GDT: Buffalo Sabres @ Washington Capitals 3/15/23 7 pm tv and radio

[Goldseatsaud]

That one hurt. To me they looked tired in the 3rd.

[JohnC]

8 hours ago, pi2000 said:

Out of 64 goalies that have played at least 65 min shorthanded, Comrie ranks 63rd (.791) and UPL 56th (.832) in short-handed save percentage. 

Aderson?  He ranks 14th (.888).     UPL and Comrie are that bad.

Sometimes your goalie needs to be your best penalty killer.

That said, the Sabress give up the 7th most high danger chances on the penalty kill.... so yeah, do better Granato.  

As you highlight our penalty kill is atrocious. Not being able to win a draw in your zone puts the defenders  on its heels right from the start. The goalies we have are the goalies we have. That's what you have to work with. The goalie position is already a vulnerability for us. With the caliber of kill we have it makes the goalie even more vulnerable. It seems to me that the PK structure needs to be altered. Are the problems related to our PK more due to personnel or structure? Probably a combination of both. 

What was so aggravating about this game is that we were in a position to win. Tuch's lack of discipline at a critical time turned a favorable situation into an opportunity get back into a game for a team on the ropes. As frustrating as this loss was we were fortunate to earn a point. 

[Sidc3000]

26 minutes ago, Goldseatsaud said:

That one hurt. To me they looked tired in the 3rd.

They looked scared. The Caps played very physical which, as usual, caused the Sabres to whither. many teams are learning  how to beat the Sabres. Be aggressive and physical. That prevents the Sabres from being super aggressive offense from scoring. 

[Believer]

3 minutes ago, Sidc3000 said:

They looked scared. The Caps played very physical which, as usual, caused the Sabres to whither. many teams are learning  how to beat the Sabres. Be aggressive and physical. That prevents the Sabres from being super aggressive offense from scoring. 

Word is out… Check ‘em… Hit ‘em… Harder and often… When we respond in kind, we have been winning… When we don’t, we typically get beat… We are slow learners…

[Mango]

A tough 3rd period. I hated the 2nd goal off the chest and the 4th goal was a terribly slow glove. There were moments we hung UPL out there on his own, but he also has to stop both of those to shots.

Tuch cannot take that penalty there. 

I have have highlights replaying on one of my 3 monitors, what a game from Jost and Mitts. I never thought I would say this, but I think I hope they can keep Mitts around after 24-25. 

As the season slips away, one big take away from last night is that we found the back of the net 4 times when our first line was totally shut down. 

[SwampD]

7 minutes ago, Sidc3000 said:

They looked scared. The Caps played very physical which, as usual, caused the Sabres to whither. many teams are learning  how to beat the Sabres. Be aggressive and physical. That prevents the Sabres from being super aggressive offense from scoring. 

Just now, Believer said:

Word is out… Check ‘em… Hit ‘em… Harder and often… When we respond in kind, we have been winning… When we don’t, we typically get beat… We are slow learners…

I know that’s the narrative, and deservedly so, but that isn’t what happened last night.

To me, it just looked like they started thinking too much, trying to make the “safe” play in the third. Instead of just making the play. That extra hesitation allowed the Caps to take advantage of them. It wasn’t that they started getting hit in the third, cuz they were getting hit all game.

They did kinda look tired by the end.

And at least they turned a 4 point loss into only 2.

[PromoTheRobot]

Just now, SwampD said:

I know that’s the narrative, and deservedly so, but that isn’t what happened last night.

To me, it just looked like they started thinking too much, trying to make the “safe” play in the third. Instead of just making the play. That extra hesitation allowed the Caps to take advantage of them. It wasn’t that they started getting hit in the third, cuz they were getting hit all game.

They did kinda look tired by the end.

Outshot 19-9 in the 3rd. 39-27 for the game. That might be a reason we gave up 3 goals late.

[Mango]

4 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Outshot 19-9 in the 3rd. 39-27 for the game. That might be a reason we gave up 3 goals late.

This is where I struggle after this game. 

Yes we were outshot in the 3rd. Yes Tuch can't take that penalty. 

But also, the tying goal was on UPL even though it felt inevitable with 6-4. And the second goal was terrible. I find myself more annoyed this AM than I normally do. 

 

[Pimlach]

9 hours ago, pi2000 said:

Out of 64 goalies that have played at least 65 min shorthanded, Comrie ranks 63rd (.791) and UPL 56th (.832) in short-handed save percentage. 

Aderson?  He ranks 14th (.888).     UPL and Comrie are that bad.

Sometimes your goalie needs to be your best penalty killer.

That said, the Sabress give up the 7th most high danger chances on the penalty kill.... so yeah, do better Granato.  

I looked at the replay of the 4th goal too many times now.  
Prior to what the replay covers we lose a face off and fail to clear, the Caps work the puck to Ovi on opposite wing.  Ovi shoots and UPL saves - maybe he can control the rebound, cover it, and get another face off- but he seems to get in position late and frantically steers the rebound to the corner instead. 

