Game 24: Post Thanksgiving Hangover

Game: 24

Opponent: @Washington

Did You Watch it Live?: Live? I was there, baby! Section 410 rocking the blue and white!

By Yourself?: Unfortunately not. The Duchess was there and my parents.

Did they have fun?: I think they enjoyed the Christmas Market outside the arena more than the game.

Ouch:

Three Stars: 3. Andrei Vasilevskiy 2. Jason Chimera 1. John Carlson

Worst Play: So many to choose from. I'm going to go with JT Brown nine-ironing the puck over the net after he stole it from Braden Holtby.

Thoughts:

So I waited 24 hours to write this (and god knows how many days to actually post it). Simply put, I try not to write angry. It clouds judgment and the chances of writing something that I would regret would increase greatly. That being said, the game itself was hot garbage. They've played some uninterested periods of hockey this season, but the first period of the game against the Capitals was so very, very bad that I wondered out loud if they knew the start time of the game was 5:00pm.

It didn't help that they kept taking penalties against one of the better power play teams in the league. The Caps burned them twice in the first period with the man advantage while keeping the puck in the zone for most of the period. Washington's power play didn't seem complicated – play with the puck until they can isolate Alex Ovechkin by the side of the net – but it worked well against the Lightning.

Ovechkin sniped one past Vasilevskiy 7 minutes into the game to start the scoring. At that point, Vasilevskiy was the only reason the Lightning were still in the game. Tampa was apparently trying to tire the Capitals out by letting them shoot the puck, shoot the puck and shoot the puck some more. Eighteen shots made it to the net and tons of others sailed wide or were blocked. It wasn't much better in the second period when Washington added another 13 shots on net.

It wasn't until the third period that the Lightning showed some signs of life. Down 4-0 Brian Boyle found the back of the net and two minutes later Victor Hedman notched his second goal of the season by blasting the puck past Holtby to bring the Lightning within two goals. That would be it for the offensive output and the final ended up 4-2, a much more respectable score than they deserved.

Playing in Washington has always been trying for the Lightning (unless it's the playoffs) so it's probably a good thing that they only have to come up here once a year now. However, the way they played in the first 40 minutes they couldn't have beaten an AHL team. Whether the injuries are now catching up with them (losing Tyler Johnson after 48 seconds left them shorthanded) or if the Capitals are that much better of a team it was just disappointing to watch them play that bad. It's becoming harder and harder to look at them as a playoff team.

Random Hockey Thought:

I wasn't impressed with the atmosphere at the Verizon Center. Yes, everyone wears red and cheers when the scoreboard tells them to, but for most of the game it was pretty flat. Despite the Caps dominating the game there was no energy coming from the crowd until they scored the back-to-back goals at the end of the second period.

The folks sitting around us were more concerned with mundane aspects of their life then what was going on on the ice. The closest to game action I heard was the girl behind us analyzing Tom Wilson's mustache.

There was a fairly impressive amount of Lightning jerseys in the crowd and we didn't get much flack from the crowd. There was one random “Stamkos Sucks” guy at the end of the game on the way out, but he was outnumbered by the “Go Lightning” folks that we ran into.

Even the “It's all your fault” chant directed at Vasilevskiy after the Washington goals were announced was half-hearted and muddled. Get it together Caps fans.

Game 3, Win 3, Still Nervous

Six straight wins. Three to nothing lead in the series. It’s not a bad time to be a Lightning fan right now. That being said it’s not over. As a matter of fact it is far from over. There were days when a 3-0 lead in a series was a death knell for the team that was behind, but as the Flyers proved last year it’s not over until a team gets its fourth win.

Before the game I was telling the folks at work that I’d be happy with a split after this weeks back-to-back games. Now I want it over. I want the sweep. I want them to cut the heads off - no zombie Ovechkin comebacks this year!

How did the Lightning find themselves up 3-0 in a second round match-up that no one had them winning? Simply put they are outworking the Caps. Washington might be getting the sexy stats - more shots, more time with the puck, more power plays, etc., but it’s the Lightning that are outworking the higher seeded team.

The boys in the black and blue are winning the battles along the boards, blocking the shots and controlling the front of the net. It’s the last point that has made the biggest difference. If you look at how they are scoring goals, it’s by getting position in front of Neuvirth and banging home rebounds or deflecting passes in.

On the flip side they have set up a wall in front of Dwayne Roloson and aren’t allowing too many shots through. The few shots that are making it through are getting knocked down by the ageless net minder and swept aside by his defensemen. The 1-3-1 gets all the press but it’s what they’re doing in the defensive zone that is making the difference. While the Caps are getting shots, they aren’t getting quality chances.




Washington fans are bemoaning the fact that the Lightning are “getting all the bounces,” but what they are failing to realize is that Tampa Bay are creating those lucky bounces. Throwing the puck at the net is one thing, but good things happen when you throw the puck in front of the net and your teammate has position. That’s what the Lightning are doing.

