Caps Win!

Wade Belak. Too bad he can't score as much as he can instigate fights.

The big question about the Predators was can they score with no real #1 star forward?
The answer is a resounding no.
Legwand (19 goals on the season) had 5 shots, Dumont (12 goals on the season) had 3 shots and Fiddler (9 goals on the season) had 3 shots. All other Nashville forwards had less than 3 SOG.

Arnott has 27 goals on the year, but managed 1 shot. That is in part to the fact that he left the game with injury due to a hit. That's what Nashville gets for attempting to play a physical game. Nashville begins picking fights early, continues to hit hard and sure enough the Caps respond by knocking Arnott out of the game. Well deserved.

Weber and Suter did a good job against Ovechkin, he was in check for the bulk of the game, and his shots were very often blocked or wide. Wide shots are normally because the defender has cut down your shooting angle, and the defense did this very well against Ovie. The one problem with the OV focus is that you lose track of his linemates, and that's exactly what happened in this game. The first Caps goal exploited that problem.

Kozlov dished the puck to Ovechkin, and with Suter playing the puck (Kozlov) at the point on the rush, Weber was forced to go out and quickly cover Ovechkin's shooting lanes. This led to Backstrom being able to cut into the slot, between Suter and Weber, without a problem. Ovechkin spotted him and that promptly tied the game, as Ellis was helpless on the break.

That goal showed how hard it is for opposing defenders to shut down the top line. Even when you cut off Ovie's shooting lanes, the top line can still be effective with wise passing plays and timely cuts.

Big win for the slumping Caps. I'll be in Philly on Thursday night, so look for a few pictures.

5-0 road trip and very alive

(Photos copyright AP Images)

The bulk of this post will obviously be dedicated to yesterdays Caps/Pens matchup, but before, we have a bit of catching up to do (we at dangleblog-cfpf have been lazy city--oops).

The canes have been winning non-stop, the Rangers have been picking it up since Tortorella took over/the trade deadline(I think those were terrible long term moves for the record), and the Penguins still have a ways to go to lock up a playoff spot.

So with a tough stretch of games on the road and their backs still up against a wall, what do the pens go out and do? Well...win all 5 on the road trip. This easily could've buried the Penguins season, but instead of feeling sorry for themselves, they get a solid win against the BOLTS.

Then they turn around, head south to Miami, and after outplaying the Panthers, late in the 2nd Dvorak(or as FLA calls him "D-VO") gets a garbo goal. A lump in my throat quickly forms. Then Crosby shows why he is the Captain. Guerin feeds him a pass and he streaks down the ice. 1-1. Pens don't look back in the 3rd and a huge win is in the books.

Now onto D.C. Not a must win game, but one the team wants to win. Definitely would like to send a message to the Capitals that despite the other 3 results, the Penguins can in fact skate with them on the same ice. Do not want to get the season series swept.

The Crosby love fest was on at VZC. Signs. Props. Pacifiers. It was all on display. Despite packaging tickets to try and keep the rival fans out--Penguins fans still came out in droves. I wouldn't say it was as many as in the past, but still a strong showing.

Shaky start to the game, Pens weren't able to get too much together, and then it happens. Odd man rush for the Pens, Guerin passes the puck past a sprawled out Schultz to Crosby. Advantage Pittsburgh.

(Photos copyright AP Images)

CF-Tabaracci was none too pleased with Schultz's work on the play, but nonetheless...1-0 game.

Caps come back to tie it up before the end of the period after Letang made an ill-advised pass. As I was urging Letang to take his time, he does just that, but then inexplicably instead of firing the puck up the boards, he chips it right into Backstroms chest. Pass to Semin. Bang 1-1.

The rest of the period was definitely tilted the Caps way.

In the 2nd period though, the Penguins showed what they were made of. On the PP Gonchar fired home a solid top corner laser. Pens get the lead back.

Then Guerin gets the puck just inside the blue line, toe drags the puck, snipes it home top corner. Sick goal that almost shocked me. Guerin still has some touch left and looks to be having a good time so far. 3-1.

3rd period, the game turns into choke city for the Penguins. Ovechkin snipes with that ridiculous wrist shot he has. 3-2.

And then not a minute later, a poor line change turns into a breakaway for Brooks Laich. Laich looses the puck momentarily, makes a solid move, beats Fleury. New game.

Theodore has a sick save on Crosby somewhere in there, and another on Malkin. He wasn't messing around.