Looby gets to the puck first  and he has Greenway on the wing, but he fails to gain control, the cap player (Backstrom) wins the scrum.   Looby falls down despite being the bigger player, and then Backstrom gets control with Wilson’s  help.  It appears Wilson pokes it and sends it back to Backstrom behind the goal line.   Looby does this a lot.  He fails to get control and clear the puck too many times on the PK   

By now Wilson gets position a Greenway, Backstrom pass to Wilson wide open, Wilson high danger shot, UPL no chance. Tie game. 
The PK was supposed to be Greenways forte?   Not tonight  

Lost face off, missed clear, big slap shot with big rebound to corner, Looby slow to loose puck and failed to clear, out battled in corner, Greenway loses position on Wilson, pass, shot, score.  

Lots of blame to share.  We already know the goalies are not up to par, it’s more than that.    

When Adams looks at the roster he needs to look at the PK.  If these guys can’t get coached up, then they need to be replaced.  I personally think Looby is very poor as a PK defender.   I’m betting there is miles of video tape to prove it.  Slow to loose pucks, bad hands, not skilled at passing and clearing the puck.  

[bob_sauve28]

Make it illegal how? Skating too slowly? 

 

 

[SwampD]

4 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Make it illegal how? Skating too slowly? 

 

 

Shootouts are stupid, anyway. 

[Zamboni]

Consider the source. Why anybody still follows him, listens to him, read him, I’ll never know. I personally have no use for Harrington.

[Randall Flagg]

12 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Make it illegal how? Skating too slowly? 

 

 

Implement a "chaser"

[Pimlach]

51 minutes ago, Sidc3000 said:

They looked scared. The Caps played very physical which, as usual, caused the Sabres to whither. many teams are learning  how to beat the Sabres. Be aggressive and physical. That prevents the Sabres from being super aggressive offense from scoring. 

They were not scared.  They came back and scored the 4th goal to get a 2 goal lead.  How is that scared? 
 

From there we need to shut them down.  The terrible penalty leading to a 6 on 4 and the terrible underperforming PK were the difference.  
 

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by Pimlach

[K-9]

45 minutes ago, Mango said:

A tough 3rd period. I hated the 2nd goal off the chest and the 4th goal was a terribly slow glove. There were moments we hung UPL out there on his own, but he also has to stop both of those to shots.

Tuch cannot take that penalty there. 

I have have highlights replaying on one of my 3 monitors, what a game from Jost and Mitts. I never thought I would say this, but I think I hope they can keep Mitts around after 24-25. 

As the season slips away, one big take away from last night is that we found the back of the net 4 times when our first line was totally shut down. 

Agree entirely that it was nice to see that kind of secondary scoring, but while the top line may not have scored, they were far from totally shot down. Quite the opposite in fact; they were dominant at times. 

[bob_sauve28]

27 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Implement a "chaser"

Yes! That would be cool

[Weave]

55 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Make it illegal how? Skating too slowly? 

 

 

Oh thats awful.  Put them on a 3 or 4 second shot clock or something.

[Sidc3000]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

They were not scared.  They came back and scored the 4th goal to get a 2 goal lead.  How is that scared? 
 

From there we need to shut them down.  The terrible penalty leading to a 6 on 4 and the terrible underperforming PK were the difference.  
 

 

When the Sabres were able to break out of the defensive zone and get into open ice and spread the Caps out so they couldn’t hit them, yes. The Caps were able to take control of that game in the third because they were physical. They had to be because their goalie  couldn’t stop a beach balls most of the night. Maybe scared is a little harsh but the Sabres backed down and allowed the Caps to be constantly in their zone most of the third. I know hits stat is very subjective but it was 30-10 in favor of the Caps. I’m fairly confident that a large proportion of those 30 came in the third 
 

the PK is horrendous because they have no clue on how to play defense. In the second our star defenseman allowed the greatest NHL player in the league to  hang out in front of the net without being touched. How does that happen? Isn’t his primary job is to defend? How does he give Ovechkin all that space to just do tap in? 

Edited March 16, 2023 by Sidc3000
Changed could hit to couldn’t. I type faster that I read

[Sidc3000]

7 minutes ago, Weave said:

Oh thats awful.  Put them on a 3 or 4 second shot clock or something.

I like that idea. Now other players are going to start dangling forever.  

[Stoner]

10 minutes ago, Weave said:

Oh thats awful.  Put them on a 3 or 4 second shot clock or something.

If that move had been illegal in the mid 70s I wouldn't have beaten my dad 192 straight games in Coleco board hockey.

[Stoner]

[Night Train]

 Team needs to hit the weight room and find an attitude.. Until then, opponents will just run them every 3rd period until they change.

 Standing still and watching the puck isn't how a team plays D. Yes, they could use a Goalie upgrade but it's not difficult to see their idea of being physical is swinging their purse at the opponent. 

[Sidc3000]

I honestly don’t agree with DG’s idea of offense first, defense later. Defense wins games especially when you get into this time of year. What happens next season, hey I know I preached offense but now I want to play defense instead? 

[Weave]

49 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

If that move had been illegal in the mid 70s I wouldn't have beaten my dad 192 straight games in Coleco board hockey.

Everyone was the king of the slo mo breakaway in board hockey.

And your dad still let you win.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Weave

[DarthEbriate]

12 hours ago, SwampD said:

Even against Boston?

Yes, I've seen powerplays taken away from Boston over the years, too.

And if Marchand hits someone in the head away from the play, while on an undeserved powerplay on a bad call, the refs would call it on him, too.   (Tie game in the playoffs in an after-the-whistle scrum and he facewashes someone, of course not. But in yesterday's scenario, yes.)