Caps @ Devils 11-14-2009 Post-Mortem

That will be the LAST time we go to a game watch party... Onto the Battle Damage Assessment....

THE GOOD:

• Earlier today we said that the Caps would be well served to get out to a fast start and build an early lead, they did exactly that with two goals in 37 seconds with just over 5 minutes gone in the game.
• The Power Play needed only 52 seconds and one shot to convert their only opportunity tonight.

THE BAD:

• Tonight's top line of Niklas Backstrom, Alexander "Slappy" Semin, and Tomas Fleischmann were -3, -2, and -4 respectively for a big fat -9 combined.  Get well soon Mike Knuble.
• And speaking of Backstrom, 2-8 in the faceoff circle tonight.
• Boyd Gordon made his return tonight only to exit once again with a back injury.
  

THE UGLY:

• Normally, allowing only 23 shots on goal would be considered good, but when you give up five goals, we shudder to think that would have happened had more shots been taken by New Jersey.  Jose "Alvin, Simon," Theodore did not have the bounce-back game he was looking for as the Devils were picking the corners on him practically all night.
• After driving the net the past few games, the Caps got very far away from that tonight.  Too many perimeter shots and not enough traffic creating havoc in front of Martin Brodeur.  That's not how they built the four game winning streak.
  
• Slappy's turnover in the second period leading to Zack Parise's game winning breakaway goal earns the John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles Bonehead Play of the Game Award tonight.
  

Ok, we all know that playing three games in four nights is tough.  That's why we always mention it when it comes up in the schedule.  There are also going to be lackluster efforts over an 82 game schedule as well and nobody is going to go an entire season losing games by only one goal in each.   So while this is certainly a humbling loss, we can't really qualify it as a bad loss.  The Devils are running on an eight game winning streak now and are right with the Caps at the top of the Eastern Conference.  It isn't as if they laid this kind of egg against Carolina or Toronto.  Well, that's enough of the rose colored glasses for tonight.  We know that Bruce Boudreau is going to have some choice words for the team over this one.