Why Caps?

I feel bad for Ovie. Dude is one of the best ever but they just can't get the right team around him. I doubt he'll ever get one much better than this group.

Ovie gets all the individual hardware, Crosby continues to be a team accolades hoarder.
 
Of course I'm happy for Pens but seriously what's wrong with caps+playoff?
Why can they NEVER passing thorough that darned 2nd round of Stanley Cup with a such good team year after year....too many inner demons and ghosts to hunting off before
they can come further in the playoff.....?

Just 5 playoff series wins in 11 years during the "Ovie-era" is just unreal.....Caps must
be the team which has collected most wins, points and goals of all NHL teams during 2005-2016 in the regular season but still struggles that badly in the playoff.....very strange....!
 
This team was good enough to win. Great players and coaches, it looks like it just isn't meant to be. Pens were to deep. Top 2 lines negated each other and the Pens third line won it. So is it time to try and move some core guys? Every year they kick butt in the regular season only to choke in the playoffs. Caps went and signed the two big Pen D when the Pens were struggling and Orpik hurt them. Worked out awesome for the Pens.

Ovechkin is such a great player but just can't seem to get teams to win. World Jr, Olympics and the NHL. Shame that his legacy will be a great player who didn't know how to win. He will remembered at as a great individual player. Guys like Crosby and Toews got it, they know how to motivate and get semi and star players to buy in and pull together to win. Unfortunately Ovy don't have that. I really like him and I think he is a fantastic character for the NHL, I feel bad for him. Looks like he will join the Russian team at the worlds, he always seems more interested in playing for Russia.
 
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newfiecomicguy1 said:
This team was good enough to win. Great players and coaches, it looks like it just isn't meant to be. Pens were to deep. Top 2 lines negated each other and the Pens third line won it. So is it time to try and move some core guys? Every year they kick butt in the regular season only to choke in the playoffs. Caps went and signed the two big Pen D when the Pens were struggling and Orpik hurt them. Worked out awesome for the Pens.

Ovechkin is such a great player but just can't seem to get teams to win. World Jr, Olympics and the NHL. Shame that his legacy will be a great player who didn't know how to win. He will remembered at as a great individual player. Guys like Crosby and Toews got it, they know how to motivate and get semi and star players to buy in and pull together to win. Unfortunately Ovy don't have that. I really like him and I think he is a fantastic character for the NHL, I feel bad for him. Looks like he will join the Russian team at the worlds, he always seems more interested in playing for Russia.
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I don't think those two parts are totally fair to Ovie. He does know how to win and was having a solid playoffs, but he can't do it alone. It's a team game and I think he has been on some great teams that have not jelled at the right time.

You kind of stated why they didn't as well, depth and the lower lines getting the job done. I think guys like Backstrom and Kuznetsov take the lions share of the blame here as well for being inadequate.

Caps are starting to look like the Sharks of the Eastern Conference. Or the current Ducks.

Can't. Get. It. Done. Period.
 
Yeah, Ovi had 12 pts in 12 games, I hardly think you can start throwing the blame on him. Unfortunately, media blasts him and given that they just lost to Piitsburgh, its nothing but Crosby/Ovechkin talk.

Kuznetsov really didn't show up in the playoffs. Pretty sure he went 1G, 1A in 12 games, that doesn't really cut it when you had 70+ in the regular season. Someone said it above me, the Top 2 lines cancelled each other out, and the Pens 3rd line destroyed the Caps.


What is an amazing statistic to me is that Braden Holtby finished the playoffs 6-6. His stats for a .500 record? 1.72 GAA and a .942 SV%. Those are borderline Conn Smythe type numbers if they keep going. Just imagine how badly the Caps would've gotten smoked this year if he didn't play well. Their offense really didn't carry their bulk of the load this playoffs, and it led to their downfall. They really seemed primed for a good run this year too, but the Pens seem to be on fire in the playoffs (and the 2nd half of the season really).

Shame, would really like to see Ovechkin get one or at least get to play for one.
 
