Pens At Caps Grades
Mike Adams | Report Cards
Feb 8, 10:32 AM | Hype this story!
D.C. disaster
No, not the snow; Pens’ defense
Not Cup caliber
Offense: B
Three goals on 24 shots is not bad at all. But the Pens had trouble maintaining their level of play after they built a 4-1 lead. They basically fell asleep after the second intermission and tested Jose Theodore very little the rest of the way. Had they kept up their pace from the first two periods, there is no doubt they win this game.
Defense: D
The Caps are good, and the Pens’ defense made them look even better. Basically, the Letang/Orpik pair was the only one worth putting on the ice. They did a decent job against the Caps’ top line, but the other two pairings were pretty worthless. You got a bunch of guys playing their way right off this team. And yes, Sergei Gonchar, that includes you. Right now, this group has to be a major concern if you’re Ray Shero. They spent all week talking defensive zone coverages, and they come out and give up 10 goals this weekend. Yeah, it’s not all on the d-men. But right now, Eaton, McKee, and Gonchar are basically worthless in their own end. At least Gonchar brings something offensively. The other two have no redeeming traits right now. Calling Ben Lovejoy.
Yeo Play: D
They got a beauty of a goal off a rush in the first period, but the rest of the game, it was SNAFU. The totally ineffectual 5-on-3 to start the third period totally turned the momentum to the Caps and put the Pens on their heels. Thank you, Mike Yeo. You know darn well that he spent the whole intermission coming up with some brilliant play for the boys. For the sake of his blood pressure, he really needs to be sent into forced retirement.
Penalty Kill: D
See how easy the Caps made the 4-on-3 look. They just put a body in front and shoot the puck. Bang, goal. It really isn’t difficult. But the Pens made no effort at all to tie up Knuble, and he put home the rebound. That was just a terrible kill.
Goaltending: D
Is anyone else concerned with how poorly Fleury has played against the toughest teams? For the record, he’s 4-8-1, 3.79 GAA, .879 save percentage against the top four teams in each conference. He wasn’t awful yesterday, but he sure isn’t the Fleury of last year, either. When the Pens quit playing after the second period, they needed him to come up huge. He didn’t. Ovechickensh!t surprised him with a shot off the draw and beat him with a backhand that was also stoppable. The Fehr goal was a disgrace. He was just totally sleeping and lazily kicked a rebound right out front. On the winner, he overplayed Ovechickensh!t’s first shot by sliding way too far to the right, then Knuble banged it home.
Overall: D
They played well for two periods, then they tried to coast to victory as the Caps turned it up several notches. They took stupid penalties. They lost their men in coverage. They got shoddy goaltending. It was a great hockey game, but it was made that way by the Pens failing to close it down when they were up three. The fact is, this team is incapable of playing good defense right now, and it’s hard to beat a team like the Caps that way.
And now, the rest of the story…
Sid: A
Two beautiful goals that had Theodore twisted into a pretzel.
Geno: C
Lots of pretty rushes that led to exactly nothing. He had all of one shot on goal. On this day, there were two superstars and then there was Geno.
Jordan Staal: A
A dominant performance.
Sarge: F
Typical day game for him.
Mark Letestu: F
I praised him yesterday, but he played only seven shifts and was a -2 in this one. Brutal.
Mark Eaton: F
How the hell do you let Ovechickensh!t get behind you for a breakaway? Especially when you’re up by two???
Long Winning Streaks: C
Sometimes long regular-season winning streaks mean nothing at all. Just ask the ’93 Pens.
Karma: A
You know what they say, Alex, it’s a b!tch. And did you feel the karma when Adams ran you from behind after you had done the same to Cooke earlier in the game?
My wife: A
Okay, so she has this habit of saying, “shut up, Jackwipe,” whenever an opposing coach she hates appears on the screen. Among her usual targets are Ken Hitchcock (so sorry to see you go, Kenny), Pat Quinn, John Stevens, Ron Wilson, and John Tortorella. Well, yesterday, she took it to a whole new level. She was so riled at that Porky Pig behind the Caps’ bench that she tried to yell, “shut up, fat jackwipe.” But because she was so angry, it came out, “shut up, jackfatwipe. So henceforth and forevermore, Brucie will be known as jackfatwipe. Thanks, hon.
