Caps vs. Bruins 11-15-2006 Post-Mortem

The mid-season doldrums set in tonight. Two teams without much fire in their skates and fans yawning in their seats as the Bruins won 3-2 in a gimmick. The holidays must be around the corner...

THE GOOD:

• The Caps only gave up 30 shots in regulation and 35 for the game which went into OT. While this is below their average and way below their most recent outings, I would say that overall this is a little on the too much side. But the improvement needs to be acknowledged.
• The Caps took 35 shots of their own during the game tonight. The Caps didn't make Tim Thomas stand on his head, but they were making an effort to get the puck to the net tonight.
• The Penalty Killers killed all six Bruin Power Plays tonight and Matt "Princess" Pettinger went and Got Shorty.

THE BAD:

• The Power Play tonight went 1 for 8 and other than the one time they did score, the Caps only seriously threatened once.
• Dainius Zubrus got hurt and left the game in the third period. Let's hope this "lower body injury" doesn't keep him out for too long. If it does, we can always blame Dave Fay for putting the hex on us.
• Now I know I've professed my hatred for the gimmick. But why on earth are the Caps unable to score in it?

THE UGLY:

• As noted before, the overall style of play tonight by both teams was rather bland. The excitement of the new season has worn off and bland style of play didn't stir many emotions.
• Boston scored their first two goals on only six shots. Olie Kolzig was solid the rest of the way, but the poor start put the Caps behind the eight-ball early.
• The game was decided by a gimmick.

I'm sure NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who was in attendance, was pleased with tonight's game. A game that was begging to end in a tie was denied its request. Why games like this in the middle of November absolutely positively need to have a declared winner is beyond me. Congratulations, I guess, are in order to the Bruins for winning this dog of a game and to the Caps for getting a point in the standing despite being declared the loser. I'm sure someone somewhere will note how the crowd cheered louder than they did all night when the gimmick came around, but I really can't compare notes on that one because I left at the end of overtime. (I refuse to watch the gimmick.) But I would suggest that they cheered as loudly as they did because their torture was about to end. They didn't have much else to cheer about tonight.