Caps At The Buzzer

Sure that was a penalty on Backstrom on his hit on Boyle, but what do you expect from NHL refs. However, what were the Rangers thinking? Their play was sloppy all night. That was the second time Joel Ward was all alone in front of Lundqvist. The first time he hit the post after getting an unexpected pass from JT Miller  from behind he goal line. In fact, if it weren't for posts, crossbars and Lundqvist the Rangers would have been embarrassed.

Alex Ovechkin skated around the Garden ice like he owned it, practically untouched. The last time I saw a performance like that it was Sonja Heine practicing for the Ice Follies during periods. The stats say that we out hit the Caps 34-32. Where? On the babes in the local bar? Ovi was given too much room, especially on the goal he scored in the first period. Give Cap coach Barry Trotz credit he moved Ovechkin around, double shifts to keep him away from Girardi, McDonagh and Staal. Ovechkin scored the goal on Boyle who gave him too much room.

 That is all well and good but the fact remains the Rangers are offensively inept. Thirty four shots? Yeah, Braden Holtby was good, but the traffic in front of him was pedestrian and it was maddening it front of Lundqvist. Big games bring out big names. Ovechkin, a goal and the winning assist. Nash, nada. I'm not picking on Nash, but he has to be the man, has to come up big and he was practically invisible. His playoff prowess is negligible.

The power play was the deciding factor. The Caps were 1-2 the Rangers were 0-2. Sure we should have had more pp's. Many penalties, holding, clutching, interference were not called on the Caps but does it matter? We can't score. Our power paly sucks and our coach doesn't have a clue how to fix it. Remember when I wrote a while back that the power play will be the death of us?                 

Another thing, there was a big shuffle of players by the Rangers. St. Louis to the second line, Fast, the goal scorer, to the third line and Sheppard off the bench to the fourth line. Not until the third period did there seem to be any cohesion. Klein came back on defense, but he seemed out of sorts.

Game two at the Garden Saturday. Watch it on NBC, turn off the sound and put the radio broadcast on. The TV announcers are awful. I really had a bad night. Let's Go Rangers.

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