Kuzy’s face (Photo: Bruce Bennett)
Did we expect anything better from Capitals at Flyers? The road-weary Caps played bad hockey and still got a point, thanks to our friends in black and white stripes and our old buddy PDO. Lemme tell you ’bout it.
Things started off well enough when Alex Ovechkin notched a power-play goal off an Ovi shot from the Ovi spot. The Flyers tied it up with a casual goal by Sean Couturier against Green-Schmidt and the fourth line. Then nothing happened for a long time.
In the third, Karl Alzner sent a shot from the blue line that Nick Backstrom deflected in to restore Washington’s lead. It didn’t last. R.J. Umberger scored on a one-timer after Holtby failed to settle a bounce from behind, pushing this one to overtime.
Someone in orange scored during OT.
Bleep bloop doop. Whatever. In Overtime.
- Okay, they can’t all be fun hockey games. The last few have been a ton of fun. This one was not. From pretty much the moment Alex Ovechkin scored on, this one was the hockey game version of Requiem for a Dream or Godfather III. You can’t wait for it to end so the suffering will finally be over.
- Speaking of suffering, poor Nicklas Grossmann, who got smushed by Tom Wilson and left the game. He looked real rough after that one.
- The bottom line was atrocious, which might be why Barry Trotz didn’t trust them with any ice time. Jason Chimera, Jay Beagle, and Tom Wilson were on the ice for Couturier’s goal and were about as responsible for it as were Nate Schmidt and Mike Green. With less than 10 minutes of time on ice, I’m wondering if Trotz is reneging on his edict about keeping young players off the fourth line.
- Yeah, Nate Schmidt got a sweater for the first time since December 23rd. Schmidt was one of the few players on the right side of the possession line, which, of course he was.
- Karl Alzner nearly had his 11th goal of the season, but selfish Nick Backstrom stole it (Or did he? Scoring still says Alzner, but I think it’ll be changed later). Then the refs nearly stole it. The war room in Toronto had to adjudicate the play for a possible high stick. In the end, the refs sorry it our way. Philadelphia, surprisingly, was not happy about that. Here’s what the NHL said about it:
At 3:08 of the third period in the Washington Capitals/Philadelphia Flyers game, the Situation Room initiated a video review to further examine a play at the Philadelphia net. Video review was inconclusive in determining whether Nicklas Backstrom’s stick was at or below the level of the crossbar when he deflected the puck into the net. The referee’s call on the ice was good goal. According to Rule 38.4 (vi) “The determining factor is where the puck makes contact with the stick in relation to the crossbar. If the puck makes contact with the portion of the stick that is at or below the level of the crossbar and enters the goal, this goal shall be allowed”. Therefore the referee’s call on the ice stands – good goal Washington.
- Nor were the Philly fans happy about the waved-off goal in the first period, but few teams know better than the Capitals that you ain’t allowed to push the goalie’s pad past the goal line. And that’s my Montreal 2010 reference quota for the day.
- People on Twitter didn’t get my joke. Holtby did fine in a losing effort as an unrested goalie.
A rested goalie stops that. Holtby's gonna want that one back.
— RMNB (@russianmachine) January 9, 2015
- Lines went nuts halfway through the third period, when Trotz noticed that his lines weren’t working at all. (Actually the second line, err.. the one with Evgeny Kuznetsov on it, was doing fine all game.) You’ll see the impact of this two bullets down.
- Since we spend so many nights complaining about the refs, let’s give equal time. This game was a present. Caps goals survived review, Flyers goals did not. Caps got away with one too-many-men penalty (but not two), the Flyers did not. The call on Orpik was kinda soft though.
- That late-game too-many-men penalty is kind of on Barry Trotz, he of the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead (yer a wizard, Barry). Line chaos breeds penalty kills.
- What if Claude Giroux had a brother named Andrew? Drew Giroux. Say it out loud. Drew Giroux. Don’t just read it. Drewwwww Girouxxxxx.
We make our own fun. - The Laich – Fehr – Ward line stunk too. Nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
- Big thanks to Matt Niskanen for committing the penalty in overtime to give this game a mercy killing.
Joe B suit of the extra wide tie you could serve a porterhouse on that thing
If they Caps won this one, I’d have to say something insincere like “only the best teams can play this bad and still win.”
This team didn’t deserve to win this one, and win they did not. Good calls from the refs and good bounces aside, this Caps team wasn’t ready to play tonight, and it showed. At least they got a standings point. Hurray for standings points.
See you guys on Saturday. Big game against Detroit at home.
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