Caps vs. Coyotes 1-23-2010 Post-Mortem

And the trudge continues...  Onto the Battle Damage Assessment...

THE GOOD:

• Michal "Bebe" Neuvrith had a good bounce-back performance in net tonight making his first start in 10 days.
• We just realized that the Caps are now 5th in the NHL in home ice Penalty Killing.  That helps explain the 5 for 5 performance tonight including killing off a 17 second 5 on 3, though some of that credit belongs to the Whats?.
• The Power Play is #1 overall and went 2 for 6 tonight which ended up being the difference in the game as both Power Play goals were scored from in close.
• Alexander "Slappy" Semin had a hand in all four goals tonight scoring one himself and earning the primary assist on the other three.  Let's hope he stays this motivated and healthy.

THE BAD:

• The third line tonight of Brendan Morrrissonn, Eric Fehr, and Jason Chimera were each -2 tonight along with Jeff "Sergeant" Schultz.  They were the ones who forced Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green into some of his ugliest turnovers tonight as they of all lines blew the offensive zone early leaving Green to fend for himself against Phoenix's forecheck.  And when you consider that the third line is usually your checking line, their performance tonight is unacceptable.
• While the Power Play was working at a 33% clip tonight, it gave up 6 shots on goal against.

THE UGLY:

• We mentioned Sarge's -2 earlier but what we left out was how he accomplished it.  He partially blocked a James Vandermeer shot with the emphasis on "partial."  That kicked the rebound to Lauri Korpikoski  for his second goal of the night.  Because he wasn't battling with anybody and had a good chance to make the stop himself it was a lazy play by Sarge which is why it is the John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles Bonehead Play of the Game.  It cut the deficit to 1 and gave the Coyotes a rush of energy.
  
• We knew after the Caps had been awarded their own 5 on 3 that Bill McCreary would call a penalty on the Caps down the stretch and true to form, that's exactly what he did.  Furthermore, what in the world did Sarge do to draw a roughing penalty other than absorb a blow from Shane Doan?  McCreary's retirement can't come soon enough.

Well folks, we have to say, we think there was a let down tonight which was to be expected.  Luckily however the Coyotes didn't have much jump either.  This game tonight was a rather blah affair by both teams and even the "Unleash The Fury" was a little off tonight  We're now 3 weeks and 11 games away from the Olympic Break after which business will start picking back up as teams start making their runs for playoffs.  But for now, we'll have to get through most of these next 11 games without getting bored silly.

It has been... A TWO POINT NIGHT!!!