Caps vs. Islanders 10-30-2009 Post-Mortem

It was only a matter of time... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Tomas Fleischmann with two goals in his second game of the season. He got both of this goals because he went to the front of the net. Let's hope he keeps that up.
• Only three penalties committed tonight. If nothing else our discipline is picking up. Helps too that we killed all three penalties as well.
• The Power Play was 2 for 6 tonight taking 13 shots on goal. It was clear to us for the most part that the Power Play unit was able to get what they wanted, except of course for more goals.

THE BAD:

• Now we know why Bruce Boudreau rarely uses the second Power Play unit. Given larger than normal shifts tonight, they failed to get setup in crucial Power Plays early and late in the game. Maybe they need more time on the ice...
• The fourth line tonight was not very good, a combined -4 for the trio.

THE UGLY:

• Well Ladies and Gentlemen, you probably saw this one coming with Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green's ugly turnover in front of his own net leading to the Islanders second score is tonight's John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles Bonehead Play of the Game. Fitting that he ends up a -1 because the two assists he notched came on Power Play goals.
• Up 1-0 and with an open net to shoot at, The New SOB Line got pass happy once again and didn't bother to score.

Continuing with last point, we felt that was a very critical juncture in the game. Had the Caps gotten out to a two goal lead, the might have been able to put the Islanders away early. However, they passed up on the opportunity and the Islanders scored not too long after that to tie the game at 1. That's all the Islanders needed to know that they could stay with us tonight and made it a completely different game. Boudreau has said that he'll break that line up should they start over passing. Well two games in a row and they've blown prime chances by over passing. Finally, while it was nice to get a winning streak out to 6 games, it was eventually going to end. Maybe, just maybe it is better to lose a winning streak against a team like the Islanders because should continue to drive the point home that we cannot play lackadaisical and expect to win every night.