Comments on: That Just Happened: Canucks beat Caps 4-2

By: The Machinist: January 21, 2011

The Machinist: January 21, 2011 — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 19:13:36 +0000

[...] Canucks 4, Capitals 2 – [Ovechkin threw] up his hands up in effete tantrums whenever the referees didn’t provide the penalty whistles he demanded like a petulant child. [...]

By: Livia

Livia — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 18:07:42 +0000

Last night, the Canucks were forechecking like madmen. When we had the puck in our defensive zone, there were always defensemen whirling around the ice, in front of the net, behind the net, leaving no time or space for organized breakouts. There were stretches where I thought the Caps did really well getting a few accurate, crisp passes up ice under all that pressure.

On the subject of Ovie’s woes, a fellow hockey fan recently suggested that he might do well to start using a stick with less flex. If he’s using the same flex he did last year, his extra weight this year will make that same stick break more easily and render the stick too springy to allow him to handle the puck effectively.

By: Rockin' The Red in VA

Rockin' The Red in VA — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 17:01:21 +0000

Please allow me to vent. . .

The amount of problems this team is having right now seems to be getting bigger. Until last night the Caps seemed like a team that would show up for big games, and do the minimum required to win. Here’s what I noticed was wrong last night:

1: Slow lazy advances through the neutral zone.

2: Every time we had an opportunity take take the puck into the Vancouver zone we would lazily just dump it in and then glide slowly over to the bench for a line change.

3: Speaking of line changes, THEY SUCK! We are slow to get off the ice and no one seems to know or want to get on ice for their shift.

4: Power play, thought we were going to “blow this up” and start over. . . I’m still waiting. My PP crew would be: “Carlson (on point), Knuble (in front) Laich, Ovi (he can draw 2 defenders, and should open up some opportunities), and MP85″

5: Crash the net, this is a fundamental task in the game, the goalie will give up a rebound and said “crasher” punches it in.

6: Hockey is a 60 minute game, Uncle Ted and GMGM might want to put out a memo to the team regarding this. A hard 20 minutes on the night WILL NOT WIN GAMES!

All this said, I still love, and support this team. We have the talent, and ability to win the Cup; right now the fire and drive is not there.

Thank you for allowing me to rant. . .

Go Caps!

By: J.P.

J.P. — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 16:56:12 +0000

Random, scattered observations and thoughts:
Hope everyone enjoyed the Winter Classic win, ‘cuz that’s lookin’ to be the only thing that’s gonna be accomplished this year.
BB needs to go, and go soon. Hate to type that, but man, his unwillingness to change our number one liability, the power play, is pure, stubborn craziness. Factor in this team’s lack of motivation, lack of fight, and their inability to follow seemingly simple directions like “shoot the fucking puck and crash the net” and it doesn’t seem unreasonable for a change to be made at the top. I’m tired of hearing how the Caps didn’t come out and play hard for all 3 periods. Yeah, it’s a long season and there are certainly going to be some off nights, but they’ve already more than used up their allotment of “off” nights and the season’s only halfway over. That stuff’s all on Bruce.
Our star players -vs- the grinders:
Gimme double doses of the grinders, please. Those guys go for the simple plays that pay off: get on front of the net, get it on goal, make the goalie work, go for rebounds. Ovi, Backs, Semin (when he’s playing) are a confusing mishmash of too many fancy passes, too many broken sticks, too many predictable moves and not enough effort. If those guys are hurt enough – there are whispers afoot – to have it affect their games, then they need to sit awhile and heal up. If that’s the case, Bruce is accountable for not sitting them.
Predictions:
If this team is left as is, they’re outta playoff contention. W/out some changes these guys are gonna struggle to make the playoffs. The differential between the Caps and the teams at the cut-off point is frighteningly small and shrinking.

Semin will be traded 2 weeks before the deadline. He’s probably the most trade-able player on the roster and the Caps need to strike while they can. Semin’s value goes down if he comes back and continues to struggle, so it makes sense for the Caps to move him while folks can still remember his early offensive fireworks.

BB: He’s gone after the Caps don’t make the playoffs or are eliminated in the 1st round again – which, unfortunately, is how I see things playing out (sorry, I’m a pessimist). I think they’re gonna stick it out with him, but now would be the time to cut bait. Give somebody new a half season to stir things up.

Damn, that all sounds dark and gloomy when I sit back and re-read it, but that’s how I see things. Hope to proven seriously wrong, and if I have to eat massive amounts of crow, then so be it; I’ll enjoy every feather-laden mouthful.

By: Colin

Colin — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 16:43:48 +0000

@Bucky Katt – If the Caps cared about the regular season, I’d say BB has until the Thrash game on the 26th this month to right the ship. That would be the ideal place to bring in a new coach with the five day break for the All-Star game.

But like I said earlier, I’m ticked that Ted has basically said in public that the regular season doesn’t matter as long as we make the playoffs, damn the fans if they don’t like it.

Even as bad as we are playing now, it will take an epic fail for us to miss the playoffs since there are only 9 teams reasonably competing in the east this year. I don’t think any changes will be made because at some point, we’ll go on a small, if boring, winning streak and get enough points to make the playoffs all but assured.

To put it in perspective, 90 points looks like it will be enough in the east this year. With 37 games left, we only need to go something like 15-17-5 to “achieve” Ted’s goal.

By: Bucky Katt

Bucky Katt — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 15:34:18 +0000

When your scoring ability rests on Marcus Johannson, Eric Fehr and Matt Hendricks..you know you got a problem. I think we need to start a betting board on when BB gets the hook. My guess is Feb 7th.

By: The Dodrums Continue… | Clydeorama.com

The Dodrums Continue… | Clydeorama.com — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 09:26:33 +0000

[...] have nothing else to say. Japer’s Rink, Russian Machine and the rest do, but not me. I have photos. You can see them below or on flickr. [...]

By: John Carlson’s 21st Birthday Party at RFD

John Carlson’s 21st Birthday Party at RFD — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 07:09:46 +0000

[...] week. To celebrate, he and a few hundred of his friends gathered at RFD following tonight’s dismal loss to the Canucks. Though the mood was somewhat subdued, the partygoers report having a great time and RMNB readers [...]

By: BobbyG

BobbyG — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 06:35:27 +0000

I’ll try to purge this game from my memory and quickly. However, here are a few observations before my mind goes blank:

—I feel for fans like Katie who shell out big bucks for Caps season tickets and aren’t rewarded with consistent sustained effort. Either a handful of players show up, or else it’s the entire team that decides to play only one or two periods. That the players and organization bigwigs seem to accept this status quo is especially galling.
—Michelle notes that certain PP players were missing from Thursday’s practice. No need to name names, I know without anyone saying who the usual suspects are. If players won’t practice, then for gosh sakes take them off the PP unit and try other combinations. Who said it’s insanity to keep doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome? Enough said.
—Losing because the other team beat you is one thing, losing because you beat yourselves and/or were outworked and outplayed by the opposition is another thing entirely. In which category are the Caps? Do they have a leadership and/or motivation problem? I’m not sure I want to answer these questions, but they will have answers eventually whether the Caps are ready and willing or not.

By: Colin

Colin — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 05:43:27 +0000

What gets me angry more than anything else these days is the teams top to bottom willingness to take its fans for granted. Ted basically says he doesn’t care about the regular season as long as we make the playoffs. But many of us are investing good money and time rooting for this team and deserve a better effort in the regular season. If the season doesn’t matter, maybe then people will stop showing up until the playoff begin. I’m not sure that’s what Ted has in mind, but if they keep taking us for granted, then that’s what will happen.