Washington Capitals Fan Forum
Talk about Capitals hockey & more! => Washington Capitals & Other Hockey Discussion => Topic started by: alta on Thursday February 22, 2024, 12:04:07 PM Eastern
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February 22 vs Lightning at Amalie Arena
Time: 7:00
TV: ESPN
Radio: 106.7 FM, Capitals Radio 24/7
Washington Capitals 25-21-8
PP% 16.3(25th) PK% 80(14th) Faceoff% 46.8(29th)
Tampa bay Lightning 30-22-5
PP% 30.2(1st) PK% 80(15th) Faceoff% 51.3(9th)
Caps anticipated lines:
Ovechkin(C) 8 - Strome 17 - Oshie(A) 77
Mantha 39 - McMichael 24 - Wilson 43
Pacioretty 67 - Sgarbossa 23 - Milano 15
Malenstyn 47 - Protas 21 - Aubé-Kubel 96
van Riemsdyk 57 - Carlson(A) 74
Sandin 38 - Jensen 3
Edmundson 6 - Bear 25
Lindgren 79
PP1: Ovechkin, Oshie, Strome, Pacioretty, Carlson
PP1: Ovechkin, Mantha, Wilson, McMichael, Sandin
scratched:
Kuemper 35 - backup
Dubé 72
Alexeyev 27
Dowd 21 - upper body - day to day?
IR:
Fehervary 42 - lower body
LTIR:
Backstrom 19 - hip - season
Kuznetsov 92 - player assistance - indefinite
Bolts anticipated lines:
Stamkos 91 - Point 21 - Kucherov 86
Hagel 38 - Cirelli 71 - Chaffee 41
Eyssimont 23 - Paul 20 - Koepke 45
Motte 64 - Glendening 11 - Sheary 73
Hedman 77 - Raddysh 43
Fleury 7 - de Haan 44
Martinsen-Lilleberg 78 - Perbix 48
Vasilevskiy 88
Johansson 31 - backup
tonight’s zebras:
Brian Pochmara 16, Peter MacDougall 38
Caleb Apperson 77, Jonny Murray 95
https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/caps-take-trip-to-florida (https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/caps-take-trip-to-florida)
scoring summary
1st period:
Aubé-Kubel(6) from Malenstyn(9) at 2:30
McMichael(11) from Edmundson(4) and Wilson(10) at 16:19
2nd period:
Hagel from Point and Kucherov at 9:16
Mantha(18) from Strome(19) and Oshie8) at 12:14
3rd period:
Paul from Sheary and de Haan at 2:42
Motte from Perbix at 3:06
Sandin(3) from Protas(19) and Strome(20) at 15:01
McMichael(12) ENG from Ovechkin(26) and Wilson(11) at 18:58
Caps win 5-3
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Scratching my head, but if we win tonight we'll be tied with NYI and NJD @ 55 games each and only 4 pts behind Detroit for the last wildcard. And we have 3 games in hand on Tampa. If we won those we'd only be 1 pt behind them. Crazy right? Seems like just last week we we're tanking for a top 6 draft pick. :huh:
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Yup. Mathematically the Caps are very much in the wild card race.
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Yup. Mathematically the Caps are very much in the wild card race.
The key word here is "mathematically." We are hanging in there in the standings, but we really aren't competitive with the top teams in the league. However, I'm concerned that if we are still hanging around in a couple of weeks, management might try to gather resources to make a push for the playoffs, giving up draft assets. I really don't want that to happen because it is hard to imagine that anything they could acquire before the trade deadline would make them anything like a significant Cup contender. Management really needs to be thinking ahead to the rebuild that is going to be absolutely necessary in the next couple of years. The threat here is that, with Backstrom and quite possibly Kuznetsov unavailable for the rest of the regular season, there is a lot of salary cap exemption room for the Caps to acquire salary at the deadline, making acquisition tempting if they are still "in the hunt" the week before the deadline.
