There was a lot to like last night. We played once again with our full team in place. That was a giant relief as we haven’t played as a full unit for quite some time. We played with energy and we got good goaltending. And we played very well on the penalty kill.
We are NOT on our game yet. We gave up too many shots on goal and we didn’t take enough shots on goal. We didn’t dominate possession of the puck and we took too many penalties. We also didn’t draw enough power play time. I am most troubled that to date, we have let in more goals (36) than we have scored (33). And we have lost three games by a 2-1 score.
With all of that, we get a point and now come home to some home cooking. We have played 11 games to date, seven on the road and only four at home. We now play four of the next five games at home all against Eastern Conference foes. We are now entering the meat of the schedule. We play lots of games in short periods of time and it is now time to build some momentum in front of Red Outs and our passionate fan base.
The good in last night’s game:
- Fleishchmann’s goal – he looks like he may be on his way to stardom
- Fedorov’s play, other than the stupid Unsportsmanlike penalty
- Brent Johnson… nice to see the Ottawa media recognized him as one of the stars of the game! Both he and Alex Auld were outstanding (Auld had less work, but was equally good).
The bad stuff:
- Ovie still looks off his game a little bit… but I think he’ll get it back
- Morrisonn’s play on the OT winner… that was just awful.
- Allowing breakaways to both Alfredsson and Heatley in one game. Thankfully Johnny stopped one of them…
- The officiating left a lot to be desired, and alot was let go on the ice that should have been called both ways…
Ah well, we got a point on the road against a quality opponent. Let’s take it, learn from it, and now get 2 at home (in regulation please!) against a top division rival!
I agree with Jonas, I thought the team looked flat – surprisingly most was Ovie. I kept waiting for him to look faster than everyone else like he typically does, but he didn’t. He even got checked onto his backside when trying to maneuver past their defensemen on a break way – which was a surprise to see. I hope they get their energy back soon!! GO CAPS!
I didn’t quite see it the same way you did. Sure, penalty killing was great, and Johnson stood on his head, but the team is just not working hard enough to get the goals they need to win.
Maybe it’s time to take the team to Six Flags again? Anything to help break out of the funk they’re in right now!
See you Saturday, Ted! We’ll take the point. And 2 on Saturday!