Capitals 3, Thrashers 4Scoresheet – Wash Post - AJC
This has been one of the better starts for the Capitals I have seen this year. But, it was sloppy second and third periods that gave the Atlanta Thrashers life and the win. The Caps just couldn’t recover. The Thrashers answered every goal, and then one more.
The sooner the Caps realize that there are 3 periods in a game, the sooner they will start closing out games. They always seem to stop skating with a lead, and tonight was no exception. What they did in Calgary is now wiped out by this poor loss at home. If the Caps play every game like they were on the road, the better off they will be (with the crowds that are at the Verizon Center it shouldn’t be too hard to imagine).
Olaf Kolzig didn’t look too happy in net. He watched the Caps self destruct in front of him, and there wasn’t much he could do. If looks could kill, a lot of the Caps D-men would be hitting the deck. Ben Clymer was a -2 in this game.
Overall Grade: 1st Period: A, Rest of game: D+
The Caps were out muscled in this game. The Thrash looked like they were just wearing down the Capital forwards. They just looked manhandled in the second and third. There was just no fire in the Caps belly when they get down.
Dainius Zubrus was clearly the best player on the Caps side, scoring two goals and nearly getting the hattrick. Alex Ovechkin had two assists and Chris Clark had a pretty shorthanded goal. Too bad it was all for not.
The game went ugly late as Jon Sim “accidentally” tripped up Ovie with a knee on knee check while Ovie was heading to the bench. I thought the whole reason to get Donald Brashear was so this kind of hanky panky would not go on concerning Ovie. Again there doesn’t seem any urgency for the Caps to do anything but just let the other team hit them.
Caps don’t have much time to sulk after this horrendous game. They jump a bus to Philadelphia where the Flyers look to turn their season around with the visiting Caps. Brett Johnson will probably get the nod in net, I am sure the steaming Kolzig needs a night off.
1 comment:
Tough loss. As I commented over on SeSo, you're supposed to win games when you have two-goal leads more than half-way through the game. You're supposed to win games when Ilya Kovalchuk and Marian Hossa combine for two assists and six shots on goal. You're supposed to win games when you don't allow a powerplay goal against.
Then again, you're not supposed to win games when you allow 18 shots against in a single period. Or when you're outhit 22 to 11. Or when you can only muster up seven shots in a third period in which you're trailing by one.
Tough loss, but the toughest part might be the inconsistency of the effort. The team literally fell apart in a game they were controlling.
Hopefully the team rebounds well against Philly. It'll be more a test of their mental game than their physical one, I think.
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