Recap: Capitals 3 @ Predators 2 (OT)

So this wasn't exactly the run-and-gun game with shaky goaltending that I expected. Michal Neuvirth started instead of Semyon Varlamov, and Anders Lindback is better than I thought.

The Caps won both special teams battles--even if the Preds' special team units actually looked better--because they got the results. Michal Neuvirth was robbed of first-star status, but I'm sure Puck Daddy will give him his dues. All in all, a pretty poor game, but the Caps still won. They're still searching for those good habits, though, like starting strong and pushing their foot to the throat and playing good Corsi hockey. Whatever, two points is two points.

Oh, and the PK is still kicking ass. They gave up better chances more frequently than one would like, but you can't ask for much when it has to kill five minors in less than half the game. Michal Neuvirth did the rest. Luckily for him and the rest of the team, the Caps were pretty well disciplined after the first.

Michal Neuvirth is going to make Semyon Varlamov have to play extraordinarily well to win back the starting job.

Man of the match: Michal Neuvirth


Timeonice Reports:

Faceoffs
Head-to-head time on ice
Shift Chart
Corsi/Fenwick
Scoring chances
The Laich OT goal timing I guess is off, so I had to manually add it into the charts at the bottom.

Some notes on these reports:

• It's awfully hard for anybody, let alone a 20-year old rookie defenseman, to look particularly good when getting a +7 Zonestart in one game, or for a veteran 7/8 D. That is to say, John Carlson and John Erskine started 8 times in the defensive zone, 5 times in neutral, and once in the offensive zone. That's too much responsibility on the kid and "meh" veteran, methinks.
• Jeff Schultz was paired with Karl Alzner and they got on the slightly favorable side of Zonestarts. Umm, Bruce Boudreau, why start your best puck mover so often in the defensive zone and your two best stay-at-home defensemen in the offensive zone?
• Maybe it had something to do with the Predators' two most dangerous offensive players, Steve Sullivan and Patric Hornqvist, getting +2s for Zonestart. Then again, Boudreau has to put his lineup out first. This makes little sense to me.
• At least Sloan and Fahey got super easy starts. That's how it should be.
• Caps' Corsi leaderboard for the game: Schultz and Alzner +12, Fehr +6, ...Ovechkin -8, Erskine -11. Go figure.
• I will--a lot of those were blocked shots. The Caps blocked 14 shots to the Predators' 13 on the evening. That's decent, I guess. Use Fenwick and we get Fehr +6, Chimera/Alzner/Schultz +5...Ovechkin -9. The Nashville commentary team was talking about how Steve Sullivan said AO just disappears and reappears...he wasn't doing much reappearing in this game.
• The forward lines didn't look like they were matched much. Weber-Suter went up against AO-Backstrom-Knuble, Klein-Bouillon against Laich-Fleischmann-Semin, and Franson-O'Brien against Chimera-Johansson-Fehr. Boudreau was careful not to have Sloan-Fahey against the Hornqvist line.
• Shea Weber had more ESTOI than Alex Ovechkin. He's an elite D, so it's perfectly reasonable.
• Ryan Suter had more ESTOI than Alex Ovechkin. See Weber.
• Jeff Schultz had more ESTOI than Alex Ovechkin. I guess Ovechkin was playing a lot on the power play, and to be fair, Schultz is a pretty reliable defenseman.
• John Carlson had more ESTOI than Alex Ovechkin. Okay, the Capitals' only NHL-level puck mover on the night. Now we're starting to push it, though.
• John Erskine had more ESTOI than Alex Ovechkin.

1st period

The Capitals were...well, horrible might be a tad generous. Nashville was really good at moving the puck up the ice and keeping the Capitals to the outside on their attack, as well as getting men back to outnumber the Capitals defensively. I count only one Caps scoring chance in this period. Yikes. Part of that is that the Capitals took four minors (including one that led to a 30 second 5-on-3) but luckily Michal Neuvirth stood tall, only allowing a top-corner shot by J.P. Dumont to get past him. Neuvirth is the game's first star so far.

18-7 in shots??? Come on boys, pick it up.

Ryan Suter looks sooooo much better in his Team USA uniform. I love his red, white, and blue look with a visor on his helmet.

2nd period

This was more of the same for around the first ten minutes. Nashville kept coming and coming and the Capitals couldn't much about it. They only took one minor, though, and eventually Nashville lessened their death grip on the game. Once the Capitals had more time and space to attack, as Nashville seemed to be more willing to exchange rushes, they starting getting more chances to score and really testing Anders Lindback, who kept the Caps off the scoreboard through 40 minutes. Alex Ovechkin chased down a puck near his defensive blueline and tried to push it across-weakly--and that was intercepted; a few seconds later, Jordan Tootoo had sent a pass off of Brian Fahey's skate and in. Ouch. AO had a brutal night.

