Pens/Caps Game 1 Grades
Mike Adams | Report Cards
May 3, 11:54 AM | Hype this story!
Fleury gets outplayed
Varlamov steals show
Power play keeps sputtering
As Caps take Game One
Offense: B-
They generated lots of good chances, especially early and late, but never could solve the red hot Simeon Varlamov. Yeah, they got two questionable goals past him, but they had one good chance after another. In general, though, the decision-making was poor throughout, as they overpassed the puck and rarely got any second chances in front. On many occasions, they tried to be too fancy rather than just working hard.
Defense: D
Way too many quality chances allowed. Fleury stopped most of him, but the game-winner was an example of their poor play. For some odd reason, Orpik got transfixed by Semin coming in on the 3-on-2, then just stared at him after he passed the puck. That left the front of the net wide open for Backstrom, who knocked home the winner.
Yeo Play: E
As in Embarrassing. They might as well just put the fourth line and Gill and Scuderi out there to make sure they don’t give up a shorty. Or as soon as the ref’s arm goes up, take a penalty and play four on four. They could just take an unsportsmanlike by arguing AGAINST any call on the Caps. They had numerous chances to tie or win this game on the PP, and just frittered them away with careless, lazy play. They simply don’t raise their energy level when they’re up a man, and I don’t know why.
Penalty Kill: D
Yep, leaving Ovechkin all alone at the side of the crease is a good idea
Goaltending: D
Fleury might have turned this series around by allowing that pathetic rebound goal to Steckel. It certainly turned the game around. Regular readers know that I am all about big saves and soft goals at key moments. And it doesn’t get softer than the rebound play. The Pens had all the momentum and had totally dominated the first period. They were ahead by one and it could have been more. Then Fleury carelessly, because of lack of concentration, kicks and easy shot from the side right back into the slot. Caps score, and go on to dominate the rest of the period. There is just no excuse for that in a playoff game. Oh, and it could have been much uglier, too. They hit three or four posts behind Fleury.
Overall: D+
This game really came down to two things—the bad goal by Fleury and the putrid power play. Okay, three, Varlamov. The kid was very good, including the highway robbery on Sid. But the Pens did not make life difficult for him by driving the net and screening him. And if he’s allowed to see everything and not face second shots, the Pens might as well start reserving tee times.
And now, the rest of the story…
Sid: A-
He was tremendous. He scored the first goal, and had numerous chances. But he gets the minus for not burying that open net chance behind Varlamov.
Geno: D
He had a nice assist on the Eaton goal, but was otherwise invisible. But hey, it was an afternoon game. Too much vodka again?
Sergei Gonchar: F
Maybe he’s a jinx to whichever team has him in this playoff rivalry. Marty Straka would certainly agree.
Self-Destruction: F
It can never be a good thing. But it’s exactly what the Pens did in the last 5 minutes of the first. Fleury allows the soft goal, Gonchar shoots the puck over the glass, Cooke takes a dumb penalty. And suddenly, they are behind after playing so well for 15 minutes.
Chris Kunitz: F
Now we start to see why Anaheim was willing to trade this guy. We were all enamored with him when he arrived because he brought some missing jam. But he’s not a top line player, sorry to say. And his playoff numbers back that up. He’s now played a total of 42 playoff games, and has a total of 4 goals. And he’s really on a roll lately, with but one in his past 26 games. Yep, you read that right, 1 in 26 games. And you can see why. He had several great chances yesterday, and pretty much totally flubbed all of them.
The Empty Sweater Brigade: F
Heck, the Black Aces are more productive than these guys. The brigade includes Kunitz, Guerin, Sykora, Satan, and Fedotenko. Gee, coincidentally enough, those are your top four wingers. Playoff totals so far: 28 games, 3 goals, 7 assists, +3, 60 shots. That is embarrassing output from guys playing with Crosby and Malkin. And if you take Guerin out of the equation, it’s 1 goal, 5 assists in 21 games. When Mark Eaton has as many goals as your top four wings, you are going to be lucky to win anything.
