GDT #65 Caps at Kraken @ 10pm

[alta]

no dice

[Mickstix]

Oh well, gonna catch the rest from the bedroom. See who else can be "unlucky" according to Locker.. lol

[alta]

nother pp …

[alta]

PP GOOOAAALLLL

OSHIE

[Mickstix]

I'll take lucky. Too bad they followed it up with 200 actual chances and couldn't get one to go.

[alta]

based on what’s been called this season, that should be goalie interference


 

[Mickstix]

Fart noise

[Mickstix]

What a shitty pp. 

[alta]

GOOOAAALLLL

MCMICHAEL

[Mickstix]

Atta boy McMike!!

[Mickstix]

Protas is entirely too big to play as soft as he does
 Could be a beast

[alta]

 


Caps win 2-1


 

[Mickstix]

Nice!! Saturday at 10. Monumental 2 


Last 20 games, need 11-8-1 to have a chance. Currently 1-2-0 W1

[BlackIce]

And for those who may have questioned why Kuemper started the previous game against Edmonton, there's why.  Carbery threw him to the wolves, knowing it was very unlikely that the Caps could win that game anyway.  Save your better goalie for the game you have a decent chance of winning.


If the Caps could somehow split the last two and come out of this trip 2-3, it wouldn't be a disaster for their playoff chances.  But who really thinks that this team belongs in the playoffs, anyway?  They are obviously not competitive against the better teams in the league, but they play with heart and are hanging in there by squeaking by against the teams they have a chance to beat.  That's why their record is as good as it is while their goal differential is bad.   

[size=78%]Carbery looks very much like a results coach - their place in the standings is higher than their capabilities would suggest.  If Carbery can strategize and/or will THIS team to the playoffs he deserves at least perfunctory consideration for coach of the year.  But it would not be the best thing for this franchise over the longer term, [/size]because[size=78%] it won't help the team get the high-end talent they are going to need to compete over the next several years.  Honestly, at this point it would be better for them to fall apart at the seams for the rest of the regular season.[/size][size=78%]


Why the last paragraph got goofy formatting I haven't a clue.[/size]

[richkrt99]

I didn't see one minute of it, but I'll take the win.  I guess...although losing would prolly be better in the long run

[Mickstix]

I didn't see one minute of it, but I'll take the win.  I guess...although losing would prolly be better in the long run

It would, but they've already pretty much fucked up picking in the top 10. So, might as well root for a (still unrealistic) playoff bid. They're gonna end up picking 13th-16th either way, imo..


And oh, you didn't miss much. We capitalized on 2 mistakes to get our goals. Goalie fucked up trying to clear the puck and bounced it in off Oshies leg. Then a bad turnover led to a McMike breakaway goal. We had no actual offense to speak of, for the 3rd straight game. 

[BlackIce]

It would, but they've already pretty much fucked up picking in the top 10. So, might as well root for a (still unrealistic) playoff bid. They're gonna end up picking 13th-16th either way, imo..


And oh, you didn't miss much. We capitalized on 2 mistakes to get our goals. Goalie fucked up trying to clear the puck and bounced it in off Oshies leg. Then a bad turnover led to a McMike breakaway goal. We had no actual offense to speak of, for the 3rd straight game. 

Ah, but how many times have we heard complaints on this board about how the Caps can't capitalize on scoring opportunities and then BAM - the opponent gets a chance and it ends up in the net.  Sometimes maybe it's our turn to be out chanced, but we get the big breaks and win.


As for our position in the standings, after the bottom 7 (3 in the East, 4 in the West) who look out of touch below the rest of the league, there are 12 teams clustered within 9 points of each other, between 67 and 76 standings points.  The Caps, with 71, are smack in the middle of that group at the moment, and every other team has played as many or more games as we have.  So we could finish anywhere from like the 6th or 7th East seed in the playoffs to the 8th worst record.  Our number of games remaining is a bit of an advantage, but we also seem to have the toughest finishing schedule of any team.  And who knows about all the tiebreakers?  It seems to me that where we finish is totally up in the air at this point. 


Finishing relatively strong and squeaking into the playoffs may look good on the franchise resume, but we aren't by any means a Cup contender and picking in the middle to bottom middle of the pack again isn't going to help the franchise longer-term.  This is especially true now that we've bitten the bullet, picked up some draft picks, and are pretty well stocked with them for the next few years.  It isn't just a higher first round pick, either -- you're picking higher in EACH round, so if someone promising slides below their prospect rank for some reason, you have a better chance to grab them. 

[Beaglefan2]

BlackIce - fully agree.  Remember last year though, they lost a bunch of games at the end to get down to the 8th pick. I'm thinking the best we can hope for this time is about 10th or 11th - and get very lucky in the lottery!


We just have to hope that Leonard is the real deal, and that Lappy and McMike keep developing and that a couple other prospects turn into big time players - Cristall, Miro, Sudvalev and Chesley.  Then we could be well positioned after two more years with our big contracts expiring for Ovi, Backstrom, Oshie and Carlson.   With that money we should be able to sign some nice free agents, to go with our young guys.

[richkrt99]

I watched the highlights....Nice breakaway by McMike.
and damn...two primary assists on Caps goals should go to Canucks goalie and Canuck...Bearkowski 

McMike should be on the shoot out list, take Kuzy's spot