Mike Milbury: F
I have had it with this moron. Here’s a guy who basically destroyed two franchises being held up as some sort of genius by NBC. Well, luckily, there are folks like me who know better. There is a reason he’s called Mad Mike. And it has nothing to do with his temper. It has to do with just about every personnel move he made as a GM. You selling Alexei Yashin? Nobody wants him? Just call Mad Mike. You want Roberto Luongo? Just call Mad Mike. He wants this great goalie named Rick Dipietro, so he’ll pretty much give you Luongo. He complains about the “wussification” of hockey. And you know, I could almost live with all of that.
But yesterday, he crossed the line. He decided, for some odd reason, that yesterday would be a fine time to trash Ulf Samuelsson. Yes, the great Ulffie that helped the Pens to two Cups. The Ulf that led his team over Milbury’s Bruins two years in a row. The Ulf that’s one of the greatest and most revered defensemen in Penguin history. The Ulf whose name adorns my classic ’93 jersey. How dare he?
He claims Ulf kneed Cam Neely. This is true. But when he says it ended Neely’s career, that just good old Mad Mike talking. It was the improper care provided by Bruin doctors that caused the calcification in the thigh, and that’s what ended Neely’s career.
He claims Ulf would hit, but wouldn’t fight. Not true, Ulf fought on several occasions. What do you want him to do, Mikey, take off his skate and start bashing a fan with it? I don’t know anybody that gutless. Do you?
For NBC to have a buffoon like this in their studio just speaks to how little they know about hockey. He is so awful that he makes me yearn for J.R.
Oh, and apparently, this paragon of virtue got into it with a Caps blogger after the game.
Striped Buffoon Huh? Call(s) of the Game
Okay, you’re Terry Gregson. You look at the3 schedule and see you have a marquee matchup on Super Bowl Sunday. You look down your buffoon roster to come up with a pairing worthy of the moment. And what do you come up with? Something called Frederick L’Ecuyer and Tim Peel. What a complete and utter joke. These two were just brutal all game long. They were missing blatant things like Adams running Ovechickensh!t from behind. I noticed that Orpik got a game misconduct after the winning goal. One can only guess that he had the temerity to question how he could be called for a high stick when Malkin had been blatantly high stuck on a faceoff and that had been ignored. Orpik’s was indeed a penalty, but not in the context of what they hadn’t called earlier. That’s what I mean by putting two ham-and-eggers in charge of a game like this. They had no clue how to handle it.
Free Cookie
Alex got one.
Icehole of the Game
Ovechickensh!t, just because he’s such a despicable jackass. He goes around hitting everything in sight, but he dives whenever anyone even breathes on him. He’s just a joke.
A guide to the game grades can be found here.
Comments
Pens1967
Feb 8, 10:46 AM
There were definitely some odd non-calls in this game. I know Cookie won’t get much sympathy, but really Ovechkin skated at least 6’ to hit him into the boards. Then Crosby gets absolutely mugged on the PP by a Cap who not only hit him in the back of the head, but popped Sid’s helmet off, then layed on top of Sid in the crease and topped that off by kneeling in the middle of Sid’s back while getting himself up. All while Pierre Maguire said it was just hockey and Sid should expect that and play through it. Malkin gets hit in the face with a stick at center ice, no less, and no call at all.
Oh, and the 2nd and 4th goal, both set up by beautiful passes from Malkin.
Pens fan in PA
Feb 8, 11:06 AM
NOW finally someoe else is worrying aobut Fleury?? I’ve been worried about him all season! Something is wrong, maybe he’s just star-struck with the Olympics, but at this rate, I am officially very worried aobut the playoffs. Play Brent Johnson more, please! I also wonder if our goaltender would settle down, if that would have a ripple effect, esp. on the D? Right now they have to worry about doing Fleury’s job too!
Matt Bodenschatz
Feb 8, 11:14 AM
@Pens Fan In PA, welcome to FF!
Let me say that worried is a strong term for me. I, personally, am not worried about Fleury and his performances this season. He has stood on his head more than enough times this year for me to know that it’s still there.
I am, however, concerned, that he hasn’t played more consistently. I do think, though, that this all stems from a porous defense. When Ovechkin is given a breakaway from the red line in, he’ll score 9 times out of 10. When opponents get bodies in front of the net and they go untouched, pucks will go in.