The Caps' upcoming schedule is interesting -- 6 games between now and March 3, then days off until a game at Pittsburgh on March 7, the night before the trade deadline. I don't think the Pittsburgh game should be a determining factor in what the Caps do at the deadline. The real determinant should be the next 6 games, beginning tonight. The schedule isn't easy, so I am thinking the Caps may not pick up many points between now and March 3, which would hopefully commit them to go into sell mode. That would be the best thing for the franchise in the long run.
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GOOOAAALLLL
AUBÉ-KUBEL
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Kubel right quick!! 1-0 good guys!
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Mornin'
:wackysmile:
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Mornin'
:wackysmile:
I saw you check in earlier. Do you go back to sleep?
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I saw you check in earlier. Do you go back to sleep?
Not usually. depends on :yawn:
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O-O :bs:
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GOOOAAALLLL
MCMICHAEL
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:banana: :banana:
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good 1st period, Tampa not playing well and Caps able to take advantage
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Decent first. ;D
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McMickle with a skillsy shotski! :wackysmile:
Little scoring, little goaltending, little bar luck. IMPOSSIBLE! :snicker:
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Loosey goosey pppp.
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:O=
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GOOOAAALLLL
MANTHA
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:banana: :banana: :banana:
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8-0 We get scored on, then get it back? Impossible!
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Nice PK to finish the period!
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Bolts are getting frustrated, could be a fight in the 3rd
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Bolts are getting frustrated, could be a fight in the 3rd
Yeah , but they get stoopid when they're upset......... :snicker:
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We'll have to kill at least 1 more penalty. See if they can hold up for 20 more!
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:O= :O=
:clown: :poop:
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Bear got beat
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:poop: :poop: :poop:
:clown: :O=
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Welp, that was quick. :clown: :poop: :clown: :poop:
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We'll have to kill at least 1 more penalty. See if they can hold up for 20 more!
::)
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GOOOAAALLLL
STROME
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Strome! Not dead just yet.
Challenge.. So, he's probably offside. :-\
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I don’t have enough whiskey in stock for this game
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Tampa challenges for offsides
Mantha may have been a half step inch early
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:banana: :banana: :banana:
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Offside.
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:O=
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NO WAY!
:bs: :bs: :bs:
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Anyway. Add defense to the wishlist. And here comes another PK.. We'll be losing here in a minute. :(
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I quite like Carbs. Not least 'cos he can pull off an aubergine coloured suit. :P
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the old unintentional intentional high stick
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Bro in the Domino's commercial guessed it was 75$ :rofl:
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I quite like Carbs. Not least 'cos he can pull off an aubergine coloured suit. :P
you gotta have the right skin tone for that, not something an Irishman could pull off
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Oshie looked like he pulled something, looks like lower back
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Welp, that's probably the last we'll see of Oshie.. Achilles? Non contact and can't even stand up. :-(
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Oshie looked like he pulled something, looks like lower back
Yep, probably right.
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Sandin!!
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GOOOAAALLLL
SANDIN
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The good news is, we have the lead! The bad news is.. We have the lead. :snicker:
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:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:
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GOOOAAALLLL
MCMICHAEL
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The good news is, we have the lead! The bad news is.. We have the lead. :snicker:
:-|
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:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:
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Looks like all the McMike bashing has woken the kid up. ;)
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Well done fellas! A good 2 points on the road.
Sweet dreams peeps. :yawn:
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Gotta love NAK - he never stops and is giving it his best to stay in the lineup. Also thought Protas was skating really well. If they could just get him to play more physical, he could be a beast!
Looked bad for Osh - that was tough to watch him crawl over to the bench door.
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Nice W!! They deserved it!
Saturday will be the test. Don't have to win it, but a point or a competitive game at least will do wonders.
Afraid another core injury to Oshie may be it for him? At least this year. He's like 3 games away from 1000, so Im sure he wants to hit that mark, but those non contact injuries are never good. :'(
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Caps really need the islanders to lose tonight. They are down by 3 with 20 minutes left.
Unfortunately, Detroit won.
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Caps really need the islanders to lose tonight. They are down by 3 with 20 minutes left.
Unfortunately, Detroit won.
Probably have a better chance at catching the Lightning. Gotta go on a run, but who knows.. Hockey!!
