Comments on: Bruins beats Caps 4-1, Brooks Laich Injured

By: RMNB Week in Review; Playoffs in February!

RMNB Week in Review; Playoffs in February! — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:24:16 +0000

[...] week, the Caps went 2-1-1 with a shutout win against the Habs, a loss against the Bruins, another shutout win against the Panthers, and a stupid, terrible, highway robbery of a loss [...]

By: Florida Panthers Pregame: Raise the Titanic!

Florida Panthers Pregame: Raise the Titanic! — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:09:04 +0000

[...] sure, we saw the last game (grch) and read Peter’s group dissection of what went wrong, which was brilliant. And more specifically, what it may presage (as in: glup [...]

By: When Steelers Fans and Ravens Fans Get Together… | C.A.P.S.Love Two: The Girl On The JumboTron

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:18:15 +0000

[...] lastly, if I wasn’t going to have a Caps game win on Sunday, I might as well have a win for the football team I was cheering for. I’ll take [...]

By: DMV: Super Bowl Morning After | Mr. Irrelevant, a D.C. Sports Blog by the Brothers Mottram

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:55:52 +0000

[...] Caps lose to Bruins, and may lose Brooks Laich to knee injury. [RMNB] [...]

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:27:00 +0000

The one plus is an intangible, I felt like they could pull it out through most of the second half of the game, even when they were down 2. That’s not something I’ve been able to say much lately. It’s not much, but it’s something.

As an aside, remember the days when you believed the Caps could come back in just about any game?

By: Can’t Quite Reach | Clydeorama.com

Can’t Quite Reach | Clydeorama.com — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:01:35 +0000

[...] Rink, Russian Machine, On Frozen Blog, and Ed Frankovic share some thoughts on the game, but what else is there to [...]

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:34:00 +0000

I totally agree, Mike. I like Ovi when he’s the last guy to touch the puck before a shot on goal. Let someone else enter the zone, preferably someone blond, Swedish, and healthy.

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:31:00 +0000

GAA is down about .75 per game, which can be owed entirely to the recovery of two goaltenders from miserable levels to a now elite and unsustainable level. You can attribute that to Dale if you want, but it would be foolish.

You can say the breakout sucked under both, but Bruce’s Caps were outplayed half as often as Dale’s. Characterize and qualify that how you wish, but the numbers prove a decline only under Hunter.

Carlson is not going through a classic sophomore slump. He’s fallen from a league-leader in defense– taking tons of minutes last year and doing exceptionally well– to being the biggest liability of the defense. The drop-off didn’t occur until the defensive reformulation. Recall that he was an NHL star of the week in October.

Again, Neuvy and Vokoun were slumping only under Boudreau and have become their normal excellent under Hunter. This is proven in the ES SV%, which I documented a few weeks back.

None of your arguments hold water. I would’ve been nice, but then you called my graph pretty and I think that was snide.

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 04:22:00 +0000

GAA is down. It actually plays to the team’s strengths as the 1-2-2 creates turnovers and quick-rushes/counter-attacks. The players look like they gave a fuck unlike under BB this season. Special teams are improved. Just to name a few things.

The possession numbers are not good, no. And that can be attributed to typically poor breakout, a problem under both coaching regimes. The Hunter system actually works beautifully when the team actually makes good passes to exit the zone. I think any system is dependent on a good breakout. Then there’s this guy named Mike Green, I heard he’s great at single-handedly leading a breakout.

They’ve been making a more conscious effort to produce more offense in recent weeks, but it’s very difficult to get that going without your 1C and your 1D, and for a few games without your 1W. Yes, I know they were still getting outshot (tonight should tell you why outshooting a team doesn’t mean squat) with Backstrom in the lineup, but as I said…hard to re-focus your offense without one of your best weapons.

Then there’s other individual problems that have nothing to do with systems or coaches. Carlson is going through your classic sophomore slump…fanning on outlet passes and turning it over by throwing it up the middle have nothing to do with systems. He didn’t look right in preseason either. Neuvy: sophomore slumpin.

Hamrlik? He’s improved vastly over Hunter, but he was clearly not the best signing. He’s slow and immobile. Shultz? Slow and immobile. That doesn’t work in the playoffs, as Tampa Bay harshly taught us. MarJo is not a legit 2C at this point.

In short, I disagree. Pretty graph though.

By: Pattyo

Pattyo — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:49:00 +0000

I’m gonna cry.