Pens Vs Caps Grades
Mike Adams | Report Cards
Jan 22, 09:33 AM | Hype this story!
It’s only one game
Regular season, at that
Playoffs are diff’rent
Offense: B-
They certainly had their fair share of chances, and generated 32 ES shots. Jose Theodore is just on one of those rolls right now, and that was probably the difference.
Defense: F
I’ll say this. Unless this team cleans up their defensive act, they are going nowhere fast. They are just giving up far too many quality chances. Fleury can cover up some of those mistakes, but Johnson certainly didn’t last night. On the winning goal, Letang pinched and Nick Johnson covered his point. But then he forgot to watch for a guy leaving the zone and bang, it’s in the net. Just very sloppy.
Power Play: C
The power play was good, but snakebit. Gonchar hit a crossbar and they hit a post later on. They could easily have had two goals right there. They also scored one second after a power play expired. They were moving the puck well for the most part, and had good chances. That is about all you can ask. On some nights they go in. On some nights they don’t. Last night was the latter.
Penalty Kill: F
It really couldn’t have been any worse. Two chances, two goals. Somehow, they managed to leave Ovechickensh!t open in the high slot for the first one. Then they completely broke down in allowing Backstrom to walk out in front. Just a pitiful performance.
Goaltending: F
For the most part, Johnson has been excellent this year. But that “most part” certainly doesn’t include last night. The Caps just picked his carcass clean. He didn’t make the big saves, and the second power play goal was pathetic. He did a Leaning Tower of Pisa imitation and gave Backstrom half the net to shoot at.
Overall: D
It wasn’t a terrible performance, but they sure didn’t come up with the big plays at the big times. The defense was bad. The goaltending was bad. The penalty kill was bad. Kinda hard to beat a top-notch team that way. But even with that, if the posts they hit on the power play turn into goals, we have a different outcome. Chalk it up to the Caps being hot and the Pens not.
And now, the rest of the story…
Sid: C
He really wasn’t terribly visible, but did manage to bat in a rebound. And what’s up with 10/30 on faceoffs?
Geno: A
Three assists and some beautiful rushes.
Nick Johnson: C
First NHL goal, but he fell asleep on the winning goal.
Tyler Kennedy: F
Just not very good right now, and in no way deserving of a spot on the top line.
Faceoffs: F
How do you get beat 62-38 in faceoffs ON YOUR HOME ICE?
Coach B.: F
I don’t understand what he was trying to do with the lines. Why take Kennedy off the third line, especially on a night where you want that checking unit to click? Just leave Kennedy there and put Jeffrey on the top line.
Striped Buffoon Huh? Call(s) of the Game
The whole game was a Huh?. As the announcers said, they were calling it like a playoff game. Guys on both sides were getting away with murder. But even in the playoffs, when you get high-stuck right in front of the ref, it’s usually called. Not last night. It happened to Letang, and Kevin Pollock just stared blankly at it. They let that kind of crap go, then they have the nerve to call a cheap interference penalty on Guerin when the Cap player clearly dove. This was just a joke of a game by O’Rourke and Pollock. I sure hope they didn’t actually get paid for this butchery last night.
Free Candy
Brent Johnson. Brooksie shot the puck past him for a Capital goal.
Minard of the Game
Both Sid and Geno win this for the same play. They had a quasi 3-on-1. Geno passed up a wide open shot to make a drop pass to Sid. One Minard. Then Sid, alone in front, decides to pass to Guerin off to the side. Minard number two. Shockingly, these two Minards on one play led to zero shots on goal.
Icehole of the Game
Ovechickensh!t, just because even though Sarge has forgotten the cheap hit in the playoffs, I haven’t.
A guide to the game grades can be found here.
Comments
c
Jan 22, 10:14 AM
Put the blame for the Fleischmann goal on Letang, not Johnson. Letang left both Johnsons high and dry on that one. After he took the puck deep into the Caps zone, which is OK, he just floated around by the net like he had a brain fart and thought he was a forward. He left the poor rook in a very vulnerable position in his first game. Letangs D partner was out of the play too, way over by the boards while the play was in the middle of the ice. NJ will get better at covering for irresponsible D-men, at least he’d better if he wants to be a Pen! All night Letang (and Gogo, too) looked like he thought he was in a different game than the one we were watching.
Its amazing how quickly these guys seem to be forgetting the lessons of FHCMT. At least when he was the coach and the offense was struggling, they could fall back on tight coverage defensively and win a 2-1 game. I don’t think you can pin it all on losing Scuderi and Gill. These guys just seem very careless right now. Maybe HCDB should call out the D in public in a thick French accent!
Pens1967
Jan 22, 10:16 AM
“Both Sid and Geno win this for the same play. They had a quasi 3-on-1. Geno passed up a wide open shot to make a drop pass to Sid. One Minard. Then Sid, alone in front, decides to pass to Guerin off to the side. Minard number two. Shockingly, these two Minards on one play led to zero shots on goal.”
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That was brutal. Geno skates through 4 Caps and then doesn’t shoot!
Justin
Jan 22, 10:39 AM
I was at the game last night and I want to say:
Pittsburgh Fans: F
The fans took the low road to boo OvenChicken every time he touched the puck which is normal but we know how it fires up Crosby when he is in Philly. Also, as soon as the Pens got behind and it seemed like the couldn’t come back the fans gave up. They were leaving the building in droves with over 5 minutes left in the 3rd…RIDICULOUS!! Stay to support your team.
and Another Striped Buffoon Huh of the game…
Goes to the referees who allowed the Capitals to get their second PP Goal. A Capitals player broke his stick in the lower corner of the Pens zone, then proceeded to skate from there to his own blue line carrying the broken shaft in his hand…in my experience this is an automatic 2 minute penalty unless I read the rule wrong. Also, once again the refs put the whistles away after giving the Pens 3 early Power Plays and called ticky-tacky calls to help get the Caps back in the game.
Pens1967
Jan 22, 11:26 AM
On the radio, Phil Borque went pretty wild over that non-call. Plus, before that, there was another instance of a Caps’ player taking his broken stick all the way to the bench.
Brock
Jan 22, 01:14 PM
A player can hold onto his broken stick as long as he doesn’t engage in play. As soon as the guy broke his stick he disengaged and ran back to the bench for a new one. Didn’t try to play the puck, didn’t try to make contact.
Natty Lite
Jan 22, 02:03 PM
@Mike,
That’s pretty much exactly how I saw the game last night.
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