Look at the past handful of Stanley Cup winners ... they all have that one stud d-man that plays ridiculous minutes and can be relied upon in all situations. Caps just don't have that guy. Carlson has his moments but he really didn't take his game to the next level like the Caps needed. I haven't watched all of the Caps/Pens games but I did watch the game last night and Letang was really noticeable to me. He's that kind of guy. The Caps lost this series when they didn't take advantage of the Letang suspension. Alzner's injury last night really hurt the Caps too.

Absolutely Ovy and Holtby played well enough. Holtby made some amazing saves last night late in the game. Kuznetsov didn't put up the points but he looked fine to me last night, just didn't get the breaks. The one thing that was really noticeable was the lack of a Caps d-man to help carry the mail.
 
lets go Pittsburgh, great game let night, unlucky breaks for the pens with 3 straight delay of game, penalties but took it to them in the OT
 
newfiecomicguy1 said:
This team was good enough to win. Great players and coaches, it looks like it just isn't meant to be. Pens were to deep. Top 2 lines negated each other and the Pens third line won it. So is it time to try and move some core guys? Every year they kick butt in the regular season only to choke in the playoffs. Caps went and signed the two big Pen D when the Pens were struggling and Orpik hurt them. Worked out awesome for the Pens.

Ovechkin is such a great player but just can't seem to get teams to win. World Jr, Olympics and the NHL. Shame that his legacy will be a great player who didn't know how to win. He will remembered at as a great individual player. Guys like Crosby and Toews got it, they know how to motivate and get semi and star players to buy in and pull together to win. Unfortunately Ovy don't have that. I really like him and I think he is a fantastic character for the NHL, I feel bad for him. Looks like he will join the Russian team at the worlds, he always seems more interested in playing for Russia.
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I has never thinking in this way but when the newspaper here in sweden brought up that Ovie only has managed just missing ONE WC tournament during past 13 years....and then you also brought the topics in the end of your post so I got a revelation that Ovie indeed is more interested by playing for russia than winning with Caps, that's the only explanation why he does always choked when Caps needs him as most and then happily joins to the russian team before he managed to putting off his equipments in the locker rooms.

I think that he only plays hockey for pure enjoyment and when iit's getting serious no matter if it's in SC or playoffs in WC and Olympics so he always chokes then. Ovie during regular season and Ovie during playoffs are two very different creatures

IMO he never seems that disappointed when Caps gets eliminated in SC because he knows that he'll play in the WC then and gets happy then while the other is disappointed or sad for many days.
Almost all swedes always says nay to WC year after year just because they has no energy or got zero motivation while Ovie almost jumps in enjoyment when he's the call from the russia national team....so no problem with energy/enthusiasm/motivation with russia but not fwith Caps in SC.....?
That's a pretty bad team captain according me, to leaving the team immediately which recently got totally heartbroken again year after year and got a quite many youngsters in the team also.....

Enough of my input in this thread....
 
Frendo said:
I has never thinking in this way but when the newspaper here in sweden brought up that Ovie only has managed just missing ONE WC tournament during past 13 years....and then you also brought the topics in the end of your post so I got a revelation that Ovie indeed is more interested by playing for russia than winning with Caps, that's the only explanation why he does always choked when Caps needs him as most and then happily joins to the russian team before he managed to putting off his equipments in the locker rooms.

I think that he only plays hockey for pure enjoyment and when iit's getting serious no matter if it's in SC or playoffs in WC and Olympics so he always chokes then. Ovie during regular season and Ovie during playoffs are two very different creatures

IMO he never seems that disappointed when Caps gets eliminated in SC because he knows that he'll play in the WC then and gets happy then while the other is disappointed or sad for many days.
Almost all swedes always says nay to WC year after year just because they has no energy or got zero motivation while Ovie almost jumps in enjoyment when he's the call from the russia national team....so no problem with energy/enthusiasm/motivation with russia but not fwith Caps in SC.....?
That's a pretty bad team captain according me, to leaving the team immediately which recently got totally heartbroken again year after year and got a quite many youngsters in the team also.....

