Thursday, September 27, 2007

Flyers Fry Caps

Having to work last night, I didn't see the game, but by all accounts the Caps came out really flat against the Flyers. The Capitals lose a snoozer 2-1 at the Wachovia Center to Philly. Brian Sutherby scored for the Caps whose power play was a dismal 0-7.

This is the kind of game I expect from the Capitals if Tom Poti, Micheal Nylander, Alex Semin, Viktor Kozlov, Alex Ovechkin were all out of the line up as they were last night. In fact Daniel Briere and Simon Gagne combine had 20 more goals in the NHL than the entire Capitals line up. Ouch.

I suppose this was the fish fry, throwing some of the younger talent in for a last ditch effort to impress the coaches. Some full time talent last season might be looking for apartments in Hershey if their play doesn't improve. I mostly talking about Brooks Laich here, since going to arbitration the Caps prospect has had a pretty quiet preseason.

Also the Caps are - do I dare say it - overloaded on defensemen. There is a possiblity of the likes of Steve Eminger or John Erskine going down to Hershey. I can see a rotating seven defensemen, but that still leaves someone out. Tom Poti will get his playing time as will Brian Potheir, but for everyone else it's a battle for those last 4 to 5 spots. I expect the hitting on the defensive end to significantly increase as players are feeling the squeeze.

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