It was an interesting weekend for the Caps. Including Monday's game against Detroit, the Caps lost two out of their last three games. They concluded their four-game homestand against Buffalo on Friday night with a 5-3 loss snapping their three-game win streak. I did not get to see much of the game but what I did see was a little frustrating. The Caps seemed to be out of sync, took some bad penalties and never put the game away when they had a chance. The game was absolutely winnable. The loss also ruined my Ramones theme. It was nice while it lasted and could have made things much more interesting from a purely entertainment perspective.
I did not get to see any of the Caps game against Tampa Bay but that was a nice win. I loved Bruce Boudreau's quote during the Buffalo post game press conference - "I'll find out about a lot of guys [tonight]. Is it a, 'Hang my head, woe-is-me crowd,' or a 'Let's be determined and turn it around again'" crowd?
Yes Tampa Bay is pretty banged up but so are the Caps and it was strong answer to the question after losing a tough, frustrating game and traveling to Tampa for the tilt. Two points in the division is huge for this team right now.
After Saturday's victory, the Caps got to travel to Detroit to play the best team in the league. As expected, Detroit was a great test for this team. The Caps put together a solid effort and played hard for 65 minutes. A win would of been huge but gaining a point as a result of the shootout loss should instill some more confidence in the team.
There are a couple of concerns that need to be addressed. First, Olaf Kolzig simply needs to play a bit better or maybe Boudreau needs to play him less. Olie has been only an average goalie this year. He needs to make that one big save or steal a game with some stellar play. All three shooters in the shootout last night used the exact same move and made Olie look silly. I hope the tape of the shootout mysteriously disappears so no other teams can scout and plan ahead. I will freely acknowledge that Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are extremely gifted players and quite shifty but Jiri Hudler is not in the same class.
The second trend I have noticed relates to the penalty kill unit. It seems almost every power play goal scored against the Caps comes from a cross ice pass accross the seam of the box. Zetterberg's goal in the second period is a great example. There is simply no way a pass like that should be allowed to get through the box on a consistent basis. I'm all for an aggressive penalty kill, but the box needs to be tightened up so that a stick or a body starts to clog up that seam.
It should be interesting to see how the Caps come out on Thursday against the Canadiens. Kudos to the Caps for moving out of the cellar of the league standings. Let's get out of the cellar of the Eastern Conference and see where it goes from there.
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