position, or set arbitrary rules for himself like “I must pass the puck 3 times in the zone before shooting”.

Like I watch him play and his vision and skating and puck handling is so effortless, but his decision making feels like he’s literally trying to accomplish something else.

Bizarre

 

[StrikingDistance]

I was passed out by the 3rd.

Looked like Carly had 420 Fever, Darth's 2nd GA was deflating but otherwise looks like a serious upgrade over last year's sinning tops, oh...and PP looked like PeePee. It reminded me of an old man's dong: has a few new wrinkles in it, but quite ineffectual and impotent.

 

[HTFN]

As always I didn’t watch the game, so I’ll take your word for it that these things all happened. But he did find himself out of position and a bit out of control of his stick on the Taylor Hall goal and could have played Pastrnak a bit tighter on his goal. Others played those goals poorly too but Fehervary did himself no favors convincing me that his poor defensive results from last year were a fluke. He still finds himself out of position quite often and isn’t really a stabilizing force in the defensive zone.

The fact is they are going to need someone to maximize Carlson and for the past ~50 or so games Fehervary hasn’t been that guy. It sucks that Carlson kind of needs a babysitter in a way that other #1s around the league don’t but that’s the hand they’ve been dealt and decided to play.

They should give it another dozen or so games to see if they can turn it around but if they don’t then I think it’s time to pull the plug on the 42-74 pairing and see what else they can try. I thought TVR was solid if unspectacular last night and that continues a trend from last year. Perhaps that is the type of player needed alongside Carlson. 2018 Kempny was that guy, and pre-football-to-the-groin Karl Alzner was that guy as well. On the other hand the defensive types that kind of run around a bit and find themselves out of position at times (Orpik, Dillon, Fehervary) haven’t really meshed with Carlson.

You kinda can't instinctively just do that all the time when guys like Carlson and Strome are also blowing in the wind or trailing behind the play. The very concept of in-zone defense is that you can't cover someone else's ass without leaving your own exposed and Carlson is also not a very good in-zone defender. We talked about this in the offseason, the worst parts of Fehervary's game are the types you generally see improved by coaching and structure. His ability and instinct is most often displayed on the rush and in 1 on 1 situations and in those he's doing mostly well. Flawless? No, but good. Definitely something you can work with.

 

[Capsman]

That's pretty interesting, but you kinda neuter the second line in that build. Likely a better move would be the send Brown to 2 and take Mantha up.

At this point, I say we run the lines again to see if there were cobwebs in game 1. Second line created chances.

Turnovers on zone entry and lack of covering the slot or third man caused some issues in game 1. Need to get the puck deeper and not commit neutral zone or zone entry turnovers.

Mantha has shown he defers too much in that scenario. Seems to do better as the top dog. My concern is that you neuter him in that top line. I kinda look the idea of Kuzy moving down a line. He himself might be more aggressive not being around OV.

 

[twabby]

You kinda can't instinctively just do that all the time when guys like Carlson and Strome are also blowing in the wind or trailing behind the play. The very concept of in-zone defense is that you can't cover someone else's ass without leaving your own exposed and Carlson is also not a very good in-zone defender. We talked about this in the offseason, the worst parts of Fehervary's game are the types you generally see improved by coaching and structure. His ability and instinct is most often displayed on the rush and in 1 on 1 situations and in those he's doing mostly well. Flawless? No, but good. Definitely something you can work with.

I can buy that Fehervary looks worse than he actually is because of his partner. WAR and impact stats are always going to be subject to some level of teammate effect no matter how much they try to be controlled for. But unless the results change shortly (within the next dozen or so games) I think it's time to say the 42-74 experiment isn't working and needs to be changed up. No matter where the fault may lie, the duo as a whole hasn't been working for upwards of 50 games now.

 

[kicksavedave]

Do we get CMM tonight?... Please?...

I'm hoping he can play 1RD. Give him a try, it can't be worse than Carlson there.

 

[zappa4ever]

At least the 2nd half of the game they played better than the 1st half
Plenty of sloppy play and missed passes, JC disappointed on the lazy backcheck rebound goal, Pastrnak's goal Strome could've done better, Kuemper could've, Protas could've, but Pasta also put on a quick quality shot
Oh well. 1 game in the books.
Hope we see much better gm2

 

[Cappy76]

Classic Kuz game.


The best way I can describe Kuzy, is he plays like the type of guy who is playing beer league but is much better than everyone else so he tries to do something to make it harder like play opposite handed, out of position, or set arbitrary rules for himself like “I must pass the puck 3 times in the zone before shooting”.

Like I watch him play and his vision and skating and puck handling is so effortless, but his decision making feels like he’s literally trying to accomplish something else.

Bizarre

Kuzy is an artist - he’s said himself he doesn’t like the easy plays and knows he sometimes passes when he should shoot

 

[ScruggsCO]

Mantha has shown he defers too much in that scenario. Seems to do better as the top dog. My concern is that you neuter him in that top line. I kinda look the idea of Kuzy moving down a line. He himself might be more aggressive not being around OV.

Valid. Let's see if the second continues to generate tonight.