That one still has me talkin to myself.. Just god awful, bad, stupid, retarded.. How do you give up 5 straight goals? At home? In the last 25 minutes of the game you were leading 5-1? And not even get a single fucking point? Oof... That kinda can spin ya out. Be interesting to see how they respond, especially if they get behind. Could be the start of a nice losing streak.
Yep, Mick. One of those gut rippers that may have more significance than meets the eye!
I mean, the loss itself, AND, even the pathetic manner in which it played out, are one thing, as the typical philosophical responses, by coaches, players, and fans, is that we “forget this one”, or “you just have to keep pressing on”, etc., etc. To be fair, these are all good, and time tested ways to recover and move on from such a depressing and demoralizing loss like this.
My concern is in the timing of this loss! Meaning that the overall team dynamic was just starting to show some consistent positives. One of them being that we seemed to be learning how to “generally”, hold onto a lead, and WIN! Especially over the last month of play.
Secondly, our PK has been steadily improving!
Third. Holtz seemed to be getting better!
I would rather have seen a complete low-energy game from the Caps from start to finish, than
this on-again/off-again, switching of energy and discipline, when we are ahead!
It’s never accurate to cast blame on a single player for a loss, and I do firmly believe that, but Orlov played the greater significant role here to the loss factor. Whether the first boarding penalty was legit or not, you CANNOT risk getting the second one! ALSO, we rarely get such an easily obvious view on what puck watching IS, by a defender, NEAR OR IN THE CREASE, as a goal is being scored! Orlov was a poster boy example of that today!
Trying to pull any positive out of this, it is amazing, the way this season parallels last season, in its overall flow, so far. I can remember a few odd “belly-hurt” type losses, during the ascension of the teams heavy improvement period, all through November and December, and through to the all-star break! I’m happy to say that through their several win streaks, they successfully “shook off“ these type of losses, and generally proceeded well forward!
THAT is why this mini road trip will be interesting. Whether or not that shake off ability is in them now is what we’re about to see!! C’mon boys!
Rush