See ya Saturday with an earlyish start. 6pm est.
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Caps PK was 3 fer 3 against the #1 PP in the league.
OV was given the primary assist on the McMike ENG, I believe that’s a 10 game point streak for OV.
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Caps PK was 3 fer 3 against the #1 PP in the league.
OV was given the primary assist on the McMike ENG, I believe that’s a 10 game point streak for OV.
Figures -- once Oshie gets going, injury strikes again.
If there is one thing to give this franchise credit for, it is that they play the game with integrity. It would be easy for this club, losing both Backstrom and Kuznetsov and really struggling to find ways to win games, to pack it in and sink toward the bottom of the standings. Instead, they keep fighting and keep themselves at least on the edge of playoff contention, damaging their draft position in the process.
In an earlier post I commented about the issue that if the Caps kept in playoff contention they might be tempted to buy instead of sell at the deadline, shedding draft choices and hurting their longer-term prospects. The problem with that view is that in their current situation, their biggest need is clear: more scoring/quality center play. But the list of players who are considered to be most available at the deadline includes NO such players. It may be that the Caps simply can't help themselves much at the deadline.
And once again, Carlson plays 29+ minutes last night. Carbery is REALLY riding this guy. For all we criticize Carlson, coach after coach relies heavily on him. Which question is more pertinent. "What do we know that they don't?" OR "What do they know that we don't?"
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And once again, Carlson plays 29+ minutes last night. Carbery is REALLY riding this guy. For all we criticize Carlson, coach after coach relies heavily on him. Which question is more pertinent. "What do we know that they don't?" OR "What do they know that we don't?"
Ya - I don't get that. He still makes plenty of boneheaded mistakes and skates like he has no where to be - but the Coaches keep putting him out there. Maybe Carbs is hoping that he can get going again with scoring a few goals.
Haven't heard anything yet on Oshie - other than Carbs was not optimistic. It not only could be the end of the season for him, but also could be the end of his career. However, knowing Oshie, he will do whatever it takes to come back and at least get to the 1,000 game mark.
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I mean, Carlson is the best overall D we have. Nobody else can pass or even get a shot on goal with any regularity. Im still baffled by the contracts given to Jensen and TVR. They're not even that good at playing D only, much less any offense. We need D as bad as we need a play making center. They need someone to take over Carlson's duties at some point and to date I've seen nobody even close.
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I guess we'll find out soon enough about Osh, but he looked like me crawling around when I threw my back out. Hopefully it wasn't a core issue.
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I guess we'll find out soon enough about Osh, but he looked like me crawling around when I threw my back out. Hopefully it wasn't a core issue.
That’s why I say it’s lower back. Been there, crawled from the bed to the bathroom more than once because I couldn’t stand up.
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That’s why I say it’s lower back. Been there, crawled from the bed to the bathroom more than once because I couldn’t stand up.
Preach! If you've never thrown you're back out, you've no idea how debilitating it can be.
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But how long was it before ya'll could play hockey again? :snicker: :raspberry:
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Damn this team is old! Even the fan boards are full of old men with bad backs :wackysmile:
Like it’s been said…you have no idea how debilitating it is till it happens
The ole L4/L5 total rupture has a way of taking the fun out of things
Although when I saw Oshie just sort of fold over I thought it was more of a “front” or core issue but yeah that crawl is sadly familiar. Mine was necked getting out the shower and crawl to the bedroom and curl up necked like a helpless little baby
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So as much fun as it is to win….it’s not helping
I’m really hoping in my heart of hearts one of the main reasons they chose Carbs was a specific intent to transition this team to a much younger group with a rebuild in mind. A coach with the age and mindset of of a guy capable of growing with the group and leading as they rebuild
It’s hard to throw in the towel but this team really is not playoff competitive
We should be sellers of everyone we can even IF we are still in the hunt. Best thing to happen would Mantha, Patches, hell everyone catches fire and ups their trade value and we send them all down the road. Bring up bunch of hungry young guys and watch them fight into the playoffs. Would be great experience and fun to watch
Hope in one hand….