Everything Else

We Like To Watch – May 5th

By 1499

Last night: Penguins 3 – 2 Capitals (OT)

It’s never a good sign when your goalie is bus-tossing the rest of the team, but there was Braden Holtby doing just that. I’m not sure how you don’t run over a team without Letang and Maatta at least in terms of possession, especially when the replacements are Justin Schultz and Derrick Pouliot. Trevor Daley had to skate big minutes and yet the Pens were not buried. That’s… that’s not good. I’m not sure the Caps are doing that much wrong but they’re certainly not doing enough right. They have one goal from the bottom six this series, and this was a team that spread out the scoring all year. It can’t buy a power play goal. Holtby’s been good, but he’s getting outplayed by Matt Murray who wasn’t in the league until two months ago. And it was the fill-in for Brooks Orpik who Brooks Orpik’d the Pens the winner last night, with a sweet set up from Mike Weber for Patric Hornqvist. Now we’ll see what they’re made of and if Barry Trotz can overcome his usual conservativeness and unleash the hounds. They’ve played scared of the Penguins on the counter attack, but they should be able to score enough being aggressive to overcome that. We shall see.

Everything Else

We Like To Watch – May 4th

By 1337

Let’s do it again:

Lightning 5 – 4 Islanders (OT)

While there are some crusty old guys who love the fact that officials become a personification of a urine puddle late in playoff games and overtime, I’ve always thought it was dumb and contradictory to the sport. As I’ve said many times, “Letting the players decide” is a phrase that makes no sense. When one commits a penalty to stop another, the players have decided. They’ve decided that one got beat so badly or made a mistake that the other should be rewarded with a power play for his team. While the refs may say they don’t want to decide games, they are deciding them with inaction. They’re just coming out way worse on the other side.

Brian Boyle’s hit on Thomas Hickey was late and it was to the head. The ref was about as close to it as I am to my coffee table right now which I have my feet up on at the moment (thug life). And he couldn’t locate his spine to make the right call. The Bolts get a 2-on-1 because one of the Isles’ defenders who would be defending was trying to pop his nose back out of his brain. Boyle scores from the exact spot Hickey would have prevented him from getting to. Sure, you could argue it’s karma from what the Isles got away with in Game 6 against the Panthers. But I doubt that went through anyone’s head at the time.

Anyway, this game was awesome and it sucks it was decided on this. The Isles seem to be discovering that you need more than a top line and a good 4th line to win.

Everything Else

Playoff Weekend Wrap And May 2nd Preview: It’s Shaping Up

By 1308

As we will do through the rest of the playoffs, just wrapping up the other action and previewing what comes tonight.

Islanders 1 – 1 Lightning

The East’s stepchild series, as no one seems to be paying any attention. And yet it has the potential to be as good as the other one. Game 2 was seemingly the only one that John Tavares didn’t simply grab in his hand and wield it however he saw fit. That’s been the most exciting thing about the Isles’ run so far, obvious as it is. There’s something about watching a player simply transcend all those around him, and Tavares has done that through his team’s first eight games.

There’s also something pretty satisfying about watching a coach have to eat it over previous treatment of a player, like Jon Cooper and Jonathan Drouin. The latter has been crushing it when finally given a scorer’s role, which you might think would come pretty naturally to a #3 overall pick. But in a league that looks to stifle creativity it took this long. But don’t worry, Cooper is still a genius who will get all the plaudits for making Drouin “earn it.” Though considering Tyler Johnson was broken last year and Stamkos misfiring, might Drouin made a bigger difference last spring?

Everything Else

The “Irreplaceable Shaw,” Pens-Caps, Boudreau, And Other Argle Bargle

By 1703

Lotta strands floating in Ol’ Duder’s head today. Let’s see if we can’t get through it all.