The defense has been weak, and consequently, Fleury has looked bad as well. If the defense improves, I think Fleury will as well.
Then again, the defense would look a heck of a lot better if bailed out by Fleury on occasion.
Regardless, Shero will have his sights on upgrading the defense over the next few weeks, and you better believe he will.
Albert
Feb 8, 11:15 AM
Calling GMRS, we need D. Badly.
Natty Lite
Feb 8, 11:35 AM
I was surprised they made the game as good as it was after the travel fiasco, but I really think fatigue set in in the third. Other than Orpeck, Letang, Malkin, Staal and Crosby, the team wasn’t good at all.
DaBich
Feb 8, 11:48 AM
Mike…great grades. I was so pissed at the officiating I could have b*&ch slapped the two morons. And it went both ways, but darn, go back to school already!
Something is up with Fleury, not sure what. He does seem to notch it up later in the season and in the playoffs. And like Matt says, once the defense it taken care of, Fleury will be better.
Eaton and McKee and Sarge all lost their pants more than once in the game. Hopefully, something will give…for the better!
Matt Bodenschatz
Feb 8, 11:52 AM
@Natty, are you turning into Pierre with your prononciation/spelling of Orpik? :)
clefevre
Feb 8, 12:07 PM
Neely has said himself that the play that did the damage was when he tried to hit Ulf along the boards and missed (some what).
I think longer the Caps streak goes, the bigger the crash will be.
sina220
Feb 8, 12:09 PM
@ Matt..
Not related so much to hockey but your use of “worried” and “concerned”...Which “help” book is that from? 7 habits of highly effective people I think?
One of my old bosses used to drive me nutz correcting people who would say “worried” instead of “concerned” because worry implies there could be no solution or something. Obviously they were using it as a figure of speach, and never checked the thesaurus looking for substituates, and were not using it 100% literally. But you have no idea how annoying it was to be interrupted and corrected on something so irrelevant to the actual problem or situation. It was almost as if the way the prob/situation was portrayed was more important than correcting it at times. Haha not to harp on you, but your lines brought back annoying memories. Just wondering if you got the idea from the same place because my old boss was in love with that book, and it’s priority quadrants or whatever theyre called.
Casey
Feb 8, 12:16 PM
Does watching a bad game and thinking “man, Mike’s gonna be ticked” mean I come to the FF too much?
Matt Bodenschatz
Feb 8, 12:20 PM
@Sina, that came from nowhere but my own head, haha. I just look at things in varying degrees. If I was worried about Fleury, I personally would be hoping for another goalie to come in and push him. By concerned, I simply mean that there are some red flags there, but he’s done enough to show that he’ll be fine.
I wasn’t trying to be annoying — just wanted to illustrate my views.
@Casey, it means you’re coming just the right amount! Glad to hear you’re thinking of FF during the games!
Sherry
Feb 8, 12:22 PM
I thought fatigue got to them in the third period. I watched the post-game interviews on pp.com and whether they would admit it or not, Sid and MAF looked/sounded very tired. (MAF was also VERY unhappy with the game and himself.)
I’m with Matt on the Fleury thing. The biggest problem is consistency, but the team has to play better D in front of him consistently, too. He has still been able to bounce back after a bad goal/bad game, so I look for him to be very sharp on Wednesday.
I don’t know if Orpik and Letang have ever played a whole game together before, but it was a pretty obvious strategy after I got over the surprise. Need the speed and skill of Letang out there and the hard-hitting Orpik to try to contain that top line of the Caps. As my husband said yesterday, “that’s gotta be the shut-down pairing for the playoffs.” But an Ovechkin is going to find a way to get open sometime, and he’ll make you pay.
Sherry
Feb 8, 12:25 PM
Oh, and Milbury was practically frothing at the mouth when he was talking about Ulf! Poor man, to still get so worked up over something that happened so long ago. He probably needs therapy…
DaBich
Feb 8, 12:43 PM
haha Sherry, Milbury is certifiable, and belongs in an institution ;)
My wife: A … But because she was so angry, it came out, “shut up, jackfatwipe. So henceforth and forevermore, Brucie will be known as jackfatwipe. Thanks, hon.
ROFL Mike, you have me rolling here!
