Is there anything better in sports than playoff hockey? Honestly I don't think there is...maybe the NCAA Basketball tournament but really most people only have investment in it if they're betting on the tourney and while the upsets are nice they aren't long lived.
Playoff hockey though...the hitting, the atmosphere, the sudden death overtime and when the Caps are involved you better have a strong heart because the cardiac Caps have a thing about making things long and interesting. Game 1 ended 1-0 minutes into overtime and today's game looked and felt like it was going to go the same way. Until around the 2 minute mark of the 2nd period when Troy Brouwer put one 5-hole on Tim Thomas and gave the Caps a 1-0 lead.
Unfortunately the Caps couldn't hold the lead as the Bruins scored and were kind enough to run over Braden Holtby after the goal was scored. The play was clean though as Holtby put himself into that position. Luckily for the Caps that was the only thing that got past the young netminder in regulation and it lead to overtime where both teams had chances but none of them scored.
In the 2nd overtime I felt the Caps looked a bit more tired than the Bruins but they hang tough and Nicklas Backstrom sent a slapshot past Tim Thomas for the game winning goal and sending the series back to DC tied up at 1-1.
As the title states though that game winner had some karma attached to it. Both teams are physical, in fact I felt that of all the teams in the East the Bruins were the most physical and dirtiest team in the East. While I may have some bias let us look at the facts. The Bruins on many occasions will gang up on a single player of the other team while no one else is around to come to their defense. During a "scrum" in front of the net, after Backstrom was trying to go for the puck but Thomas had made the save, Thomas took his blocker and hit the recently concussed Backstrom right in the face, add to it a cross check from another Bruins player as that happened and a third grabbing Backstrom from behind and putting him into a bit of a sleeper hold. Oh but this wasn't the first time in the game that happened. At the end of the 2nd period a fracas broke out after the horn and the Bruins went after Brouwer and Backstrom and Patrice Bergeron had Backstrom into a headlock then as the refs tried to separate them he grabbed Backstrom by his visor and appeared to say some unpleasant things to the young Swede...who gave a nice little shot back to Bergeron.
That's not to say the Caps weren't guilty of infractions that went uncalled, like Ovie cross-checking a guy in the face but hey the refs had already called Roman Hamrlik for a cross-check after he cross-checked two Bruins that had cross-checked him moments prior.. Obviously its playoff hockey and they let the boys play every now and then but even the seemingly anti-Caps NBC announcers, namely Mike Milbury, said as much...and I'm sure that's tough for him to do since he's a former Bruins player and coach.
Back to the play though. Alexander Semin gets criticized for disappearing in the playoffs and while he hasn't shown up offensively he was a huge part in securing today's win including sacrificing his body on a shot by Zdeno Chara, who has the hardest shot in the world. Blocking shots has been a huge key to this series too as the Caps, who gave up over forty shots on net today, ended up blocking at least 25 and held a 21-5 advantage in blocked shots...this is a team that usually has theirs blocked so its been a welcome sight. Now if we can only get that power play going.
Regardless of it all the Caps pulled out the victory, shaved some years off the life of their fans; as they been known to do over the years when it comes to playoffs; and head home with momentum. Braden Holtby has played amazing and will need to continue to do so if the Caps are going to steal this series. Here's hoping the next two games are as entertaining as the first two and that the Caps win both, preferably in regulation. I do expect the series to be even more physical and hope that the SEA OF RED in Verizon Center comes out in full force, we want as few Bruins fans as possible in that place.
Showing posts with label Holtby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holtby. Show all posts
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Impressions From Last Night's Game 1 of Caps vs. Bruins
Despite the loss I found it to be a really great game. The hitting, the "just missed" chances, and some of the saves just made for an outstanding game.
The game was sullied, and yes I'm biased, by the refs not calling some dives, I believe on Marchand, in the 3rd, as well as the roughing Semin took after getting hit by Lucic and two other Bruins well after the whistle had blown, the hooking of Semin, and the interference and roughing by Chara on Hendricks at the players bench, the last two in the final minute of the third. Add to it the fact that the refs didn't call a delay of game on Tim Thomas for covering and freezing the puck with no one around him and the Caps definitely got screwed over once the refs swallowed the whistle, which seemed to happen after the penalty on the Caps goalie who had already been run over at least twice and been smacked in the back of the head with a stick of a Bruins player...no I'm not bitter.
All that said, despite the Caps lack of offensive opportunities in the 1st two periods they did a great job of containing the Bruins and did the one thing they've been lacking in the playoffs and what felt like the latter part of the season which was block shots or stop them in front, despite the 30 put on Holtby during the game.
Holtby definitely rose to the occasion last night and will need to be just as good, or better, on Saturday if the Caps want to come back to Washington tied at 1-1. Outside of a few big rebounds and one playing of the puck that left the net wide open, Holtby was strong in net and the only reason the Caps remained in the game.
While you can throw the regular season statistics and records out the window once the playoffs start someone forgot to tell the Caps offense they could abandon the aspects of not shooting the puck and playing piss poor on the power play. As much credit as you can give the Bruins, a lot of the Caps ineptness falls more on their players.
