. . . and a good thing that the league doesn’t subtract points for some performances, too.
The mysterious gas-like odor that settled over Manhattan last week moved into south Florida this evening, and it was shrouded in eagle logos. The Caps were pasted, 7-3, by the Florida Panthers. How bad was it? Let’s go by the numbers . . .
54 . . . No Caps team has ever given up more shots on goal on the road (they gave up 54 in a 7-5 loss to Philadelphia, December 19, 1975).
27 . . . only once in club history has an opponent registered more shots on goal than the 27 the Panthers had in the second period last night (28 on October, 20, 2005 against . . . yup, Florida)
2 . . . last night was the first time in 271 career games that defenseman Jay Bouwmeester scored two goals. He was +4, too.
9 . . . Stephen Weiss had more shots on goal himself than the Caps had in any single period (he had a hat trick for good measure).
17 . . . the Caps registered their fewest number of shots since October 28, 2005 (14, in a 4-2 loss to Tampa Bay).
.878 . . . that was the best save percentage among the three goaltenders playing this game. Congratulations, Olaf Kolzig . . . trouble is, it came on 41 shots (in 40 minutes), and he gave up five goals.
In a way, it was a very odd game. You give up seven goals, you would think certain specific players might have been victimized. Not in this case. No Cap was worse than -2, but 12 of 18 skaters were on the minus side of the ledger. Any argument that this player (Lawrence Nycholat) or that player (Brian Sutherby) was especially poor in this game really doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. That’s not to say they played well – they didn’t. It’s just that the whole team didn’t bother to show up. If anything, Olaf Kolzig was the best Cap on the ice (talk about damning with faint praise…). Goalies have to make the first stop, and Kolzig sure did make a lot of those. But the Caps never put themselves in a position to clear away the trash. Too many defensemen gave away position or were facing in the wrong direction; too many forwards just didn’t put in the effort to support the defense. Kolzig was left to fend for himself to the tune of better than a shot on goal per minute. If one totals the shots on goal, missed shots, and shots blocked by the Caps, the sum – 80 – is a reflection of the effort put forth by the Caps last night.
OK, enough of that . . . no, really . . . enough, already. This is the kind of thing that happens from time to time to a young team still feeling its way along. From my seat, the fear was that in the stretch of games between the holidays and the All-Star break, the Caps would have their mettle tested, not so much in terms of their skill, but in their ability to focus and put forth a consistent effort from night to night. That stretch is the dark void of the schedule – too early to focus attention on a playoff push, and the novelty of the beginning of the season has worn off. These are the games that a club has to grind out. At the moment, the Caps are somewhat lacking in their performance, and it is showing up on defense – 37 goals allowed in the 10 games since Christmas.
Had the Caps won this game, it would not have been unexpected or surprising. That’s what we said in the gameday. Well, losing isn’t necessarily surprising, either. Not when one considers that this is still a team lacking experience. But at the moment, what comes to mind watching this team is an exchange in the movie, “Bull Durham,” between Manager Joe “Skip” Riggins (Trey Wilson) and coach Larry Hockett (Robert Wuhl) in the midst of a losing streak. You know the one . . .
Skip: You guys. You lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout. You know what that makes you? Larry!
Larry: Lollygaggers!
Skip: Lollygaggers.
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