Jurcina wants to get out of Montreal as soon as possible, I imagine. A flip of the puck over the glass showed less than stellar intelligence, but not checking Kostitsyn after losing the puck in his legs cost the Caps the game. He made a mistake and unfortunately it led to a goal that cost the Caps a point (at least). However, Collins didn’t play well either. Get the puck deep Sean! Please! Green continues to be a poor passer out of the zone. Unreal. On the positive side for Jurcina, his good play along the boards led directly to Semin’s breakaway and second goal of the game. Very cool.
Jurcina wasn’t the only Capital who played poorly. Backstrom and Sloan took two very bad penalties and the Habs put two goals in the net in 43 seconds. Suddenly, the momemtum shifted. Nylander, Brads, and Flash quickly responded with a goal but that momentum was short lived. Finally, Semin, Backstrom, and Ovie need to learn to dump and chase and pass to each other versus all this one on one skating they do. It has accomplished nothing in the past two games and certainly hasn’t led to goals. I guess my screaming at the TV isn’t getting it done. PASS THE PUCK!
The Montreal announcers were saying last night that the voting should be done by the fans since the game is for the fans. I guess that is real convenient thinking when Montreal has four starters of which none should be in starting roles. What the announcers should have said was the game is for the fans “in Montreal.” That is the correct statement. They even went so far as to say that “Washington fans don’t know where NHL.com is.” Nice. Let’s just say that was rude and leave it at that. I obviously do not concur with their sentiment. Montreal is a hockey hotbed and Phoenix, Dallas, Washington, Raleigh, Miami, etc. are not. Yet, all these teams have All-Star talent. Every team should be represented. So, yes Montreal, the voting needs to be changed.
Finally, the Caps are 8-2-2 against the teams that would be in the playoffs (Boston, Rangers, Devils, Buffalo, Carolina, Montreal, and Philly) if they started today. So, despite their weak division, the Caps are not “getting fat” on points from Atlanta and Florida. This is good news for the Caps. The Caps definitely play to the level of their opponents. This needs to be fixed.
Thoughts?
