-Ron Francis
what a human.
Offense: D
I didn’t think it was possible for a team to play 47 minutes of even strength time and muster only 10 shots on goal, but the Pens pulled that off last night. Even more amazingly, they parlayed that into two goals. Overall, the even-strength play was terrible all night. Other than the occasional rush by Malkin or the occasional crash and bang shift by the AHL line of Brent, Filewich, and Minard, they did absolutely nothing. There was little sustained forecheck, no transition game. As well as the Pens played in Montreal, that’s how terrible they were offensively in this one. The two goals they did get were a result somewhat weak goaltending by Oldie Kolzig. First, Talbot moves in from the corner and beats him. Then Malkin makes a great play, going all the way around the net. But he scored on a 25-foot backhander, not the type of goal you want your goalie giving up. After that, nada. Not even anything close to a goal, save for one wrister by Christensen.
Defense: C
Not good, not bad. They really didn’t allow a great number of quality chances at even strength; it’s just that the minor-league goalie let every one of them get past him. The first goal, the coverage on Tomas Fleischmann by Orpik and Letang wasn’t exactly tight. Next one, they left noted Penguin-killed Viktor Kozlov wide open for a rebound. On the final even-strength tally, Whitney inexplicably left Alex Ovechkin wide open for an easy one-timer. Putrid coverage. But overall, the defensive effort was adequate.
Power play: F
The last impression is the lasting impression. That overtime power play was one of the most disorganized disastrous debacles you will ever want to witness. It started off with a dumb move where they didn’t immediately give the Caps the puck after the second penalty was called. That would have allowed them to organize and rest before they went up two men. Then again, it would have allowed Yeo to design more of the stuff that did so wonderfully after the timeout. And it just continued through the entire power play. They looked utterly clueless. Nobody wanted to shoot. Everyone wanted to make a highlight reel pass across the crease. Then Malkin tries to shoot and gets two blocked out high. So they went the entire three minutes of power play time in overtime without getting anything resembling a scoring chance, and zero shots on goal.
Okay, I am just kidding on the grade. Overall, the PP was a B. The power play was crisp all night until the OT. They netted three PP goals for only the second time this season. The first was just a twisted wrister by Malkin that wasn’t off a set play. The second was on a beautiful slap pass from Whitney to Sykora. Great hands by Sykora to corral it and put it in. The final one was the “dirty” goal we crave, just a Gonchar wrister from up top that Malone deflected home (no, it wasn’t a high stick and in fact wasn’t even close). Overall, until the OT debacle, the power play did seem more active, and that’s a good sign.
Penalty kill: D
The PK was not very good overall. The goalie has to be your best penalty killer, and he wasn’t. But the defense left Ovechkin uncovered for a one-timer on one goal, and they left Kozlov unattended in the slot on the second one. Why Malkin, who seemed to have Kozlov, wandered away from him is somewhat baffling. But bottom line is, he was left all alone in the slot and he tied the game. They didn’t seem to be on top of their game at the kill, but that might be because a couple key penalty killers (Armstrong and Hall) were out.
Goaltending: D
Okay, that pretty much clinches it. Dany Sabourin should never, ever get another start unless it is absolutely necessary. He showed once again why he is no better than a backup, and that might be generous. He is incapable of putting two good games together. He was the sole reason they lost this game. Because when you score five goals, you should win every time with even adequate goaltending. The first goal was one of the most laughable I have ever seen. When a goalie has no clue where the puck is, even long after the goal is scored, that’s a bad sign. I don’t think he even saw the goal on the replay on the jumbotron. He still hasn’t seen it. Kozlov’s first goal was a brutal rebound. Ovechkin’s first was a weak floater that he would have stopped had he come all the way across instead of just to the middle of the net. But he’s a terrible side-to-side goalie, and you’ll beat him every time if the pass goes through. The other Ovechkin goal was not his fault at all; nobody stops that one. But overall, Sabourin was terrible. It was like night and day when Conklin came in. Suddenly, the rebounds ceased. Suddenly, I had confidence that the goalie could make a save. But it was too late. Sabourin should have been yanked after the first two goals, but he wasn’t. And it likely cost them a point.
Pens goaltending since Fleury went down: 14-5-2, 2.29 GAA, .928 save percentage (Conklin is 10-1-2, 1.63, .951).
Overall: C-
They really didn’t play well at all, and got a point they probably didn’t earn thanks to some weak goaltending by Kolzig. They never got any kind of flow going, and Washington pretty much dictated the game. But they did get one point, and every point they get with Sid out is a big one.
And now, the rest of the story…
Shot totals: F
If you add up the shots on goal, missed shots, and shots blocked by opponent, you get the shots attempted total. Last night, Washington won the battle of shots attempted, 58-28. That gives you a pretty good measure of how dominant Washington was.
Evgeni Malkin: A
Wow, he is continuing to amaze. Two beautiful goals and an assist, and a desire to be the best player on the ice. He was dominant most of the night. And the way he warded off Ovechkin’s run at him was just wonderful to see. And the Malkin-led power play had three goals. What more can you ask?