-So it took me a day or two to get around to commenting on Joel Quenneville’s assertion that Andrew Shaw is “irreplaceable.” We know that Q has a loose grip on what a salary cap actually is, considering the way he spent the first month or two of the season in a strop (not Pedro, #HatToTheLeft) that Brandon Saad wasn’t around even though there was no way the Hawks could sign him for what he got. That’s unfortunate, given how much sway we’re pretty sure Q gets over personnel decisions. Or maybe he doesn’t get enough say and that’s why he shits on the ones Stan makes. But that’s not why you called.

Everything Else

New Toy Day: Capitals at Hawks Preview/Charity Scramble

By 1272

Capital vs. Hawk Wrestler

PUCK DROP: 11:30am Central

TV/RADIO: NBC, WGN Radio

CALLING TED KENNEDY GAY: Japers Rink

Capitals Stats

Capitals War On Ice

As if there wasn’t going to be enough buzz in the building, at least as much as there can be on a Sunday Morning Coming Down, with the NHL-leading Capitals invading the United Center, the Hawks will be showing off some of their new toys as well. Not all of them, as Dale Weise is awaiting visa clearance and Christian Ehrhoff is going to need to prove to Q that he should be in the lineup (and it’s anyone’s guess how long that could take). Still, Andrew Ladd’s appearance alone would have the place jumping, and he’ll be joined by Tomas Fleischmann.

Everything Else

Knights Of The Roundtable

By 1326

Let’s go back to that silly place again. Warning: It’s almost as long as that fantasy draft we did a couple years ago that we kind of swore we’d never mention again.

Erik Gustafsson has been up for about a month now. While it’s obviously too early to jump to conclusions, let’s do that anyway. Can he shore up the 2nd pairing enough for a deep run?

McClure: I like what I’ve seen so far of Erik Gustafsson on a couple of fronts. While he’s a bit light in the ass and relies a bit too much on stationary stretch passes, albeit with plus-vision to even attempt some of them, what is really encouraging is what I’ve seen on the defensive end. He will get beaten occasionally with speed, as he’s not as fast as one would think given his skill set, but when he does, he does not reach and tries to make up ground with his feet. That alone will earn points with any coach, and even if he gets beaten he’ll do his part to at least try to make the angles more difficult for a rushing forward and not put his team on the kill in the process. But all of that being said, asking him to bail water for a partner who undoubtedly has at least three different sandwiches named after him around town is a bit unfair at this point. In an ideal world when the playoffs come Goose is partnered with Rozsival permanently, where Rozy can play free safety for him with primo zone starts (at least at home), while Scuds and TVR are in suits. It’s now been nearly a whole season and I still cannot figure out anything that TVR does well. He can’t move, his shot isn’t hard, accurate, or quick to be released, and decision making on positioning in the defensive zone leaves a lot to be desired. So no, I do not think that Gustafsson is a long term second pairing answer. 

Everything Else

Ovi And 500

By 1872

From last night’s editorial in the C.I. 

You probably didn’t see it, because you were watching the Hawks on Sunday. But Alex Ovechkin’s 500th goal was a pretty cool moment. I can’t remember a time when the whole team spilled off the bench to celebrate a goal like that, but the Caps did for Ovi. It didn’t feel scripted at all. Just totally on impulse, they were so excited they had to be out on the ice.

It has to be some sort of vindication for Ovechkin, who has gone through more bullshit than a player of his quality should ever have to. Think about it, Ovi was the fifth fastest player to reach 500 goals. He was behind Gretzky, Lemieux, Bossy, and Brett Hull. Now think about the time those guys played in, the late 70s and 80s and early 90s. To think that Ovechkin has joined them… in some ways if you rate it we’re basically watching the best goalscorer of all-time, at least in relation to the era he played in.

Ovechkin, as was pointed out to me by McClure, has averaged the most shots-on-goal per game in history. Again, this is in an era where blocked shots are not just the norm but expected. Every team struggles to get shots, and Ovi does it with ease game after game, year after year. He just has a way of getting the puck through from whatever angle, and it’s almost always a dangerous shot due to its venom and his release. Certainly there’s no one out there playing the game in the way Ovi does.