The caps had all the mo' after that. Poti later in the period hits a crossbar, fans think it goes in, review shows that it was absolutely not a goal. Caps have another swarm around the Pens net before the period ends. Nothing doing.

Headed for OT.

Caps definitely took it to the Penguins in OT, and had another swarm in front of the net, where Fleury came up big. Somehow the Caps didn't find the net.

Shootout central.

Semin first. Surprisingly he comes in with a weak move, and Fleury keeps it out.

Letang's next. No dice.

Next up Kozlov. Fleury stands strong again.

So then Crosby's up. The boobirds are out. The anti-crosby schwag was waved. Yada Yada.

Crosby slides in, forehand, backhand, forehand, goal. Sid gets the last laugh.

(Photos copyright AP Images)

And it all comes down to Ovechkin fan vs Fleury fan. Ovechkin pulls out his patented head fake deke, Fleury wasn't biting, save. Game. Pens win. Big 2 points.

5-0 roadtrip. Coach Bylsma off to a stellar start. Now a huge homestand ahead, gotta still win games at a 2 out of 3 pace, as the field has tightened. But encouraging signs regardless.

Good stuff.

Notes:

-- Sykora sat out with an upper body injury, he hopes to play tuesday against the Panthers (another huge game), but is day-to-day. For Geno's sake, hopefully Sykora isn't out too long.

--After the game, Caps fans were complaining that they felt it wasn't a loss because of the shootout. Caps did play hard, and with a bounce here or two, could've won. Fair enough there. The rules are what they are though, and the Pens still got 2 very important points, so from my perspective...not much can be taken away from the win.

--Fleury=2 legit 2 quit.

Rangers Are Buyers. Who Would Have Thought?

The Rangers have wisely gone out on Trade Deadline day and spent away prospects like Dawes and Prucha for Derek Morris. Gave away a second round pick and a conditional for Nik Antropov.

Wow. The Rangers carry the torch for the Yankees in baseball offseason. Big stunner.

Are these 2 players going to fix the lack of production that the Rangers currently face? I doubt it. The reason the Rangers "needed" to go out and get these players is because of the fat contracts they currently have with Gomez, Drury and Redden. Trading for 2 average players and selling away future assets to get them isn't going to fix past blunders. This is a lesson learned the hard way by the Capitals. In 2002 the Capitals bought Jagr, bought Lang and tried to buy a stanley cup. Much like the Rangers have been doing. That failed big time, so the Caps rebuilt. Look where the Capitals are now, a division leader (with no one close) and a team fighting for first in the conference with its best days still to come.

The Rangers on the other hand have accrued a team good enough to lose in the first round of the playoffs, keep pushing the salary cap with overpaid underperforming players and secure a draft pick in the bottom 15 of every draft, giving them average prospects, until the team is firesold.

Many teams in the east have gone the way of re-building. Pittsburgh and Washington have rebuilt and are on their way to stanley cups, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and the New York Islanders are currently in stages of the rebuild. The rebuild takes patience and foresight. These teams are building the painful and time consuming way.

The Rangers just don't get it. Stop spending to make the playoffs, start building to win championships.

Rangers trade deadline grade: F-

Pens fan check in on trade deadline eve.

(Sweet jersey there Tampa--image from NHL.com)

I go out of town for the weekend, and come back to CF-Tabaracci running the show on dangleblog-CF/PF. Give Caps fans an inch--just kidding--good to have the caps spin on this blog up and running.

Although the Pens have a big game against the Panthers coming up (good lord, I can't believe I'm typing that) they can't look past tonight's tilt with Tampa. The cliche has been thrown out there daily, but at this point gotta win games at a 2 out of 3 pace for the most part.

Sid is out for the 4th consecutive game...which by the way, the Pens are 4-0 thus far without Crosby this year. TRADE CROSBY FOR A BAG OF PUCKS!!!!11

And in a CFPF sidestory, we should hand out contributing blogger job apps to the BOLTS, because as CF-Tabaracci has pointed out, they are essentially the TB Capguins(a look at the score sheet will show: Eminger, Hall, Halpern, Malone, Melichar, Pettinger, and before tonight Roberts--and I also forgot Heward, Kolzig and Recchi, good call CF-Tabaracci)

As shown in the pic above, the BOLTS have unreal 3rd jerseys, I wouldn't say they are quite up there with 90s StL Blues jerseys...but still pretty hideous.