3rd period

The Capitals ramped up their play in the 3rd. While for long stretches it seemed the teams were playing more or less in the neutral zone and along the boards, with several minutes going by at times before I would record a scoring chance, the Capitals no doubt had the puck more often than the Predators. As soon as the Predators would clear it was the Caps regrouping and attacking again. This reminded me of the series against Montreal, except the Nashville D is a lot better at preventing chances.

The Capitals' PP struck after some good movement. Semin was given some extra space, so he stepped in and drove a shot that Lindback got a large chunk of, but trickled in anyways. Later, after Tomas Fleischmann lost a faceoff in the offensive zone, Brooks Laich stole the puck from Cody Franson Shane O'Brien and tried to stuff the puck into the net. He was stopped, and the rebound came to Fleischmann, who seemed to be skating backwards away from the scrum. Regardless of what his intent was, Fleischmann slid the puck into the net to tie the game. After this the game was kind of boring once again, like the first, except the Caps were playing better than in the first.

Overtime

With only 3 men to defend the Caps' 4 PP forwards, the Predators had a tough time stopping the passing. Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom opened the central passing line through the slot with ease. There were decent chances, but nothing really good, until the Capitals regrouped and Ovechkin's long one-timer was deflected into the top corner of the net by Brooks Laich, in his "bakery." That's how it's done.

Scoring Chances for NHL Game Number 20060

Team	Period	Time	Note	WSH						Opponent
NSH	1	19:49	Sullivan breakaway	14	21	27	28	30	55	8	16	26	27	39	51	5v5
NSH	1	19:24		15	27	30	39	55		6	11	20	29	39	71	4v5
NSH	1	18:39		4	15	30	39	74		4	16	26	27	39	51	4v5
WSH	1	17:04	Ovechkin 1-on-1	8	19	22	30	44	89	6	11	20	22	29	39	5v5
NSH	1	14:10		19	22	27	30	89		6	11	20	29	39	71	4v5
NSH	1	13:57		4	15	21	30	74		4	16	26	27	39	51	4v5
NSH	1	13:43		4	21	30	39	74		4	16	26	27	39	51	4v5
NSH	1	10:56		14	21	28	30	44	89	8	9	33	39	51	71	5v5
NSH	1	8:35	Hornqvist post	16	25	30	44	89	90	8	16	26	27	39	51	5v5
NSH	1	3:37	Weber backdoor	4	8	19	22	30	74	6	11	20	22	29	39	5v5
NSH	1	2:53	GOAL Dumont top corner wrister	4	15	26	30	39	44	4	9	33	39	55	71	5v5
NSH	1	0:21	Dangerous pass through crease	21	30	39	55	90		6	16	20	26	27	39	4v5
WSH	2	16:33	Steckel/Hendricks 2-on-0	16	26	27	30	39	55	3	6	9	20	39	74	5v5
NSH	2	15:32	Sullivan on loose puck in front	14	21	27	28	30	55	8	16	26	27	39	51	5v5
NSH	2	14:46	Tootoo dives to tip a pass in front of him	4	8	19	28	30	74	4	11	22	29	39	55	5v5
NSH	2	14:28	GOAL Tootoo slap pass to slot, off Fahey and in	8	19	22	30	44	89	6	11	20	22	29	39	5v5
NSH	2	13:46	Suter backdoor	15	27	30	39	55		6	16	20	26	27	39	4v5
NSH	2	13:33	Weber centers	15	27	30	39	55		6	16	20	26	27	39	4v5
WSH	2	11:20	Carlson on rush	4	8	19	30	89	90	6	16	20	25	39	74	5v5
NSH	2	10:50	Hornqvist deke, backhand from slot	4	8	19	22	30	74	8	16	26	27	39	55	5v5
WSH	2	10:26	Knuble on loose puck in slot	14	21	22	30	44	89	8	9	26	27	39	55	5v5
WSH	2	9:24	Johansson comes in weak side, undresses a Predator, and tries to put it in from in tight	25	27	28	30	55	90	4	11	33	39	51	71	5v5
WSH	2	8:11	Knuble tries to bang in a centering feed from Ovechkin	4	8	19	22	30	74	6	11	20	22	29	39	5v5
WSH	2	7:22	Backstrom backdoor	8	19	21	28	30	74	8	9	25	39	51		5v4
WSH	2	7:07	Scramble in front	8	19	21	28	30	74	8	9	25	39	51		5v4
NSH	2	6:24	Ward SH breakaway	8	19	21	28	30	74	11	20	29	39	55		5v4
WSH	2	5:41	Knuble 3-on-2	8	14	16	22	30	44	11	29	39	51	55		5v4
NSH	2	5:09	O\'Reilly backhand off the rush	15	16	26	27	30	55	4	16	26	27	39	51	5v5
WSH	2	3:52	Backstrom backhand off the rush; followed by NSH timeout	4	8	19	22	30	74	6	11	20	22	29	39	5v5
WSH	2	2:56	Goalmouth scramble	14	21	28	30	44	89	6	9	20	22	39	71	5v5
WSH	2	0:56	Legwand rush	4	21	28	30	74		4	11	29	39	55		4v4
WSH	2	0:13	Steckel 3-on-2	4	15	19	30	39	74	4	16	20	27	39	71	5v5
NSH	3	19:29	Sullivan backhand pass to O\'Reilly alone in front	14	21	27	28	30	55	8	16	26	27	39	51	5v5
WSH	3	15:43	Backstrom 1-timer from slot	8	19	21	28	30	74	8	25	26	39	51		5v4
WSH	3	15:27	GOAL Semin slapshot from circle	8	19	21	28	30	74	8	25	26	39	51		5v4
NSH	3	14:45	Wilson 1-times a loose puck on the rush	15	26	30	39	44	89	6	16	33	39	55	71	5v5
NSH	3	14:05	Klein steps in and 1-times a puck rolling back towards the point	4	16	25	30	74	90	8	16	26	27	39	51	5v5
WSH	3	12:04	Semin 2-on-1	4	14	21	28	30	74	4	25	33	39	55	74	5v5
WSH	3	11:34	Semin semi-breakaway	4	14	21	28	30	74	8	16	26	27	39	51	5v5
WSH	3	7:46	GOAL Fleischmann jams in the puck on a goalmouth scramble	14	21	27	28	30	55	4	16	26	27	39	55	5v5
NSH	3	6:47	Suter steps in and wrist a puck sliding to the point after a goalmouth scramble	8	19	22	27	30	55	6	11	20	22	29	39	5v5
NSH	3	4:10	Centering pass for Tootoo	4	14	21	28	30	55	8	11	22	29	39	51	5v5
WSH	3	3:15	Backstrom wrister on 2-on-2	8	19	22	30	55	89	6	25	33	39	51	74	5v5
WSH	3	2:03	Chimera blows around NSH D and tries to jam it in	15	16	25	30	55	89	4	8	11	22	29	39	5v5
WSH	3	1:16	Semin slapshot on 2-on-2	14	21	28	30	55	89	6	20	25	33	39	74	5v5
NSH	3	0:13	Sullivan backhand wraparound stuff attempt	4	8	19	22	30	74	8	16	26	27	39	51	5v5
WSH	4	1:44	GOAL Laich deflection	8	19	21	22	30		25	51	55	39			4v3

