GDT#79 Capitals @ Penguins 2018-04-01 7:30pm EST NBCSN

[Maacoshark]

Enjoyed this game very much. Well what I saw of it. Missed the first period.

[ArJunaZ]

Underneath the Smithfield Street Bridge in Pittsburgh tomorrow.   

[ArJunaZ]

Enjoyed this game very much. Well what I saw of it. Missed the first period.

+1,000,000

Hell Yeah!!!!

[BlackIce]

The coach told us all we needed to know about the playoff goaltender tonight when he named Grubauer the starter.  Grubauer hadn't played the past few because of a tweak and Holtby had done generally OK in his absence.  With a back-to-back, it would have been easy and defensible to start Holtby tonight and ease Grubauer back in tomorrow.  That Trotz brought him back specifically in Pittsburgh in a division-clinching game after being out spoke VOLUMES.


As for meeting the Pens in the 2nd round, don't count any chickens yet.  We may meet them in the first round, or we may not see them at all.  The Pens are in 2nd right now and have the tiebreaker, but all 3 teams below them have a game in hand.  Before the Pens play their next game, all 3 have games against non-playoff teams.  The points standings of the Pens/BJ's/Philly/NJ could very easily be 96/96/96/95 going into the last two games for each team -- and then the Pens have to go into Columbus.  It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the Pens finish 5th in the Division and get moved over to the Atlantic for the playoffs, where they can deal with Boston/Tampa/Toronto.

[Maacoshark]

   I have a question. Why was it a bad decision to not dress Gersich? It was the right decision and now that we have clinched the division I'm sure Trotz will get him in the lineup.

[ArJunaZ]

The coach told us all we needed to know about the playoff goaltender tonight when he named Grubauer the starter.  Grubauer hadn't played the past few because of a tweak and Holtby had done generally OK in his absence.  With a back-to-back, it would have been easy and defensible to start Holtby tonight and ease Grubauer back in tomorrow.  That Trotz brought him back specifically in Pittsburgh in a division-clinching game after being out spoke VOLUMES.

I Agree wholeheartedly.  I was thinking exactly the same as you when I saw that Grubs was starting tonight.  Then the way he performed he further locked it up IMO.

[Maacoshark]

The coach told us all we needed to know about the playoff goaltender tonight when he named Grubauer the starter.  Grubauer hadn't played the past few because of a tweak and Holtby had done generally OK in his absence.  With a back-to-back, it would have been easy and defensible to start Holtby tonight and ease Grubauer back in tomorrow.  That Trotz brought him back specifically in Pittsburgh in a division-clinching game after being out spoke VOLUMES.


As for meeting the Pens in the 2nd round, don't count any chickens yet.  We may meet them in the first round, or we may not see them at all.  The Pens are in 2nd right now and have the tiebreaker, but all 3 teams below them have a game in hand.  Before the Pens play their next game, all 3 have games against non-playoff teams.  The points standings of the Pens/BJ's/Philly/NJ could very easily be 96/96/96/95 going into the last two games for each team -- and then the Pens have to go into Columbus.  It is not beyond the realm of possibility that the Pens finish 5th in the Division and get moved over to the Atlantic for the playoffs, where they can deal with Boston/Tampa/Toronto.

   It looks like 2nd to 5th in the Metro won't be decided until the final day. I would have no problem if the Pens finished 5th.

[BlackIce]

Now think about this intriguing situation for a moment.


On this coming Saturday the Pens will have finished their season.  It is quite possible that they might be anywhere in the mix with Columbus and Philly, but they might still have, say, a single standings point on NJ, who finishes their season against -- the Caps, who will have absolutely no standings motivation since they are locked into their playoff position as of right now.  NJ on the other hand may have all the motivation in the world to climb out of 5th place and avoid the Boston/Tampa/Toronto gauntlet -- and for that matter, maybe play the Caps in the first round of the playoffs.

[Maacoshark]

Now think about this intriguing situation for a moment.


On this coming Saturday the Pens will have finished their season.  It is quite possible that they might be anywhere in the mix with Columbus and Philly, but they might still have, say, a single standings point on NJ, who finishes their season against -- the Caps, who will have absolutely no standings motivation since they are locked into their playoff position as of right now.  NJ on the other hand may have all the motivation in the world to climb out of 5th place and avoid the Boston/Tampa/Toronto gauntlet -- and for that matter, maybe play the Caps in the first round of the playoffs.

   It is entirely possible that we play the Pens in the first round. That scares me but maybe we are better off playing them in the first round and get it over with. If we can play them like we did tonight we have a chance.

