Through 12 games, the Washington Capitals have shown mostly ups, but a few downs. Their most recent game, a 5-3 loss at the New York Islanders, most definitely falls into the latter category. The problem, it seems, is that the defense (2.75 goals allowed per game) isn't as solid and consistent as expected. The offense (3.92 goals per game), however, is stellar. In order for the team to contend, their defense will have to tighten up a bit -- without affecting the offense.
The other (somewhat) concern is Tomas Vokoun. He's got a 2.54 goals against average, but was torched for all five goals against the Islanders and four in one period earlier in the season against the Vancouver Canucks.
Nick Backstrom seemingly has found his offensive spark, while Alex Ovechkin has looked pedestrian at times. Alex "The Enigma" Semin has all of seven points in the first 12 games. Coach Bruce Boudreau has shown a willingness to punish players for a poor performance. Let's see if he'll make a player like Semin a healthy scratch -- or if GM George McPhee would actually consider sending No. 28 elsewhere.
Yes, it's early, but there's no time to waste this season. Not with expectations higher than ever, and the stakes possibly even more elevated.
November 6, 2011
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1 stormer(s) wrote:
If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times. Bruce Boudreau is a stupid coach who repeatedly does things that just don't make any sense. Like Ron Washington and Dennis Green, he's basically a "gut feel" coach who who does things that aren't written anywhere. And all coaches do that to some extent. But Double B takes "intuition" to absurd extremes. For example, the other night he received nationwide praise for sitting Alex Ovechkin down at a critical juncture of a game his Caps seemed destined to lose. He never spelled out what Alex did wrong--just that other players that night were "better than him". It paid off--Niklas Backstrom finally remembered who he really is and started shooting the puck instead of passing it every chance he gets and the Caps came away with a "W". But Bruce was lucky--as he himself later admitted during the post game interview. We've all lost count how many times Alex has come through in situations like that in the past. And the odds of the Caps pulling that off again without him aren't that high. But OK. We'll give Bruce some credit on that one. At least he had the onions to do what he did and his club didn't get burned for it. But it ought to work the other way too. Cody Eakin finally got significant ice time against the Carolina Hurricanes this past Friday, scoring a gorgeous goal on a wrist shot that he snapped past the goalie on a 2 on 1 break. So how did Bruce reward Cody for his all around nice effort?? He made him a healthy scratch against the Islanders the following night in a game the Caps lost 5-3 because his gut feeling was that Matthieu Perrault would come through if he got some playing time. Now I don't entirely disagree with that, but if a young player produces for you and he doesn't have an attitude problem, common sense suggests that you should run him out there again while his confidence is high and give him a chance to build on it and come through for the team again--especially if the person we're talking about is a natural scorer--something,ironically, the Caps may well need since they STILL appear to have the same issues on defense that have always plagued them in the past...
Will McPhee and the "brain" trust come to their senses and get rid of the Incredible Cipher Alex Semin by trading him to a GM who's stupid enough to give us a rock ribbed defenseman or two-way forward in return? I doubt it, but I'm keeping my fingers and eyes crossed....
Clifford
Santa Monica
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