For Icehole of the game….Alex Semin is a close second…what a friggin wuss, crybaby, and embellisher!
Brad
Feb 8, 01:21 PM
Another loss to a top ten team.
Poor goaltending.
Poor power play.
Poor team defense.
At least they they got 1 point and weren’t shut out.
I was glad to see Kunitz back.
Letestu: F ?????
I’m not sure Ovechkin’s break away goal or Fehr’s goal had anything to do with Letestu. Gonchar, Eaton, KcKee & Fleury came up short on those.
Guerin & Fedetenko looked lost in the defensive zone yesterday.
Chris
Feb 8, 01:31 PM
Agree on most points, though I do want to say the backhander goal wasn’t on Fleury as much as unfortunate circumstances (he was trying to come back up from the butterfly and got between movements after the blocked shot). Is it just me or does he seem to be having more issues finding the puck this year? How many times yesterday was he down looking one way and the puck was somewhere completely different? I know it happens, been there, experienced it, but it seems like he is struggling more to find it this year.
Also, thought Letestu looked fine, was just the victim of some bad defensive plays and goaltending.
Either way, am I the only one who has for the better part of this year not been too unhappy with the thought of losing Sarge? He’s a great guy, but is truly becoming a liability in defense, and has only ever been at best an average defender (he had one year of serious Norris trophy consideration) in his career. If he takes a substantial pay cut, I’d be all for it, but at this point he has become almost a powerplay specialist (averaging .21 non-powerplay points per game over the last 3 years) on a team with a horrible powerplay, and he isn’t getting any younger. Obviously this isn’t all his fault, and I obviously don’t think he’s worthless, and I’d prefer to have him back. But if it comes to an issue of signing up Letang (who by the way has a .25 non-powerplay points per game average over the last 3, which includes his rookie season) long-term and maybe even another player, I think letting Sarge go may not be the worst thing ever…
DaBich
Feb 8, 01:40 PM
Brad, I’m glad you brought up Fedotenko…he’s back to Fedostinko…he’s been horrible, absolutely horrible…
Chris, Sarge is invaluable on the PP, and yes, he got caught with his pants down yesterday, as did Eaton, but he’s no worse than the rest of the D at this point…
Pens1967
Feb 8, 01:43 PM
MAF has a history of letting in soft goals for his whole NHL career. Remember how he joked about that at the parade last summer? But, now he knows when the chips are really down, he can win the big one and that will stand him in good stead in the playoffs.
Maybe I’d try Gonchar and McKee as a pair.
Orpik and Letang looked ok together. I’m not sure how many fans realize that Letang is a very solidly built kid. Both he and Goligoski were on Inside Penguins Hockey and you could see the physical difference between the two of them despite being about the same height.
Chris
Feb 8, 01:55 PM
Dabich/Brad, agreed on the Fedotenko part. The man is defensively challenged and cannot finish a play to save his life.
Dabich, how can someone on the 27th ranked powerplay really be invaluable to the powerplay? I don’t know, I am just kind of spit-balling. But also, being no worse than the rest of the D, that’s not a worthy excuse, IMO. Like I said, I’d prefer to keep him, definitely, but the things that we have him for (pp) really are not going to get much worse if he were gone (at the current percentage, if we were on the powerplay the entire game, we would only be averaging 4.84 GPG, or only .010 below what the Capitals are averaging since January 15th…that really is disturbing/pathetic…).
Chris
Feb 8, 01:58 PM
Sorry, make that .10 less GPG, not .010.
Ray aka WildcatRay
Feb 8, 01:58 PM
RE: The Game:
The guys were running on fumes in the 3rd Period and OT, plain and simple. Their adrenalin could carry them only so far. The drop in their energy level was quite obvious.
If they had played the Canadiens on Friday night, instead, it probably would have been 6-2 Pens in regulation. But, alas, it wasn’t.
RE: The Officiating:
As confounding and perplexing as ever. Old-vetch-kin gets a protective halo that Sid and Gino can only hope for. (Does he slip ‘em something under the table to get such favorable treatment?)
Why aren’t any of his teammate ejected for stepping in for him? They ARE the third man in, aren’t they? ;-) Even by the “Certifiable One’s” standards, Old-vetch-kin needs to “man up” and fight his own fights and any teammate who steps in needs to be ejected. Period.
