Saturday, November 20, 2010

Recap: Flyers 5, Capitals 4 (SO)

I really don't know what to make of this one. I thought the Capitals played a good first and pretty poorly thereafter, but the scoring chances show that aside from the 2nd they outchanced the Flyers 19-6.

Good games from Johansson, Fleischmann, Fehr, and Chimera tonight, I thought. Johansson was stronger on the puck than I've ever seen before and created his own shots, winning board battles. Fleischmann looked much better at wing, as he had a lesser defensive responsibility and good lurk for good shots. He got them, too, hitting three posts or so. Fehr looked good for most of the game, driving to the net hard and picking up the game-tying goal too. Chimera was just flying, as the Chimera-Johansson-Bradley line looked good.

Still, I don't think the Capitals deserved the point they got, let alone two. Bad refereeing or not, bad luck hitting the posts or not, there's no excuse to take so many minor penalties, even if the other team took almost as many. By my count it was 10. That's approaching a period's worth of play solely on the PK. That's ridiculous. If the Capitals can't fix discipline issues they'll be screwed come the playoffs, as a hot goalie + good special teams a la Montreal will beat them once again.

The Flyers didn't deserve to win, but neither did the Caps. Whatever, might as well split the points.

Man of the match: Let's give it to Marcus Johansson, though no one from either side stood out all that much, really. Green was fantastic on the penalty kill, and Richards was pretty good too. Pronger made one mistake (Johansson goal), but otherwise was solid.
Timeonice reports: Faceoffs Corsi/Fenwick Shift Charts H2H

Some observations:

  • Semin hitting both the left post and the crossbar with his final shootout attempt pretty much sums up the luck the Capitals had in this game.
  • The Flyers are a really good team when they try and control the tempo. When they play slowly, there is nary a chance that they give up, even if they're not producing at the other end. In that case, perhaps the Caps were better off taking a penalty. In the third, with the Flyers choking the life out of the game, a Flyers PP got the boys in orange to open up the game a bit more, which is all the Caps needed.
  • The Capitals could learn a thing or two from Philadelphia about choking the life out of the game.
  • Don't show the overtime penalty kill to a Green hater. His or her head might explode. Green made at least three terrific defensive plays in a roughly 20 second sequence on the later part of that kill.
  • John Carlson was a +4 zone start, Karl Alzner a +5, and yet their Fenwicks were 2 and 0 respectively, Corsis -2 each. Solid game.
  • Could the Alex Ovechkin struggles be in part because he no longer gets the most favorable zone starts on the team? He was an even tonight.
  • Peter Laviolette really looked like he was matching lines. Funky stuff in Corsi, with Kimmo Timonen, Darrel Powe, Claude Giroux, and Sean O'Donnell getting big negative Corsis, while Mike Richards, James vanRiemsdyk, and Matt Carle equally far from zero in the positive direction.
  • Both Timonen-Coburn and Carle-Pronger drew Ovechkin. It looks like Boudreau initially tried to get Ovechkin away from those two pairings, but once the Caps fell behind stopped caring, and the team is probably better off as a result. Ovechkin needs to be able to get the best of top defensive competition on a nightly basis.
  • Blair Betts, Jody Shelley, and Nikolay Zherdev bring up the rear in Flyers ES TOI. Jeff Carter didn't top 10 minutes. Yikes.
  • Marcus Johansson got the better of Claude Giroux tonight. Sounds like a second-line center to me.
  • Laich didn't look as good at center. Covering a Flyers center requires more effort defensively than covering a winger.
  • Good zone starts for Johansson, Fleischmann, Laich, Fehr, and others certainly helped their numbers.
  • Caps SHTOI leaders: Schultz, Alzner, Green, Carlson, Gordon, Laich, and Johansson all topped four minutes, with the first three topping six and the next three topping 5:40. Killing all but two (technically one, but the Richards goal was right after a PK had expired) is pretty decent.

Thanks to Vic Ferrari for his great script to really help making this table. Here's the link.

