Interesting that Ovi wasn't out there on the empty net time - even after they had a time out with 20 seconds left. I bet Carbs hears from management on that.
I saw PLD try and get the Rat as he was skating across and PLD was coming the other way - he lunged at him, but couldn't quite reach. It would have been a total cheap shot and a penalty, but I loved seeing the nasty come out in PLD!
Carbery talked about not having Ovechkin on the ice in his postgame comments. He gave some general gobbledygook about the particular game/line matchup/position on the ice stuff. But I think the simple translation is that Ovie is not a great defensive player, so Carbery feels that he's going to put Ovie out there on a 5 on 6 when and only when he likes the matchup and game situation (maybe when the other side's best players have just come off the ice and need a rest?)
I've always said that you can tell a lot about who the coach trusts in tight situations by who is out there in crunch time at the very end of the game. Wilson is usually taking a shift in the last minute. Dowd was out there taking the face-off that led to the Protas ENG. And of course, Protas was out there.
Ovie gets his heavy minutes when the team is tied or behind coming down the stretch and needs goals. When the team is trying to protect in the late stages, Ovie doesn't see as much ice, and the ice he does see is when the coach thinks the situation is most advantageous for him to be out there. It's as simple as that.
