We have come a long way - a packed house all in red and another two point night - but we aren’t very happy or satisfied.
Our team is still shorthanded. We are without some key cogs in the lineup and it is starting to show. Although we are racking up points – to which we are grateful - we aren’t playing great team hockey. Our expectations have been raised. Our play on home ice is stellar but we can do better as a team and we are committed to being great, not just good.
We are beating teams we should be beating but our execution and intensity for extended periods of time are lacking.
We can’t seem to shake the injury bug and although we have reached the 20 game win total very quickly, we do need to get healthy for the second half of the season.
I am grateful to the fans for being so supportive of us last night. Thank you.
Pingback: The Dry Cut: St. Louis 2, Capitals 4 « the red skate
For a lot of the game, the effort was there. St. Louis is a team the Caps should beat, and they did. The defensive effort was very good, and Varlamov made only 2 mistakes (the first goal and the playing the puck outside the trapezoid). Ovie accidentally shot one into his own net (oops!), but thankfully it only cut the score to 4-2.
That the empty net was missed 3 times is something that needs to be worked on. When the opportunity comes to bury the opponent, they need to be buried.
Still the intensity needs to go up a notch, and that will come, I’m sure. I think the team misses Fedorov more than just on the ice, and Mike Green, though playing well, is still clearly not 100%. Still, some players are stepping into new roles with the injuries and taking advantage of the opportunities, esp. Alzner. He’s playing the backline like a 5 year veteran.
If the intensity isn’t picked up on Saturday though, there will be hell to pay as the Caps are off to Philly… no issue with intensity there…
The crosscheck on Semin should have been called last night. The refs blew it and almost lost control of the game because of it. I was scared someone else was going to go down when it started to get chippy… Given the rash of injuries we’ve had, can you blame me?
I hope Sasha and Greener are ok.
And FIX THE ICE ;o)