Scoring Chances for NHL Game Number 20287

TeamPeriodTimeNoteWSHOpponent
WSH118:10T Johansson 2-on-141025308990619223341485v5
WSH116:14T Ovechkin breakaway, post8192728307456172833365v5
WSH115:04ZP Fleischmann after good keep-in by Green141621305255615334148935v5
WSH113:54T Fleischmann tic-tac-toe, post814162530525182833415v4
WSH113:16ZP Fleischmann deflects Backstrom one-timer, post8141625305211203336445v4
WSH113:04Fehr at side of net8141625305211203336445v4
PHI112:17ZP Chimera coughs up the puck in the slot1025273074901720252833365v5
WSH111:51T GOAL Johansson1025305255901520252833935v5
WSH15:55T Carlson 2-on-1142127283074517283336445v5
WSH15:30FO Schultz shot deflected1416213052551518202125335v5
PHI12:41ZP Hartnell puts a rebound over the net15193052551920283344484v5
WSH11:49T Laich to Johansson21305255901718222533414v5
WSH217:40T Ovechkin breakaway8141625305211203336445v4
WSH217:27ZP Fleischmann in front8141625305211203336445v4
WSH216:22ZP Laich tries to stuff819212830526183336415v4
WSH216:00ZP Laich tries to stuff819212830526183336415v4
PHI215:12ZP Carter tries to jam the rebound15273039741719203344484v5
PHI212:47ZP Giroux tries to stuff25273052901922252833414v5
WSH210:45T Green to Fleischmann814162530526182833415v4
PHI29:13T quick passing, whiff on shot attempt41526273090615182133415v5
PHI28:30T Giroux off turnover81928305574517283336445v5
PHI26:47GOAL FO Pronger shot tipped by Giroux102527307490515182125335v5
PHI26:29FO vanRiemsdyk shot hits post102527307490515182125335v5
PHI24:42ZP Carle slapshot deflected414162130521922253341485v5
PHI23:52ZP Richards at side of net15193052551819202833444v5
PHI23:06T Briere puts a rebound wide21273074901720223344484v5
PHI22:14ZP GOAL Richards1625262730741819252833415v5
WSH317:23ZP Carlson shot deflected814162530746112533365v4
WSH315:28T Johansson end-to-end1025305255901720283336445v5
WSH314:02T Fehr can\'t reach cross-crease pass41416213089619202233485v5
PHI311:54T Richards after Steckel FO win goes past D152627303974615182133415v5
PHI310:21T GOAL Carter821283052551720252833455v5
WSH38:58ZP GOAL Backstrom816192130525182028335v4
WSH38:30ZP GOAL Chimera14252630527411333641445v4
PHI36:08ZP GOAL Nodl1416213052551518202125335v5
WSH33:10T Semin wrister48192830891520213336445v5
WSH30:40ZP GOAL Fehr8161921285218202833445v4
WSH43:00T Fehr wrister141630525518252833414v4
WSH42:40T Green joins the rush, pass misses Fleischmann141630525518202528334v4
PHI41:37ZP Pronger one-timer1521305518202833443v4


#PlayerEVPPSH
4J. ERSKINE10:16320:00000:4900
8A. OVECHKIN13:33229:181100:0000
10M. BRADLEY7:32330:00000:0000
14T. FLEISCHMANN11:03623:53800:5100
15B. GORDON8:07020:00005:0604
16E. FEHR9:35534:29900:0000
19N. BACKSTROM12:38215:56401:4402
21B. LAICH11:22436:06405:1112
25J. CHIMERA8:30343:50802:5001
26M. HENDRICKS7:57030:28102:4900
27K. ALZNER14:42260:13006:1903
28A. SEMIN12:37325:06300:4200
30M. NEUVIRTH40:3511109:4911013:2916
39D. STECKEL6:31010:00003:3401
52M. GREEN16:24638:391106:1813
55J. SCHULTZ15:18630:00005:3713
74J. CARLSON15:04261:42205:5502
89T. SLOAN9:06300:00000:0300
90M. JOHANSSON8:48340:07004:2012


PeriodTotalsEVPP5v3 PPSH5v3 SH
11026130001100
25100650000400
3733340000000
4212000000100
Totals24161110120001600

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