Photo: Ryan Remiorz
I hate goalies. I want all the games to end 7-5 and all the goalie to leave dejected. I didn’t get what I wanted on Saturday afternoon. The goalies for Washington and Montreal were buttoned up tight– keeping this game scoreless all the way though #rego.
Everyone clear the ice so Price and Holtby can decide the game with a Handsome Off.
— RMNB (@rmnb) January 31, 2015
Then, in overtime, Patches got a deflection to beat Braden and win it for the Habs,
Habs beat Caps 1-0 in overtime.
- Carey Price is both good and good-looking. He was at his very best today, Thirty-six shots on him through 60 minutes and nary a one beat him. As Youssef said on Twitter, without the excellent backstrop the Canadiens would be in a good deal of trouble. He said it with more flowery language though.
- The way to beat a hot goalie is with volume and traffic up front. The Caps had a bunch of scoring chances in the first and then upped the quantity in the second. Ovechkin had six shots on goal himself by the second intermission. He slowed down in the third.
- Let’s not allow Price to overshadow Braden Holtby, who was just as solid just less leveraged than the dude 180 feet away. When Holtby and Price exchanged stick taps going into OT, that was my favorite moment. Both of those guys were titans today.
- Jason Chimera was not on the ice for a single offensive event until Mike Green got a shot on goal eight minutes into the third period. Chimera’s final 5v5 shot-attempt count was 14 against and 1 for. That’s one more Caps shot attempt than healthy scratch Andre Burakovsky saw.
- Meanwhile; Marcus Johansson‘s line dominated every time they stepped on. Eric Fehr had possession above 75 percent. Lots of posts rung from that crew, the poor bastards.
- Brooks Orpik got called for a soft cross-checking penalty in the middle of the third period, but it was top-line Jay Beagle‘s weak play behind the net that forced Orpik’s hand. That’s exactly what you don’t want to happen when the top line and top pairing on the ice late in a tie game.
Now that I've seen the replay of the Orpik penalty, I'm disappointed. Bad call. I know for a fact Orpik can crosscheck better than that.
— Becca (@BeccaH_JR) January 31, 2015
- Mike Green and Jack Hillen are a disaster right now, getting outshot 4 to 1. Someone do something.
- There was the kid in school called Problem. I don’t know if he caused it, but for whatever reason bad things just sorta followed him around. Some was certainly his fault, some was reputation, some was other kids giving him a hard time. Tom Wilson laid a bad hit in the second period, which should’ve earned his team a penalty kill, but Tomas Plekanec’s retribution evened it out. That’s sorta what Wilson does these days: find new and and exciting ways to stop 5v5 hockey by causing problems for himself and others.
- Except the Capitals power play was a mess today. The team had a tough time gaining the zone and hardly if ever set up the diamond successfully. If anything besides Carey Price being perfect is to blame for this loss, it’s a bad PP.
- I love the ref’s smile after Troy Brouwer put him into the bench. He’s just happy to be here. Real Schmidty attitude.
- The Caps were generating a lot of offense, but late in the game Barry Trotz put Joel Ward on the top line. I like it. The Caps were giving up too many chances during the shifts they should’ve been squarely in Price’s face.
- Not great defense by Brooks Orpik on the OTGWG. Not even defense at all really.
Joe B suit of the midafternoon
As this game grew older, the intensity ratcheted up. I was expecting a fun matinee hockey show, instead I got palpitations and palm sweat. I thought this one would end in tragedy, but I can’t really say that it did. The Caps played a solid game and got a stout performance from its goalie. They just ran into a white-hot goalie. It happens. No shame in it. I’ll take that loser point and smile.
Programming note: No pregame tomorrow, but we will have a fresh Sunday snapshot for you.
