It was an epic and fun game last night.
We get a point. We have points in our first three games with five of six available points.
We live and we learn.
We end our streak of playing in Opening Night games on the road as well against great teams a la Boston and Philly. Thankfully. That isn’t a lot of fun. Trust me.
We took too many penalties or too many penalties were called. The refs can’t become such a big part of the night. Six penalties in one period and more penalty killing time than playing 5 on 5 time means that our best offensive players aren’t on the ice either. The refs played the best D against our best lines last night!
Both teams have a lot of fire power. We scored 5 goals. They scored 5 goals. Both teams have good defense? I though good D could stop good offense all of the time? Not last night on either side.
We lost in OT. We move on and now we get settled into the season. We play yet again a talented team in the New York Rangers at home on Thursday. Then it’s on to Detroit on Saturday. Tough enough schedule? No division games for a long time. It is what it is.
And I need some help. I am getting spammed by folks regarding the DirecTV and VERSUS issue. I empathize. I have made my calls. I have done what I can. The NHL is working the issue. The NHL and all teams have communicated to fans on what to do to help move the issue along.
Venting to me is acceptable but fruitless. I, too, am a DirecTV subscriber. I watched the game on TV last night. How? I had to subscribe to cable. I didn’t want to but in order to get the game that is what I had to do. You can subscribe on a month by month basis if you want.
We don’t have many games left in the short term on Versus but if you are a rabid fan and want to vent and get mad, why not just subscribe to cable for a short period of time until this gets resolved? That is what I did. It probably will make you feel better than getting mad at me. I can be blamed for lots of things in life but this fight between two behemoth media companies isn’t one of them. Thank you.
Thanks for your comment here
I never saw the point to venting to you, Mr. Leonsis, about DirecTV. You’re not involved directly, so there’s not a whole lot you can do.
@Jeffrey – There is nothing Mr. Leonsis can say to the League about the officiating without incurring penalties and fines. The League has made its stance very plain. Teams are not allowed to complain about the officiating. If they do so on the ice, they risk “abuse of officials” penalties like the one Coach Boudreau got last year when Alexander Semin was writhing on the ice in pain from an uncalled cross-check; if they do so off the ice, they risk being fined. Players also risk being fined if they complain off the ice.
The NHL has off-ice officials who allegedly speak to the referees when there is something flagrantly badly called, but what you and I see as flagrantly badly called and what the League sees are probably two very different things. The video room reviews everything, according to the NHL, and takes action when needed… but that doesn’t help the team on the ice when the badly-called penalty (Laich, goaltender interference, really?) is called.
Personally, I can’t wait until Bill McCreary retires. When THAT referee was on the ice during the playoffs, the Penguins went 8-1 (W-L). Oh, and the Caps got a ton of penalties to the Penguins’ none. Multiple times last year, when McCreary was skating, the Caps had to overcome a 2:1 penalty defecit to win their game, and did so.
We can overcome bad penalties. Nine in one game is a bit too many.
Mr. Leonsis, I do have a question for you, though.
Do the Capitals have a record of which referees tend to call which penalties? I know the referees have the other way ’round, and are briefed before each game on what players tend to do what things, so that they are (*cough* filled up with preconceived notions *cough*) aware of what to watch for during the game.
Do the Caps do this too? I’d think it would be interesting to know which referees are, for example, more “sensitive” to hooking calls than others…
Great Leadership Ted, blaming the Refs rather than seeing a weakness in your D.
Ted,
appreciate you listening to the rant. From the outsiders perspective looks like the league is trying to funnell money to their partners from comcast and that is more then I can handle. Your solution works and is the easiest fix for the fans but it just isn’t right. How is the league advocating for it’s fans? Basically they copied the versus letter on the NHL webpage. As great as the team is, not being able to see the playoffs would make me strongly consider not renewing my season tickets.
Ted, you are a big supporter of new media. Why not use this dispute with direcTv to start getting away from the old TV networks distribution method that is killing the NHL. The NHL will never have the mega millions TV contracts that the NFL, NBA, MLB have. So start exploring new methods of distributing your content. What about internet or other methods of direct distribution? NHL center Ice is nice, But If I only want to watch the Caps, I’m not interested in paying 160 bucks to see 40 out of market games a week if I only want to watch the 2 caps games. why cant we pay you and the team directly to gain access to streaming feeds of all caps games regardless of the old blackout restrictions or other circumstances?
“The refs can’t become such a big part of the night. Six penalties in one period and more penalty killing time than playing 5 on 5 time means that our best offensive players aren’t on the ice either. The refs played the best D against our best lines last night!”
Ted, that’s one of the most telling quotes I’ve heard all day and I completely agree.
I will gladly take the 1 point out of that intense game!!
Teddy, It was a great game! I called it the “The Battle of the Bands”. Your right, way TOO many penalties were called and it does change the game. Not much we can do. We did get a point. I will be Rocking the Red and yelling Lets Go Caps till The Cup comes home.
Great suggestion about month-to-month with cable. Thanks.
Ted, you rule!
Or, people could go out and support those establishments with viewing parties, like Front Page, Hard Times or Greene Turtle. If I wasn’t working last night, that’s what I would have done. Get a few friends together, grab a table and have some fun! In the end, it would likely be less expensive too.
There is losing for the right reasons and losing for the wrong reasons. Last night was a loss for all the right reasons. I don’t think the coaches would see it that way, but as a fan, what an awesome game. Goals by the “Alex’s” and the new Morrison! A goal for goal duel between two high powered clubs. A nice bit of adversity with the penalties, but the team hangs in there anyways. Wow. I want us to win all of them, but if we have to lose, I’ll take it that way! Let’s Go Caps!!!
Oh, and as a lifelong Redskins fan, I’m so happy hockey is back. It will help through this difficult time…..
Please give the permalinks to the Japers’ Rink posts.
Please talk to the league about the officiating. It is not just that we get called for more penalties but also our opponents, even those who usually take many, don’t get called for them when they play us. This is mostly based on last year because I felt if anything we got a little help in games one and two but seriously hurt in game three. In game three both teams were hurt by the inconsistent and bad officiating but I think we got the worst of it.
We still should have won in regulation even with the officiating. We just have to clear better and dump and chase against the trap and stacked blue lines.
I dropped DirecTV last week just in time for the season opener. Personally, I like cable’s HD compression methods a little better than the overly-blocky DirecTV feed. When we scored and our players would skate by the bench, it was a pixelated mess. Now, it’s less-pixelated, as NO HD system has gotten it entirely right yet.
Not venting, just commiserating…
But last night’s game was AWESOME. I thought I was watching a playoff game, what with the intensity and the pace. Of course, I wish we could have won, but the boys are doing more things right than they are wrong. Certainly, things will be worked on in practice and ironed out… I must say that watching Caps hockey is much more exciting than watching any other hockey game. Not just because I’m a longtime fan, but because of the dynamics (and the dynamism) of the team. I’ll keep watching, win, lose or draw. Proud of the boys in Red and their classy owners.
Cheers,
eds