Caps vs. Buffaslugs 11-26-2007 Post-Mortem

At least we didn't blow a three goal lead... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• With his 17th goal this season (and the only real offense the Caps mustered all night), A.O. pulled into a tie with the late Gaetan Duschene for 26th on the Caps All-Time Scoring list. A.O. now has a nine game point streak going and next up on the list at 25 is Joe Juneau who rang up 236 points in 321 games with the Caps.
• The Penalty Killers went 3-for-3 tonight bottling up a dangerous Power Play unit and allowed only 4 shots on goal.
• The Caps dominated in the faceoff circle tonight winning 61% of the draws going 40-26 with Michael Nylander and David Steckel leading the way.

THE BAD:

• Bruce Boudreau shuffled up the lines after only two games and three periods. Not counting the return of Alexander Semin at the expense of Matt "Princess" Pettinger. Nicklas Backstrom was moved to the second line, Tomas Fleischmann was dropped to the third, and Boyd Gordon was moved to the fourth line for the third period. All this accomplished was making the fourth line ineffective.
• We knew the Power Play wasn't going to go 3-for-4 again tonight and had a stiff challenge in the Buffaslugs Penalty Kill. Going 0-for-3 doesn't bother me as much as only getting one shot on goal and once again having trouble establishing themselves in the offensive zone.
• I counted on five different occasions tonight where the Caps blocked their own shots on goal. While the number of blocked and missed shots has decreased, we still shouldn't be thwarting our own attempts.

THE UGLY:

• Was it me or were Nylander and Semin having a competition for worst forward on the ice tonight? As a matter of fact, Nylander once again tonight had an ugly turnover that lead to a goal for the other team and he finished -2 on the night. Kinda makes you wish that we still had Brian Sutherby doesn't it?
• At some points tonight, especially when we were trailing, the Caps looked way too casual with the puck. Has the Boudreau bounce worn off already?

Maybe it was me but tonight looked like what was happening to this team when Glen Hanlon was behind the bench and not Boudreau. The Caps certainly played well enough, however they couldn't take advantage of the opportunities they had and their mistakes killed them. Maybe it is the hectic schedule catching up with them, the new coach bounce wearing off, us playing a team that has our number, or a combination of all three. Either way, here is a prime example of why George McPhee has placed an interim tag on Boudreau. I'm not ready to say that he won't get the job done but how we come out for Wednesday's game against Florida will show an awful lot about him.