Viktor Kozlov: A
Ray Shero should have signed this guy just so he wouldn’t score his usual hundred goals a year against the Pens. This clown would be a Hall-of-Famer if he put up the same stats against the rest of the league that he does against Pittsburgh.
Jordan Staal: C
He gets an A for the way he pwned Donald Brashear when the Caps’ good tried to run him at the end of the second period. But he gets an F for the absolutely stupid holding-the-stick penalty he took that led to the Caps tying the game. Good Lord, what was he thinking?
Michel Therrien: A
When Bruce Boudreau put Donald Brashear out after a Penguin goal to stir something up, Therrien responded by sending out his nuclear deterrent. It worked. Brashear did nothing and slunk back to the bench.
Alex Ovechkin: A
Boy, is he fun to watch when he gets all revved up. The battle between him and Malkin was one when you just sit back, relax, and enjoy.
Shootouts: F
Is the Pens’ shootout magic coming to an end? That’s two losses in a row. Last night, Letang beat Oldie cleanly, but hit the crossbar. And Conklin looked awful on the two shots that beat him.
Faceoffs: F
Tonight: 28/68, 41%. Worse, they were only 3/10, 30% on the power play.
Total: 42.9%/35.2% since Sid went out.
Penalty kill: D
The PK was not very good overall. The goalie has to be your best penalty killer, and he wasn’t. But the defense left Ovechkin uncovered for a one-timer on one goal, and they left Kozlov unattended in the slot on the second one. Why Malkin, who seemed to have Kozlov, wandered away from him is somewhat baffling. But bottom line is, he was left all alone in the slot and he tied the game. They didn’t seem to be on top of their game at the kill, but that might be because a couple key penalty killers (Armstrong and Hall) were out.
Goaltending: D
Okay, that pretty much clinches it. Dany Sabourin should never, ever get another start unless it is absolutely necessary. He showed once again why he is no better than a backup, and that might be generous. He is incapable of putting two good games together. He was the sole reason they lost this game. Because when you score five goals, you should win every time with even adequate goaltending. The first goal was one of the most laughable I have ever seen. When a goalie has no clue where the puck is, even long after the goal is scored, that’s a bad sign. I don’t think he even saw the goal on the replay on the jumbotron. He still hasn’t seen it. Kozlov’s first goal was a brutal rebound. Ovechkin’s first was a weak floater that he would have stopped had he come all the way across instead of just to the middle of the net. But he’s a terrible side-to-side goalie, and you’ll beat him every time if the pass goes through. The other Ovechkin goal was not his fault at all; nobody stops that one. But overall, Sabourin was terrible. It was like night and day when Conklin came in. Suddenly, the rebounds ceased. Suddenly, I had confidence that the goalie could make a save. But it was too late. Sabourin should have been yanked after the first two goals, but he wasn’t. And it likely cost them a point.
Pens goaltending since Fleury went down: 14-5-2, 2.29 GAA, .928 save percentage (Conklin is 10-1-2, 1.63, .951).
Overall: C-
They really didn’t play well at all, and got a point they probably didn’t earn thanks to some weak goaltending by Kolzig. They never got any kind of flow going, and Washington pretty much dictated the game. But they did get one point, and every point they get with Sid out is a big one.
And now, the rest of the story…
Shot totals: F
If you add up the shots on goal, missed shots, and shots blocked by opponent, you get the shots attempted total. Last night, Washington won the battle of shots attempted, 58-28. That gives you a pretty good measure of how dominant Washington was.
Evgeni Malkin: A
Wow, he is continuing to amaze. Two beautiful goals and an assist, and a desire to be the best player on the ice. He was dominant most of the night. And the way he warded off Ovechkin’s run at him was just wonderful to see. And the Malkin-led power play had three goals. What more can you ask?
Viktor Kozlov: A
Ray Shero should have signed this guy just so he wouldn’t score his usual hundred goals a year against the Pens. This clown would be a Hall-of-Famer if he put up the same stats against the rest of the league that he does against Pittsburgh.
Jordan Staal: C
He gets an A for the way he pwned Donald Brashear when the Caps’ good tried to run him at the end of the second period. But he gets an F for the absolutely stupid holding-the-stick penalty he took that led to the Caps tying the game. Good Lord, what was he thinking?
Michel Therrien: A
When Bruce Boudreau put Donald Brashear out after a Penguin goal to stir something up, Therrien responded by sending out his nuclear deterrent. It worked. Brashear did nothing and slunk back to the bench.
Alex Ovechkin: A
Boy, is he fun to watch when he gets all revved up. The battle between him and Malkin was one when you just sit back, relax, and enjoy.
Shootouts: F
Is the Pens’ shootout magic coming to an end? That’s two losses in a row. Last night, Letang beat Oldie cleanly, but hit the crossbar. And Conklin looked awful on the two shots that beat him.
Faceoffs: F
Tonight: 28/68, 41%. Worse, they were only 3/10, 30% on the power play.
Total: 42.9%/35.2% since Sid went out.
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