While the power play struggled the Caps did hold the Bruins, who aren't very good on the PP at home, at bay by killing off all 5 opportunities including a 4 minute "high sticking" by Jay Beagle. Seriously though that PP may not be good but Lucic and Chara are big and powerful enough and Seguin agile enough get that group rolling at any time. While I expected the Bruins to cash in at least once I was pleasantly impressed and satisfied with the effort the Caps displayed on the PK.
Jay Beagle was my forward of the night till that 4 minute minor, that's the kind of penalty that will keep you from getting a sweater in the next game. Hello Mike Knuble please pick up the white courtesy phone. Also seeing Mathieu Perreault and Marcus Johansson come back from some hard shots to the ankle and head respectively earns them major props. Both of those little rag doll midgets have taken quite a few hits and pucks to the head, its like their is some kind of magnetic force or something. If either of them goes down you have to wonder if maybe they'll throw Mattias Sjogren on the ice, they could...they won't, but it would be an interesting debut for sure.
The toughest thing about the loss was that it was a bad transition goal where Dennis Wideman didn't get back or into position, but at least we didn't deflect it past our own goalie as we've done in the past. The opportunity for a save by Braden seemed like it would be one of the easier ones for him..alas it wasn't and the best thing to come out of it, besides the Caps going out on the ice to show their appreciation of his effort, was the glass falling David Krejci...that's what you get for going after Holtby early...that and roughed up by John Carlson *stick tap*
Hopefully Game 2 is as good and exciting as Game 1 was. I'm sticking with my Caps in 6 belief but they'll definitely have to get to Thomas, screen him and run his own guys over him. I also expect that there will be at least one fight as both teams are definitely getting chippy with one another and there is still some bad blood from their last two regular season meetings.
The game was sullied, and yes I'm biased, by the refs not calling some dives, I believe on Marchand, in the 3rd, as well as the roughing Semin took after getting hit by Lucic and two other Bruins well after the whistle had blown, the hooking of Semin, and the interference and roughing by Chara on Hendricks at the players bench, the last two in the final minute of the third. Add to it the fact that the refs didn't call a delay of game on Tim Thomas for covering and freezing the puck with no one around him and the Caps definitely got screwed over once the refs swallowed the whistle, which seemed to happen after the penalty on the Caps goalie who had already been run over at least twice and been smacked in the back of the head with a stick of a Bruins player...no I'm not bitter.
All that said, despite the Caps lack of offensive opportunities in the 1st two periods they did a great job of containing the Bruins and did the one thing they've been lacking in the playoffs and what felt like the latter part of the season which was block shots or stop them in front, despite the 30 put on Holtby during the game.
Holtby definitely rose to the occasion last night and will need to be just as good, or better, on Saturday if the Caps want to come back to Washington tied at 1-1. Outside of a few big rebounds and one playing of the puck that left the net wide open, Holtby was strong in net and the only reason the Caps remained in the game.
While you can throw the regular season statistics and records out the window once the playoffs start someone forgot to tell the Caps offense they could abandon the aspects of not shooting the puck and playing piss poor on the power play. As much credit as you can give the Bruins, a lot of the Caps ineptness falls more on their players.
While the power play struggled the Caps did hold the Bruins, who aren't very good on the PP at home, at bay by killing off all 5 opportunities including a 4 minute "high sticking" by Jay Beagle. Seriously though that PP may not be good but Lucic and Chara are big and powerful enough and Seguin agile enough get that group rolling at any time. While I expected the Bruins to cash in at least once I was pleasantly impressed and satisfied with the effort the Caps displayed on the PK.
Jay Beagle was my forward of the night till that 4 minute minor, that's the kind of penalty that will keep you from getting a sweater in the next game. Hello Mike Knuble please pick up the white courtesy phone. Also seeing Mathieu Perreault and Marcus Johansson come back from some hard shots to the ankle and head respectively earns them major props. Both of those little rag doll midgets have taken quite a few hits and pucks to the head, its like their is some kind of magnetic force or something. If either of them goes down you have to wonder if maybe they'll throw Mattias Sjogren on the ice, they could...they won't, but it would be an interesting debut for sure.
The toughest thing about the loss was that it was a bad transition goal where Dennis Wideman didn't get back or into position, but at least we didn't deflect it past our own goalie as we've done in the past. The opportunity for a save by Braden seemed like it would be one of the easier ones for him..alas it wasn't and the best thing to come out of it, besides the Caps going out on the ice to show their appreciation of his effort, was the glass falling David Krejci...that's what you get for going after Holtby early...that and roughed up by John Carlson *stick tap*
Hopefully Game 2 is as good and exciting as Game 1 was. I'm sticking with my Caps in 6 belief but they'll definitely have to get to Thomas, screen him and run his own guys over him. I also expect that there will be at least one fight as both teams are definitely getting chippy with one another and there is still some bad blood from their last two regular season meetings.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)