Go Pens.

Trade fan vs Deadline fan: The countdown is on for the 3 pm(EST) deadline tomorrow that has snuck up on CF-PF bloggers fast.

From the Penguins front, they waived Satan today, and it seems to be a move intended to get his attention. Although he has picked it up recently, he hasn't been gritty, he hasn't been a two-way player(think Kovalchuk only a tad less talented) and he has been an enigma to say the least. His 3.4 mil cap hit will most likely deter anyone from grabbing him, hence why it is most likely a message. I doubt Shero will be upset if he has an extra 3.4 mil of cap space before the deadline is over though...

Other than the big rumors out there, and names being thrown around as "deadline movers," the deadline has been relatively quiet. We will definitely be keeping an eye on what the Florida Panthers do, they definitely have a say in how the EC Playoff picture is going to look in the coming week.s

In general NHL news, VS mentioned that Roberts was released, Backstrom (G for Wild), Avery officially joined the Rangers and that Vanek was coming back.

Also, this being my first chance to chime in on the Whitney trade...I must say thus far Kunitz has impressed me. Losing Whitney hurts, yes. But, it was starting to look like he just may not live up to his expectations year in and year out. Tangradi could turn out to be the centerpiece of the deal...Shero says he is very raw, but definitely has some upside and ability as a power forward, but this all remains to be seen.

PS: Idea...any thoughts on liveblogging games for both teams? Probably not every game, but some of the more important ones, playoffs, etc. My worry is it may cramp the main page, but with links and jumps(things we are working on--be patient)...could work. If CFPF team isn't able to make it down to Verizon(I'm sure Ted would prefer only 1/3 of the blog there) for the game this Sunday, maybe a good time to test run the idea. Feedback greatly appreciated.

1st pick?

Who would you take with the first overall pick in the 2009 NHL draft? There are 2 consensus picks, John Tavares of the OHL and Victor Hedman of the Swedish Elitserien.

John Tavares - A very highly skilled forward. Dubbed "the next next one" by the Canadian Media (apparently Crosby is the next one). Tavares was the star in Canada's gold medal victory in the world junior tournament. Tavares broke Gretzky's 25+ year old goal record for most goals by a 16 year old in the OHL. He is touted as a player who will come into the NHL and score 100 points immediately, much the way Crosby and Ovechkin did.

Victor Hedman - A well rounded defenseman who has had his game compared to Nick Lidstrom. Currently in his second season in the Swedish Elite League, playing as an 18 year old against grown men, he has 21 points in 43 games and is a surprising +22 on a team that has allowed 24 more goals than they have scored. Keep in mind that in Europe, leagues use a larger ice surface that makes scoring less abundant.

I guess it would depend on the team that has the luxury of drafting 1st overall. A team like the Islanders needs everything except goaltending, they have used a 1st overall selection in the past to select DiPietro and then promptly signed him to a 15 year deal despite his history of injuries. They basically need EVERYTHING else. Right now, they'd be a competitive team in the AHL, and they're looking to deal players like Guerin and probably Weight and Witt as well.

If you take an example like the Blues or the Kings, both of those teams would almost certainly take Tavares because both of them have gone through re-builds where they have stocked VERY high end defensive talent with the likes of Pietrangelo and Erik Johnson in STL and Doughty, Hickey and Jack Johnson (trade from CAR) in LA. When you look at these teams upfront, both of them could use a 100 point center. The only center in STL projected to put up 100 points in the future is.......? Berglund? No dice. The Kings have a better option in Kopitar but after that, who's next on the list? Moller? Boyle? Not much depth. Tavares for STL or LA.

If you look at a team like Pittsburgh or Washington (neither will be in the top slot, but it's an example) both of these teams would certainly take Hedman. In fact Washington has taken Hedman before, just not the more skilled of the 2 brothers. Both of these teams are STACKED to the teeth in offensive talent. Players such as Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, Backstrom and Talbot. Ok, maybe not Talbot, but you get the idea. These teams don't have many blue chip defensive defensemen. In fact I'd say the only top tier prospect defensive Dmen in either system would be Alzner (Orpik is young, but not a prospect or a blue chipper). These teams have the offensive rearguards in Green, Letang and Goligoski, but these players lack the true 2-way value that Hedman projects to bring.

Do you take the mentality that you would draft the best player available? Do you draft the best player for your system? Do you draft based on your immediate needs? If you are the Islanders, who do you take and why?