Washington ended up with the number one seed because they were able to bounce back from adversity during the season. This team was left for dead in December and yet managed to bounce all the way back in the second half of the season. They have the guns to come storming back, but do they have the character? Recent playoff performance say no, but this is supposed to be a different team. So we’ll see.

They have to find a way to shut down the Dominic Moore/ Steve Downie / Sean Bergenheim line. The offensive success of that line allows Coach Boucher to stack the Big Three on one line. If the Caps send their top defensive unit against Lecavalier, St Louis and Stamkos then Boucher sends out Moore line and they pick apart Washington.

Tampa Bay has also exploited the lack of speed on Washington blue line. As offensively talented as they might be, the “National Defense” isn’t exactly the most fleet of foot. Mike Green is great at carrying the puck up the ice, but get him skating backwards and he’s a liability. Alzner and Erskine are physical forces but have been turned into statues by Bergenheim, Stamkos and St Louis. Can Dennis Wideman make a difference? We might see in Game 4 if he’s healthy.

Resiliency has been a major characteristic of this season’s Lightning squad. They bounced back from a late game tying goal in Game 2 to win in overtime. Tuesday night they bounced back from a one goal third period deficit to take Game 3. They could have folded at any point and been down two games to one. After all, they don’t have playoff experience and shouldn’t be able to handle the pressure.

While Boucher has been able to do a great job in getting his team ready for the last six games, his greatest work may be ahead of him. Will the players back off a little now that they have a three game cushion? If they do they are in trouble.

Three stars for Tuesday night:

Steven Stamkos - if you need to show a non-hockey friend what a sniper looks like on the ice show him Stamkos’ game tying goal. Across the ice, with a screen to the top corner of the goalie’s stick side. Unreal.

Vincent Lecavalier - Vinny is now in Beast Mode. Look out folks.




Victor Hedman - SWEDE! SWEDE! SWEDE! Most improved player in the playoffs for this team. He’s got his skates under him and is starting to throw his weight around and skating more with the puck. Yet another possible weapon at Boucher’s disposal.

Game Two Two Minute Review

*Vincent is in beast mode.
*Tampa is doing a better job of controlling the front of the net on both ends.
*Tampa can't keep taking penalties against the Caps.
*Some of the pressure is back on the Lightning for the first time since game 4 of the first round.
*If they split the next two games I like their chances.

Game One, One Blogger, One Win

According to the experts, the Lightning aren't even supposed to be playing hockey at this point in the season. With the majority of mainstream media picking the Penguins to have beaten them in the first round it's almost like they are playing with house money at this point.

There are very, very few times that I've ever gambled with "house money". Anyone who has gambled with me in Vegas or the lovely Biloxi, MS knows that I tend to break even at the tables. Which is fine by me.

The Lightning, supposedly weary from a tough 7 game match up with Pittsburgh, ventured into the nation's capital on Friday night to begin their second round series with the Washington Capitals. Much like the first round they aren't given much of a chance to move on. After all, this is "The Year" for the Caps. The year they exorcise their playoff demons and win the Cup with their new committed to defense style of play.

Apparently, no one told the Lightning they were supposed to be the tired team. They jumped out to an early lead as playoff hero Sean Bergenheim jammed home a rebound three minutes into the first period.

If you continue to score I will be forced to thrash you!

Thankfully, the game aired on Vs. which allowed me to watch it a bar on a screen bigger than 15 inches. My co-worked Scott (a Blackhawk self-admitted Caps bandwagon/Ovechkin fan) joined me for some hockey, beer and fried food.

The 3/4 empty bar was showing the draft and around the horn when we got there and it took the manager about ten minutes to remember he promised to switch the the game on for us and another two minutes to actually find the game. Note to all you bar keeps out there - write down the channels for the major sports channels and keep it with the remote. Your sports bars for Christ's sake. Act like it!

With the game on the big screen and a nice soundtrack of Queen, Frank Sinatra and Mister Big provided by the juke box we settled in to watch a pretty fun playoff game.

The Caps would find their legs throughout the first and second period, even building a one goal lead after Eric Fehr found himself alone in front of Lightning netminder Dwayne Roloson and roofed the puck past the ageless goalie.

From their on out, though, the Lightning outworked the Caps. While the red-clad fans of the Southeast Division champions would say that their team was unlucky or didn't get the bounces, truth is that their boys didn't play hard enough to win.

The Lightning won the battles along the boards, blocked shots and frustrated the Capitals power play throughout the second half of the game. Three of the four goals scored (the 4th being an empty netter) were from getting in front of young goaltender Michal Neuvirth and jamming home pucks.

Tampa Bay also showed that they are more willing to press the attack then they did against Pittsburgh. A wise move as sitting back and allowing Washington to shoot at will is not a great plan. The Caps do have finishers and can score goals.