[ArJunaZ]

I've been watching that tip goal in by Wilson over and over.  Willy had his back to the goal and could not have made a more perfect no-look tip in. He took that high speed shot by Niskanen out of mid-air and facing away from the goal tipped it at a sharp angle into the narrow crease above and between Murray's shoulders and the pipes.  It's got to be a top ten highlight goal of the year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36Kxv81Qf9k#t=6m16s

[ArJunaZ]

Enjoyed this game very much. Well what I saw of it. Missed the first period.

Here Maaco.  If you wish to watch the first period I found a magnet link to a high quality 720p @ 60fps torrent to tonight's game.

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:d4dcdbdba50599d32b6ba43a85476165da95b3e3

The link came from this page.
https://torrent.tzoa.me/bbs/board.php?bo_table=foreign_tv&wr_id=24405

If you're not familiar with downloading torrents, download uTorrent and after you install it you will open the magnet link with uTorrent. This will begin your download.  It is very safe and typically quite fast.  It is also legal unless you choose to publish copyrighted material with it.  This will look as good or better than any stream you can find online or even your cable/satellite TV video.  I started the download the moment I started writing this email and it is already finished. The file is 4.29GB. Pretty impressive speed, and the video looks great.
Good luck.

I'm happy to help with any questions you might have. It's very easy and it's a very useful tool to have on your computer.

[4 Caps]

I've been watching that tip goal in by Wilson over and over.  Willy had his back to the goal and could not have made a more perfect no-look tip in. He took that high speed shot by Niskanen out of mid-air and facing away from the goal tipped it at a sharp angle into the narrow crease above and between Murray's shoulders and the pipes.  It's got to be a top ten highlight goal of the year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36Kxv81Qf9k#t=6m16s

I agree that was an amazing goal because of the sharp angle, the shot was wide of the net and to get his stick at the proper angle and to deflect it was brilliant and maybe a little lucky. 

[BlackIce]

When you think that the Caps kept the Pens off the scoreboard even with all their penalties, and with their best penalty-killing forward injured, it makes yesterday's win all that more impressive.


Now, before everybody goes off the deep end if the Caps don't look all that great in their last few games, keep in mind:  The Caps have virtually NOTHING to play for this week.  They are locked into the top spot in the Metro Division, they can't catch either Boston or Tampa in the standings to gain home-ice advantage in a potential Conference final matchup, and Florida is far in the rear-view mirror.  Their ONLY potential motivation is to end up ahead of Toronto for home-ice advantage in case Toronto comes out of the Atlantic Division playoffs.  Their opponents this week are St. Louis, fighting for a playoff spot; Nashville, still fighting for the President's Trophy and home ice throughout the playoffs; and New Jersey to end up, whose playoff positioning will almost certainly depend on the outcome of that game, with spots 2-5 in the Metro in virtually a dead heat right now.

[DC_1908]

When you think that the Caps kept the Pens off the scoreboard even with all their penalties, and with their best penalty-killing forward injured, it makes yesterday's win all that more impressive.


Now, before everybody goes off the deep end if the Caps don't look all that great in their last few games, keep in mind:  The Caps have virtually NOTHING to play for this week.  They are locked into the top spot in the Metro Division, they can't catch either Boston or Tampa in the standings to gain home-ice advantage in a potential Conference final matchup, and Florida is far in the rear-view mirror.  Their ONLY potential motivation is to end up ahead of Toronto for home-ice advantage in case Toronto comes out of the Atlantic Division playoffs.  Their opponents this week are St. Louis, fighting for a playoff spot; Nashville, still fighting for the President's Trophy and home ice throughout the playoffs; and New Jersey to end up, whose playoff positioning will almost certainly depend on the outcome of that game, with spots 2-5 in the Metro in virtually a dead heat right now.

There’s a lot to play for.  The  reality is The Caps played an OK game against the team behind them in the division.  They still committed an inexecutable turnover which nearly led to a goal, and an out and out breakdown that did lead to one, add a few shots of the posts and that becomes a loss.


There Is a LONG way to go to doing that for best of 7 games/21 periods at least twice.


You not only have to consider that this all the data and history shows this team is far more likleky to play like they did against Carolina then how they did against the Hens.  Particularly when other teams get more scouting on Grubby and play 4-7 games against him. . .


Yesterday was nice, but so what?

[Tacker]

When you think that the Caps kept the Pens off the scoreboard even with all their penalties, and with their best penalty-killing forward injured, it makes yesterday's win all that more impressive.


