Penguins-Capitals Winners & Losers

For a good number of people, ‘The Game’ will start at 6:25 tonight.  But for me, and many other hockey fans, ‘The Game’ just ended in a tremendous come-from-behind effort by the Capitals to extend their win-streak to 14 games.  The Caps have a chance to make it 15 straight victories on Wednesday against the Canadiens, but first things first:

Winners:

Alex Ovechkin.  Whenever 8 and 87 face each other, it comes down to “anything you can do, I can do better”.  Crosby’s pair of goals in the first set the tone early.  But since the first, Ovechkin took over.  A perfect head-manning pass put Ovi on a breakaway for his first marker.  The next two goals were scored in a five-minute span during the third period.  An innocent backhand and a seeing-eye wrister tied things up and would eventually force overtime.  An MVP-type performance for the man leading the league in goals and points.

Eric Fehr.  Fehr has not had much better games than the game he played today.  16 was clicking on both ends of the ice.  He was one of four Caps’ players with 5+ shots.  Late in the second period, he turned a benign 1-on-3 rush into a momentum-turning goal.  Had Fehr not scored, the Caps would have been looking at a three-goal deficit with 20 minutes remaining; something that even the best of teams would have trouble overcoming.

Jose Theodore.  Theo was run at all day so to keep to poise and composure he had throughout the entire game is admirable.  He put up 31 saves and had some great stops when the Caps were down a man.  Another strong performance by big number 60.

Jeff Schultz.  Helluva pass to set-up Ovie’s first goal.  Then you gotta love Schultz talking smack with Crosby at the end of the second period.

Mike Knuble.  The MVP goes headfirst into the boards and Knuble did the right thing.  How Pittsburgh ended up with the Power Play, I’ll never know.  But 17 PIM later for Mike, he pokes the game-winner past MAF.  What Knuble did today defines the reason that he was signed in the off-season.  He’s also a really nice guy.  Unlike this Mike.

Medium:

Brian Pothier.  Dude knows how to throw a good ole fashion hip check.  And despite Mike Green’s return to the lineup, Pothier has shown that he is not afraid to jump up in the rush.  He had some great chances and finished with three more shots on goal than Nicklas Backstrom.

Nicklas Backstrom.  Speaking of Backstrom, he added two assists today to give him 48 on the year.  He also showed some grit by getting into it with Tyler Kennedy halfway through the second.  Love the intensity.

Mike Green.  Four shots on goal in the first 20 minutes, but just one shot recorded for the remaining 40.  Green played well going +2 with an assist in 27:09.

Alexander Semin.  Bad penalty-to-goal ratio: 2-0.  This includes a high-sticking minor in the offensive zone.  Semin had five shots, but attempted a total of 10.  Most missed high glove side by inches.  On another night, Semin would have (at least) a goal.

Jason Chimera.  Fehr set him up perfectly on a 2-on-1 but Chimera delayed and could not deke past a diving Marc-Andre Fleury.  Had Chimera took a swing on the one-timer, he would have had more than half an unprotected net to shoot on.

Losers:

Tom Poti. Poti was sleep-walking the whole game.  He had trouble passing the puck to the guys in red, especially in his own zone.  He gave Malkin a breakaway early and later, turned the puck over and it resulted in a goal against.  A game to forget for Tom.

Tyler Sloan.  ^Ditto^.  Sloan’s nomination for ‘Worst breakout pass ever’ came in the first when a weak slap shot around the boards was easily corralled by Sidney Crosby.  In an attempt to make up for his mistake, Sloan took on Crosby who easily deked Sloan and put the puck between Theodore’s legs.

Power Play.  Not good through 60 minutes.  But I guess you could take the same approach that Shaq takes on shooting free throws:  “I only make them when they matter”.  And that’s exactly what Washington did in the overtime period with the extra man.

Tags: penguins, postgame