#	Player	EV			PP			SH
4	J. ERSKINE	17:33	7	7	0:00	0	0	4:25	0	3
8	A. OVECHKIN	17:58	5	6	5:30	6	1	0:01	0	0
14	T. FLEISCHMANN	11:09	6	5	1:32	1	0	1:05	0	0
15	B. GORDON	7:04	2	3	0:00	0	0	3:04	0	5
16	E. FEHR	10:08	2	3	1:32	1	0	0:00	0	0
19	N. BACKSTROM	16:26	6	6	4:18	5	1	1:06	0	1
21	B. LAICH	11:50	7	5	3:56	5	1	3:28	0	3
22	M. KNUBLE	16:06	5	5	1:54	2	0	1:06	0	1
25	J. CHIMERA	10:02	2	2	0:00	0	0	1:13	0	0
26	M. HENDRICKS	6:26	1	3	0:00	0	0	1:37	0	0
27	K. ALZNER	18:08	3	5	0:20	0	0	4:29	0	4
28	A. SEMIN	12:22	7	6	4:18	4	1	2:34	0	0
30	M. NEUVIRTH	45:53	16	16	5:50	6	1	9:32	0	8
39	D. STECKEL	6:33	2	2	0:00	0	0	3:28	0	6
44	B. FAHEY	8:18	3	5	1:32	1	0	0:00	0	0
55	J. SCHULTZ	19:46	6	6	0:00	0	0	3:48	0	4
74	J. CARLSON	17:06	6	5	3:21	4	1	3:47	0	3
89	T. SLOAN	10:54	7	4	0:00	0	0	1:57	0	1
90	M. JOHANSSON	9:19	2	2	0:00	0	0	1:00	0	1

Period	Totals		EV		PP		5v3 PP		SH		5v3 SH
1	1	11	1	5	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	0
2	12	8	9	5	3	1	0	0	0	2	0	0
3	8	6	6	6	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals	22	25	16	16	6	1	0	0	0	8	0	0