Now, before everybody goes off the deep end if the Caps don't look all that great in their last few games, keep in mind:  The Caps have virtually NOTHING to play for this week.  They are locked into the top spot in the Metro Division, they can't catch either Boston or Tampa in the standings to gain home-ice advantage in a potential Conference final matchup, and Florida is far in the rear-view mirror.  Their ONLY potential motivation is to end up ahead of Toronto for home-ice advantage in case Toronto comes out of the Atlantic Division playoffs.  Their opponents this week are St. Louis, fighting for a playoff spot; Nashville, still fighting for the President's Trophy and home ice throughout the playoffs; and New Jersey to end up, whose playoff positioning will almost certainly depend on the outcome of that game, with spots 2-5 in the Metro in virtually a dead heat right now.

That "only" potential incentive, regarding Toronto, is no laughing matter.  Toronto almost assuredly is going to play Tampa in Round One.  And, given what I have seen from Tampa lately (I've watched every game), they're likely headed to the golf course.  They're simply too small, have a porous defense and are seemingly not motivated enough to get the job done.  Cooper doesn't seem to have the personality to either kick butt or build a fire under them.  They're too busy being "family" down there (sort of like the Ravens).  Toronto, on the other hand is big, fast and is my pick to prevail in that series.


Given that the Caps had their hands full with Toronto last year and that Toronto is better and more experienced this year, having that home advantage could be vital to the outcome, should Toronto appear as an opponent, especially when one examines the Caps' road-vs-home records this year.  It's not a time to get lazy or complacent, simply because the Metro is wrapped up. 

[DC_1908]

   I have a question. Why was it a bad decision to not dress Gersich? It was the right decision and now that we have clinched the division I'm sure Trotz will get him in the lineup.

First, in his one game, he outperformed those we would be in competition with namely  Bura, Varna, and Connolly.  That would be a previously unseen if not unheard of message to this team.


If you do not do that, the message to rookie, young player, or vetern becomes, (spoken or not), either “to get ice time, play like those three”, or worse “doesn’t matter what so do, I won’t get ahead of them”.


Given the Caps history and lack of prospect depth, not rewarding the ones who play better to keep “the sane ones” is a deadly mistake

[justwincaps]

I've been watching that tip goal in by Wilson over and over.  Willy had his back to the goal and could not have made a more perfect no-look tip in. He took that high speed shot by Niskanen out of mid-air and facing away from the goal tipped it at a sharp angle into the narrow crease above and between Murray's shoulders and the pipes.  It's got to be a top ten highlight goal of the year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36Kxv81Qf9k#t=6m16s
[/quote


Can you imagine if Crosby had done that?   It would be all over the GOTY threads.

[Maacoshark]

First, in his one game, he outperformed those we would be in competition with namely  Bura, Varna, and Connolly.  That would be a previously unseen if not unheard of message to this team.


If you do not do that, the message to rookie, young player, or vetern becomes, (spoken or not), either “to get ice time, play like those three”, or worse “doesn’t matter what so do, I won’t get ahead of them”.


Given the Caps history and lack of prospect depth, not rewarding the ones who play better to keep “the sane ones” is a deadly mistake

    I'm fine with Gersich not dressing for that game. We really don't know how he would have played but it would be a risky move for such an important game. If he was dressed and made a critical mistake, Trotz would have been crucified. I'm sure if he was dressed he would have been sheltered though.
   I think he will dress for the final 3 games and we will get a chance to see what he can do.

[IDontGiveaChuk]

Any updates on Beags ?

[BlackIce]

This whole discussion about Gersich puzzles me.


The kid is brought up, plays in one game, a little less than 9 minutes ice time.  He plays reasonably well (though to a +/- of -1) and certainly doesn't look overmatched.  But in playing 4th line time he was obviously protected.  This was just a game to get his feet wet.  There is no reason that I can see to expect that he is now going to be inserted in the lineup consistently.  He could get a couple more chances to play this week given that the Caps are fixed into their playoff position so he can't "do much damage" even if he does mess up.  But we have no indication at this point that he can provide some sort of significant jolt to the lineup through his presence. 


I find rather strange Detroit's comments earlier in this thread trying to use Gersich to reflect badly on other Caps whose games he doesn't like.  In the earlier Gersich thread Detroit sort of took a sideswipe at him as the type of undersized, nonaggressive player that GMBM prefers (which of course isn't true, but whatever) and now after 9 minutes all of a sudden he's seen as a potential better option to other lineup regulars?  The fact is that Gersich is a 5th round draft choice with some tools, but he isn't going to take the position of some regular or other.  It isn't as if we're trying to integrate some dynamite player here -- he's a role player that may have some use, though probably in the longer rather than the short term.