Thursday, December 20, 2007

Caps Drop One At Home

Capitals 2, Canadians 5
Scoresheet - Wash Post

The Capitals power play couldn't get going, and the goaltending was soft. The same can't be said for the Canadians who capitalized on their powerplay chances and Cristobal Huet was solid in net. The Capitals jumped early on the Montreal squad but had nothing to show for it.

Nick Backstom was in the right place and the right time to bang home an Ovechkin rebound for the Caps first tally and Alex Semin cut the Canadian lead to 4-2 off a pretty pass from Backstorm. But the Caps couldn't get the puck past Huet. The inability to score still hinders this team.

Olaf Kolzig looks to me like he has already played a full season. At times he was good, then when it mattered most, Kolzig looked tired and run down. I still think that Kolzig is a good goaltender, but he is making bad mental mistakes and still letting in 2 or more soft goals a game. Whether its the fact that the Caps are out shooting their opponents and Kolzig isn't getting much action or if he just looks spent, Kolzig seems to be the root of the Caps problems these last few games.

The Caps have some time to dwell on this a bit since their next game is not until Saturday at Nassau Colosseum against the Islanders. A sobering satistic, the Caps have only won two of their last five. The Caps fall again to the cellar of the Eastern Conference with 29 points, but can make ground on their own with a win over the Islanders who are now 14th at 32 points. While they Caps can't leap frog the boys from Long Island, they can stay alive and with in 5 games of the coveted 8th playoff spot.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Couldn't agree more. 3 goals on 10 shots, and this game was over. One of the goals, a shot from the point, should have never went in as there were no Habs in front of Kolzig. Very soft goal.

Also, too many shots from the point by the Caps with no traffic in front of the net.

Building was dead last night. No energy at all.