Comments on: Caps Beat Canes 4-3 (OT)! Two for Mike Green!

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:16:46 +0000

@Rich,

You’re SO right. When Ovie’s crossing the blue line, he’ll get stopped by a simple pokecheck 8 times out of 10. One time he’ll get pushed to the outside and fight in the corners. The last time he’ll do something so mindblowingly awesome that we’ll go apecrazy the next time around!

Thanks for the note,
P

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:14:06 +0000

@Hale,

I’m a huge Semin defender, but I can’t drink the kool-aid and ignore his faults completely. He’s so energetic that he commits dumb stick penalties, often in the offensive zone. The stats support this. Thanks for the feedback,

By: Бойтесь 8!

Бойтесь 8! — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:47:25 +0000

When Semin is playing at his best, he is at least as good on offense as Ovie is and maybe a little better on defense (except for hitting). Nobody including Semin hits as hard as Ovie. (Ask Jagr.) The difference is that when Ovie has an “off” game, he’s still working his tail off, making big hits and is one of the best players on the ice. When Semin’s off, he sucks, and you don’t know he’s in the game until he makes a bonehead turnover or commits a penalty.

By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:51:04 +0000

With both your point and Hale’s point on Semin aside, one thing has always bothered me. Ever notice how whenever Ovie touches the puck you hear the crowd “ooo!” and all the seats in verizon center flop up? I love that, but my issue is this: a large number of those times, nothing but an attempt and a turnover comes out of Ovie’s charges. And that’s understandable. he’s good. not infallible. Semin is much less of a bull-like presence charging down the ice but his hands are incredible and watching him finesse around a D man is just as exciting as seeing Ovie run him down and turn him silly. Many Semin’s attempts also go awry. The difference is in the fan’s reaction. “oh! Semin! typical! Gah.” Just saying. He is underrated and overcriticized because his style of play is less agressive and frankly he is not as tough as ovie. His true birghtness is dimmed in Ovie’s shadow.

By: Hale

Hale — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:07:21 +0000

Peter, I don’t know which Caps games you’ve been watching, but your bullet on Semin is mostly just worng. He has been playing very well, shooting a lot, playing well defensively (great PK work), and showing fire. The penalty last night was weak, weak, weak. Yeah, the shootout attempt was unfortunate, but pretty clear his skate caught a rut. If all you look at is blooper material, then I can see how you would reach your conclusion. If you watch whole games, the conclusion would be different, as it seems to be for most people who have commented elsewhere. Show me the “alarming frequency?”

By: Mary K

Mary K — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:19:01 +0000

Ohh, the suspense until 10am!