Russian Rankings
(This is a new feature for this series. It will rank the Russians for each game in terms of how they played.)
1.Varlamov
2.Ovechkin
3.Fedorov
4.Semin
5.Malkin
6.Gonchar
Striped Buffoon Huh? Call of the Game
Every one of the calls against the Caps. Every time the Pens seemed to have momentum, the buffoons would invent a call on Washington so that the Caps could regain momentum. Just let them play, okay? Or at least make a mascara call to even things up? Anything. But quit putting the Pens on the power play. All that does is hand the series to Washington, which is apparently what the league wants. Yesterday’s totals: Pens 5 power plays, Caps but 2.
Free Candy
He was always out of position and unable to hit anyone.
Free Cookie
Brooks Laich felt the wrath.
Kunikaze
Category dropped due to lack of activity.
Minard of the Game
It goes to Geno, who was wide open in front. Despite the fact he has a great wrister, he tried a fancy pass to Talbot. Of course, it was deflected and they got nothing out of it. Shoot the damn puck.
Monk Moment
Definitely Varlamov’s amazing stick save on Sid. That was as good as it gets and could be a series changer.
A guide to the game grades can be found here.
Comments
james
May 3, 12:05 PM
Fleishmann scored the winner, not Backstrom.
rohit
May 3, 12:19 PM
“Fleury might have turned this series around by allowing that pathetic rebound goal”
the series?
overreaction much?
have a beer, man
Chris
May 3, 02:20 PM
I don’t know how you can justify the D for Fleury. Ok, that one goal was bad. But the other two he had absolutely no chance on.
The bad one should lower his grade, but certainly not to a D.
DaBich
May 3, 02:47 PM
Two words for you….power play.
We can’t win with it not working at all.
Get rid of Yeo, for God’s sake!
bag o' pucks
May 3, 03:15 PM
Pens will be fighting a bit of recent history now. The Caps are this group’s seventh post-season opponent. In their previous six, there are some notable consistencies:
Four series with home ice: Pens 4-0
Pens win game one (and game two) in all four series
Two series without home ice: Pens 0-2
Pens lose game one in both series
The Pens must buck their winless record in road series and losing game one.
I still say Pens in six.
Albert
May 3, 08:55 PM
Wow. Agree on Kunitz. And he costs $3.88M/year. He needs to play w/ more fire. If he can’t put the biscuit in the basket, he needs to create havoc so Sid and the Old Man can.
Malone got a little over $4M/year to play for Tampa Bay, but you have to think he would have given a hometown discount—say…$3.88M/year—to stay w/ the Penguins.
We’d be a much better team w/ Malone > Kunitz, and we’d have gotten another player when we dealt Whitney.
Move the Needle
May 3, 09:26 PM
The PP has stunk all year and was only slightly better with the return of Sarge. I was real surprised the kept Mike Yeo when MT got canned.
Can it be possible that two head coaches in one season agree with Yeo’s PP strategy. Give me Kennedy and Kunitz on a PP for a try. Those two will fire the puck and crash the net. If they could not fix the PP in the regular season they can’t fix it now. Too late. Also on even strength let’s get back to Kunitz with Staal. Maybe that chemistry will add a quick spark.Malkin – Crosby – Guerin
Kunitz – Staal – Sykora
Fedetenko – Kennedy – Satan
Cooke – Talbot – Dupuis
Matt Bodenschatz
May 3, 09:57 PM
@Albert, Malone is in TB because he searched for money. The Penguins don’t have the money to invest $4+ in a second liner for seven years. Plus, if the Pens had Malone and traded Whitney, they wouldn’t be able to pay the return. Kunitz does not to score, I agree. But to surmise that the deal was bad after seven playoff games (and only three losses) is a bit shortsighted.