Old-vetch-kin has the announcers snookered, too. They all called his boarding of Cooke a clean play. NOT!
Clearly, it was boarding. Old-vetch-kin drove Cooke into the boards, but he has that halo around him, so…At least, the officials were so incompetent as to not call Adams for his reply to the haloed one. (Nope, I’m not willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they correctly saw it as Old-vetch-kin falling with Adams coming behind him.
RE: Porky Pig:
Shut the front door, Porky. Your guys didn’t get the calls they deserved. Just sit back and enjoy. It is interesting—and telling, too?—to contrast Porky, et al, with Bylsma and Babcock, two very unflappable guys with the two most recent Stanley Cup wins to back them up.
RE: The arbitrary high sticking rule:
When are they going to fix this? It is arbitrary, yet subjective as in if the high sticking is subjected to being seen by an official, it may—or may not—be called. Considering the arbitrary nature of the rule, why aren’t all 4 pairs of eyes permitted to call it?
Maybe it is time for a fifth official to monitor things and have the benefit of video to confirm or overturn the on-ice call if it is an egregious circumstance like the not-called high sticking against Gino. It could be a system whereby the off-ice official could step in and correct the phantom slashing call when Cooke’ stick broke or to confirm at the next stoppage the missed high sticking call. A missed penalty call would be assessed at the time of the next play stoppage. A provision would be that if a to-be-penalized team scores a goal, it would be taken off the board and play reverted back to the time when the penalty occurred. (I realize this is only a rough idea. There are still things that need to be worked out.)
DaBich
Feb 8, 02:41 PM
Chris, if you look at the stats on the PP with Sarge and without Sarge, it’s dramatic how much better the PP is with him. It was in a post on FF not long ago, I can’t quite put my finger on it…anyone?? But I do see your point. Remember, Sarge also plays a steadying influence in the locker room.
I’m convinced Sarge can do better, his play and the rest of the D is struggling lately. We definitely need a big, strong, shut down stay at home D-man. I hope Shero pulls one out of his hat come trade deadline. (It would be so nice to have Scuds back) Hopefully, things will fall into place then.
Pens67 – Letang is definitely a strong kid. His play is also stepping up this season. He still makes mistakes, who doesn’t…but I’ve noticed how much improved his overall play is. Gogo absolutely must work out this off season to bulk up, it’s hurting his game. His speed, which he had earlier in the season, seems to be off as well. That speed helped him to cover for some of his mistakes. Now it’s hurting him that it’s not there.
Of course, all this is just MHO =)
Chris
Feb 8, 02:47 PM
Dabich, agreed he makes it better…I just want it a lot better :-). The locker room presence is I think what may be hurt the most. Hopefully he stays, but basically if it comes to Letang or Gonch…I know who I want and it’s not even close. But in a perfect world, we’d keep both. Also agree on the Gogo comments…would like to see him actually take the body some, as well, which conditioning could help with.
DaBich
Feb 8, 03:08 PM
Chris, we pretty much see eye to eye =)
sina220
Feb 9, 12:22 PM
@Matt
You weren’t annoying, just brought back memories so i had to ask. I just assumed my old boss got it from that book because he loved it so much (despite the fact he was one of the least effective leaders I’ve ever worked for) so I figured I’d see if that’s where you got it. I do agree with your distinction regarding Fleury though. And IMO, being a goalie myself, it’s easy to see Fleury’s problem, correcting it is apparently a problem for him though. He simply needs to stay upright in his stance a split second longer on most goals against, and stay upright more on screened point shots. Maintain a bigger profile in net. You want the pads down but he tends to bring his arms in when he butterflys making his upper body much smaller. Keep your arms up to make you appear bigger than you are, goalie 101 in any sport.
Matt Bodenschatz
Feb 9, 12:39 PM
Very interesting stuff, Sina. I definitely think that finger is still effecting Fleury’s overall play, which could have an effect on his confidence, which could be causing him to drop into the butterfly quicker than normal.
What leads me to believe this is that he isn’t making those big glove saves with the exaggerated motion afterward the way he typically does. He just seems to be favoring the hand a bit more than normal.
DaBich
Feb 9, 02:55 PM
I just saw Ray’s post…I am laughing at the Wild One quoting me on the “Certifiable One”. =)
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