But instead of cherishing what we have here, Ovi has had media and coaches for years tell him what he can’t do and what’s wrong with him. He didn’t backcheck hard enough. He didn’t want it bad enough. He only scores goals. This or that. Here we have at least the most unique scorer in the game today, and it’s always about what he’s not.

Have I been guilty of it? Sure have. Sometimes you fall into the noise. I criticized his sometimes one-way approach. Or that there wasn’t enough variance to his game. Sometimes I laughed at the backchecking GIFs you’d find on the internet (the one with the Xbox controller breaking is a personal favorite). I lost sight of what it is he does do, and how no one else is doing it or no one before has done it in quite the same way. You live and learn, I guess.

I wonder if that would be happening if he weren’t Russian. Phil Kessel would probably suggest it still would be, and maybe that’s true. It feels like hockey has the most instances where a coach tries to make his mark by going to war with the team’s best player. You just saw Tortorella chasing Ryan Johansen off to Nashville from the moment he showed up in Ohio. Somehow the coach always knows better, at least the bad ones do.

Sure, everyone points to Scotty Bowman changing Steve Yzerman’s game, though people forget the Wings actually traded Yzerman to Ottawa before a last minute nixing of the trade. And at the point that Yzerman was asked to change, he was in the later stages of his career and Sergei Fedorov had kind of passed him as the best player on the Wings.

Ovi has been fucked with in the prime of his career. It feels like he could have been even more if Adam Oates had a clue or Bruce Boudreau didn’t lose his mind.

The thing about Ovi is the joy has almost always been evident in his game. He looks like he just loves being on the ice, because he does. Crosby has sometimes looked that the game is a burden to him. Sometimes it’s the same with Toews. Ovi has always had that exuberance. How can you not be drawn in by that?

Does that exuberance get the best of him sometimes? Sure, he’s been guilty of some spotty hits in his career. Been too much in a hurry to assert himself physically, whether it was some misguided attempt to lead as captain or to bow to the pressure of being “a presence.” But I don’t know that I think of Ovi as a dirty player, certainly not in the same way I see the cheap shit Malkin and Crosby pull constantly.

Now, Ovi is the best player on the best team in the league, once again. And there he was capping 500 goals, which won’t be anywhere close to his career-ending totals. There was definitely catharsis in that moment. If the Hawks can’t do it again, I think I’d like to see Ovi get his. Maybe then all the narrative crap will stop. Though I doubt it.

I don’t know if it’ll be the same outpouring for Hossa when he gets there. He’s never been through that here in Chicago, where he’s basically always been appreciated. It’ll be more affirmation for Hossa. And that will be cool to see too. There was just more to it with Ovechkin. I hope we all appreciate what he’s doing.

Everything Else

Fireside Chat

By 1329

Feather is on a tropical vacation this week… or he’s hiding until the heat dies down, though I suppose it could be both, so I’ll take this little rant for the day. I’m sure he won’t mind, and if he does I’ll just drop dime on him and I won’t have that problem ever again!

-When we’re supposed to be doing the stuff we’re supposed to be doing but not, McClure and I basically talk about other teams in the NHL. And everyone loves to say every team has this crippling flaw or that one, and it’s been hard to pinpoint a team where you go, “That’s the team coming out of the East/West.” And of course, doing so in the first week of December is always folly, because there are injuries, trades, dips in form (especially goalies) and vice versa coming.

But man, it’s getting really hard to look past the Washington Capitals.

Everything Else

I Don’t Have A Cap: Hawks 1 – Capitals 4

By 1159

Boxscore

Event Summary

War On Ice

Natural Stat Trick

Hey at least they scored this time.

The Hawks have gotten their first losing streak of the new season out of the way tonight, dropping their second straight. This time it was to the Caps, and other than a brief spasm of give-a-shit in the 2nd period the Hawks looked about as craptacular as they did last night up the Acela in Philly. While I could dig for numbers to prove this or point out that or find some underlying cause, the reality of it is the Hawks have simply played like shit the past two nights. Sometimes it’s just that simple.