@Everyone who says the team can’t win without a showing from the power play: If that is the thought process, the Penguins should have given up at season’s end. As Move The Needle suggests, fixing the power play now is not going to happen.
The Penguins won in the first round without a strong power play and can do so this round. The Penguins just need to win the special teams battle. If they aren’t scoring on the power play, they need to be certain the Capitals aren’t either — and one way to do that is to play disciplined hockey. I plan to write more on this tomorrow…so check back.
TheOneAndOnlySurge
May 4, 10:29 AM
Way to hard on this team, for everything minus the PP. They carried the play. They got to lose pucks first and kept the puck in the Washington zone. They outshot them, the only thing that Washington did better was get the puck in the net. Everyone has to have a little more respect for the talent on this team and stop the critism when they don’t play perfect.
Russian Rankings.
Varlamov really number one. Why because he left in the softess goal in Playoff history to tie the game at 2 or is it because he got lucky Sid didn’t lift the puck or maybe shoot a little harder?
Ovechkin is the only reasonable one on the list but wait didn’t he allow Malkin to take the puck go up ice and hand it back to the D on Ovies side that tied the game at 2.
How about Semin and Federov, what exactly did they do?
This is my point. Stop looking for the collapse of the team because you will only be happy when that happens. Sit back and enjoy this series and the game and when you do grades, look at the entire game not just what mistakes were made by the Pens. If you do you will enjoy it.
DaBich
May 4, 11:51 AM
Hey needle, good to see you! Yeo has to go.
Matt, the Pens outplayed the Caps, but lost over a PP goal. C’mon, admit it. They got one, we got none.
They won.
Surge, I’m not giving up, I’m jsut saying our PP being so crappy is gonna hurt us, and it did. I don’t say die until the last period of the last game is over, man!
Matt Bodenschatz
May 4, 12:04 PM
@Dabich, as we speak, I’m working on an article about power play goals.
The Capitals won the game Saturday over a power play goal, yes. But as I mentioned to your daughter after the game, there is a theory I have:
The power play has been subpar all season. It won’t get better now. Firing a coach now is out of the question. So, the power play is going to be what it is: not good. The penalty killing, however, has steadily improved since December (and especially since Bylsma took over). It can still get better.
It is significantly more realistic to expect the Penguins to improve their penalty killing than it is to expect the Penguins to improve their power play. The Penguins won the first round with a poor power play. They can continue to do so as long as the stay disciplined (taking few penalties) and killing off those penalties they do take.
Is it going to be an easy process? No. But that’s how it has to be.
Two Sheds
May 4, 12:31 PM
When I watch the Pens’ power play what puzzles me is that I can’t even see what they’re trying to do that has more than a lucky bounce’s chance of working (e.g., the game winner in Game 2 against the Flyers). The plan is to pass it around long enough for Gonchar to take a slap shot? Maybe get Letang to sneak in? They cycle the puck a bit, it gets to the half boards, Malkin/Crosby/someone waits…waits…waits…waits… then an ineffective wrist shot into the crowd or a pass back to the point. If the pass back Gonchar gets it…skates to the middle…waits…waits…waits… then shoots and it gets blocked or goes wide. I just don’t see much pressure on the defense at all to get them out of their box.
When they aren’t on the power play, and hence are just freelancing it more, they move a lot better. I think the power play has gotten so bad that everyone is afraid to try anything for fear of screwing up. It looks very scripted to me. And the script doesn’t have any surprises in it for the defense.
I don’t think you can decline a penalty, as others have suggested, but you could just play 4 on 4. Leave a fifth guy standing at the red line to keep clearing passes from making it all the way down the ice. Or maybe he could just go chat with Fleury.
kev uric
May 4, 12:55 PM
glad to see you’re back to gonchar bashing
Mike Adams
May 4, 05:25 PM
@ Kev Uric
Yup, he was a one-hit wonder last year. He’s back in his usual playoff form—avoid hits at all cost, indifferent play at both ends of the ice.
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