Sunday, October 15, 2006

The Peerless' Morning After: Thrashers 4 - Caps 3 (OT)

The Peerless Prognosticator is ON THE AIR!!

Thoughts on the morning after an overtime loss . . . nice ceremony before the game, but Alex Ovechkin looked strangely subdued, as if he was more interested in getting on with the game . . . team looked sluggish coming out, as if they were the club coming off a game the previous night . . . sweet pass from Alexander Semin to Jamie Heward for the first goal; that’s what five goals in three games will do – guys will collapse on you, leaving others open . . . Kari Lehtonen saved a point for Atlanta in the second period with his play – turned away 18 of 19 shots . . . on the other hand, it wasn’t Olie Kolzig’s best night – looked as if all three goals in regulation could have been stopped – but he kept the club in it over the last ten minutes . . . Kris Beech had his best game as a Cap . . . did Zednik actually dress? Hard to tell, invisible as he was . . . Note to George – find a way to get Jon Sim; it’s getting tiring seeing him score goals against the Caps, whatever uniform he wears . . . six penalties: three hooking, a hold, a trip, a holding the stick – all from forwards -- obstruction penalties will kill this team . . . Peerless said winning faceoffs and shots would be key – Caps won both (60%FO wins in the offensive zone), lost the game – the difference was Lehtonen . . . power play looks badly out of sync . . . the Ovechkin-Zubrus PP squad was more often the second group on . . . and why is such a dynamic puck-handler such as Ovechkin being asked to stand in front on the PP? . . . small wonder the Caps sit 21st on the PP . . . Caps have now one of each: win, loss, OT loss, shootout loss; guess this means and OT or shootout win are up next . . . and finally -- congrats, Mats, on 500 . . .