Back from the game.
The Caps seemed screwed up on offense all game, and the penalties were partly to blame. The Backstrom goal was a nice passing play (+ a heck of a screen by Oshie), but other than that it seemed like mostly scramble time. And Dowd made one of the best passes of the year, the backhand alley-oop to Hagelin for the breakaway coming out of the box.
The last call on Orlov was total baloney. Replay was clear -- the Winnipeg guy was falling and was halfway down when Orlov's stick came in. He would have fallen under any circumstances. But the PK held solid. Eller and Wilson were especially stout.
Copley held his own, but seemed to be fighting the puck a little the last 15 minutes. Fortunately, he was tending to fight some of them off toward the corners or side boards, so it wasn't too bad. We didn't stick around for the postgame, but I suspect he may have gotten the #1 star.
Backstrom's line was assigned to Laine/Wheeler/Sheifle (sp??) and did a heck of a job. Why Backstrom doesn't get more credit for his defense I do not know. He's shut down all the very best lines during his career when he's specifically assigned to do it, and you never hear boo about it.
But boy, face-offs are going to do this team in, especially in the playoffs. The face-off problems are a big part of the reason the Caps get out chanced many nights. Face off wins in the offensive zone for opponents often lead to good scoring chances, and I think one of the reasons the Caps' PP percentage is down some this year is that they seem to lose face-offs and have to drag the puck 200 feet all the time. Less zone time = fewer PP scoring chances.