Enough of my input in this thread....
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Dont think I agree on a single point you mentioned.

Ovechkin has 82 points in 84 playoff games, 41 goals... hardly can say he 'chokes' as much as it is the whole capitals team.

I'd argue he does care a whole lot, you can tell he was gripping the stick tight for a lot of the game- no doubt fearing the inevitable narrative.

Guy played almost a 5 minute shift last night... 5 minutes.
 
dburzyn said:
Dont think I agree on a single point you mentioned.

Ovechkin has 82 points in 84 playoff games, 41 goals... hardly can say he 'chokes' as much as it is the whole capitals team.

I'd argue he does care a whole lot, you can tell he was gripping the stick tight for a lot of the game- no doubt fearing the inevitable narrative.

Guy played almost a 5 minute shift last night... 5 minutes.
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Was it game 5 where he spent nearly a full period without even sitting down on the bench?
 
There is a different mentality in Russia when it comes to national pride. Much different than say Sweden. If one gets asked, then there is no saying no. I honestly find it shameful when players are asked to play in the IIHF WC, turn down, but once it's talk about the Olympics etc they can't jump on that plane soon enough. This has been common amongst Swedes for example.

I find the discussion that Ovechkin doesn't want to win the cup silly. I simply think the team isn't complete enough to get it done when it matters.
 
I find it hard to place blame on Backstrom. He went toe to toe with one of the hottest players since Xmas and Washington seemed to have more chances during that matchup.

I don't see why this is even considered choking by Washington. If you take away the first couple months of the season, Pittsburgh was the better team. After the coaching change, and all of the trades, Pittsburgh was better. They couldn't both win, someone had to be on the short end.
 
Brave said:
I don't see why this is even considered choking by Washington. If you take away the first couple months of the season, Pittsburgh was the better team. After the coaching change, and all of the trades, Pittsburgh was better. They couldn't both win, someone had to be on the short end.
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Especially when half of these games went to OT. A couple bounces in Washington's favour & we'd be hearing how Crosby choked
 
You have to feel for the guy. One of the best players but just can't seem to win when it matters.
 
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Fritz said:
Especially when half of these games went to OT. A couple bounces in Washington's favour & we'd be hearing how Crosby choked
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I doubt you'd be hearing that, but the series really was just a couple more delay of game penalties (Seriously, Pens, that was embarrassing!) from going to Washington. They outplayed the Pens for most of the series. The difference was a slightly better goalie and better matchups, especially for their home games.

As a Pens fan, I'm naturally thrilled with the outcome. But I can't pretend it wasn't scary. :)
 
Brave said:
I find it hard to place blame on Backstrom. He went toe to toe with one of the hottest players since Xmas and Washington seemed to have more chances during that matchup.

I don't see why this is even considered choking by Washington. If you take away the first couple months of the season, Pittsburgh was the better team. After the coaching change, and all of the trades, Pittsburgh was better. They couldn't both win, someone had to be on the short end.
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Seriously. Backstrom was frequently matched up against Crosby. Offensively, Crosby barely touched the scoresheet.
 
Caps seem to be more into the regular season having Holtby chasing Brodeur's record, and First Place trophy that they simply ran out of gas for the playoffs.
 
random thoughts on this series:

T.J. Oshie deserves the MVP for the series,best player on the ice,period.

Ovy missed the net more than he hit the net,that hurt the Caps...alot.

Kuznetsov and Burakovsky were invisible,pure and simple.to get outplayed by guys like Sheary,Rust and a 40 something Cullen is embarrassing.lends creedence to my "lazy Russian" theory i've had since Alexei Kovalev.

Barry Trotz needs to take some blame.to have 6 straight minutes of PP time and barely get the tying goal is testament to the fact that they do the same bloody play every single power play.. win face off..Backstrom takes puck to corner by goal line...passes to point..point passes to Ovy on top of left circle for a one timer...rinse and repeat...repeat...repeat...repeat...
funny how they scored the one time Ovy and Carlson criss crossed at the blue line.hey Trotz,variety is the spice of life,geez.
 

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