The Lightning played their game plan to perfection Friday night despite losing two players for significant time. Simon Gagne left in the first after a hard, but legal check by Scott Hannan led to Gagne bouncing his head off the ice.

Later in the game stalwart defenseman Pavel Kubina had his head driven into the glass behind the net by forward Jason Chimera which might lead to the Washington winger getting a call from the league office. The hit sidelined Kubina for the rest of the match, his status for Sunday's affair has not been updated.

This is what happens when M A B is forced to play defense.

Can the Lightning steal another game in Washington before heading back to the beaches of Tampa Bay? As long as they continue to play their game, yes. The question is will Washington adjust and tighten up their playmaking and stop turning over the puck.

Three Stars:

- Steve Downie - Good Steve Downie provided a goal and assist in the game and now has 9 points in 7 games for the Lightning. If his name wasn't Steve Downie would he be included in the early Conn Smythe talk?

- Bergenheim and Dominic Moore - These two continue to provide pressure against their opponents. A solid third line that can chip in points in the playoffs is an important key for success.

- Roloson - Steady as ever. After some juicy rebounds in the first two periods, he locked in down in the third and ended up turning away 25 shots in the victory.

Turning Points -

- Brooks Laich kicking in the puck. The disallowed goal halted Washington's momentum and allowed the Bolts to stay in the game.

- Alex Semin hitting the post. A gaping wide open net for the noted Lightning killer and he hit the iron dead on. The post preserved the one goal lead for Tampa.

Roloson uses telekinesis to direct the shot off the post.

- Steven Stamkos scores on the power play. The game winner gets the young sniper on the board early in the series and keeps the press from issuing "Seen Stamkos?" columns.


Prediction for Game Two. The Caps right their ship, score on a couple of power plays and win 4-2.

For the last time it's Boucher not Le Chiffre!

Washington’s Woes

I was originally going to gloat about Washington getting knocked out in the first round, but this is a kinder, gentler, more hopeful blog. Besides there are plenty of other blogs currently bathing in Capitals' misery. There was one moment I did succumb to one moment of weakness, texting an "OVER-chekin" message to my buddy Link who is an unrequited Penguins fan.

I'm not totally shocked that they were eliminated. High powered offenses always struggle in the playoffs, especially if they face a team that is willing to do the things needed to stifle run-and-gun teams. Blocking shots, clogging up passing lanes and taking advantage of special teams in a blueprint that has been time tested year after year in the playoffs. Of course, having a goaltender who played out of his skull for the last three games doesn't hurt either.

While I'm not going to resort to gloating I will admit to having an extra spring in my step this morning thinking about all of the poor fans who just spent all that money on their brand new jerseys and spent all that time learning about hockey in the last three months. I guess they'll have to go back to whatever D.C. sports fans did before they realized they've had a hockey team for the last 30 years.

Is it worse for a fan to see their team dominate for a six month regular season and then flame out in the first round or to have a team scuffle all season, barely make the playoffs and then get eliminated in the first round? I'd go with the first option. There is so much anticipation for a team that makes a joke out of the regular season that to lose to a lesser talented team is a harsher blow. When a team scrapes it's way into the playoffs you pretty much consign yourself to a first round loss. Anything other than that, even taking the series to a 7^th game, is considered a bonus.

The owner is saying all of the right things, they're not going to panic, they'll take a few days to evaluate before moving forward, etc. However, if I was Ted Leonsis I would definitely have found something expensive to smash. I'm sure throwing a new iPad against a brick wall has a certain cathartic feeling to it.

Speaking of smashing, any chance things were broken in the Ovechkin household? The first round flame out didn't help his cause in the Crosby vs. Ovi debate. Now that Sid is scoring goals and racking up individual awards Alex the Great doesn't have much to hang his hat on. He is still the most dominant individual offensive player in the league, but he isn't able to translate that into team success.

Let's run down the checklist:

Stanley Cup – Crosby 1, Ovi 0

Gold Medal – Crosby 1, Ovi 0

Hart Trophy – Crosby 1, Ovi 2 (will that change this year?)

Richard Trophy – Crosby 1, Ovi 2

Ovechkin is nowhere near the end of his career so there is plenty of time to turn the trend around, but as the years pass by and he fails to win a cup it will become a bigger and bigger story in the media (a la Phil Mickelson never winning a major, John Elway never winning a Super Bowl, Mike Mussina never winning a World Series, etc.). He has to find away to inspire the rest of the team, to make them willing to sacrifice their individual needs in order to achieve team success.

 

So what should Capitals' fans learn from this season? Maybe that it doesn't mean how impressive your team looks in the regular season if they keep losing in the playoffs. Having defensemen who score 20 goals is cool, but maybe having a couple that block shots would be better. Above all, it's disappointing to get the bum's rush so early in the postseason, but it's not the end of the world. They'll still be a favorite for next season so spare me the woe.

And remember:

Stanley Cups – Tampa Bay Lighting 1, Washington Capitols 0.

 

Ah ha.