CBC 7pm Rnd1 Gm4: WSH @ TOR - I Like

Freddie was disappointing this game for sure. But shit happens. Talbot got lit up last night, Elliott has been crap, and Price has been very human. Holtby pretty much has been garbage. Freddie is good enough, but is unfortunately a bit inconsistent. There aren't many who are different.

The rest of the team just has to come out stronger to start. After being down 2-0 just five minutes in last game, it's unforgivable that they didn't come to play again in the earlygoing in this one.

Yeah, Andersen blew it on the fifth goal, but I'm still more pissed off by the comedy of errors that led to it. That was ****ing pee wee idiocy from start to finish by basically every Leaf on the ice. Crazy ****ing annoying.

And Marner has been real small and ineffective all series long. Where's the jump and fire and creativity? He looks hurt. And JVR was outright awful in this one. He had no fuel at all. Hunny and Carrick were also incredibly weak.

What a missed opportunity. I'm not too confident about Game 5. But who knows with this squad.

Freddy probably should have only let in two goals tonight. The third and fifth were just brutally ill-timed. Huge credit to this team to keep fighting after those. The team was not on tonight but that could have easily been corrected if Freddy wasn't such a ****ing sieve.

Marner has been a major target for the Caps the whole series. That's fine but the refs have allowed them to get away with a shitload of infractions in the course of this. He's the one rookie out there who looks like he's having a learning experience.

Kapanen continues to impress. Really like what he's bringing to this series. He definitely got the memo about playing a 'heavy' game.

The Capitals have no honour. I've grown to really dislike this team.

It is really disheartening to know that this series could actually be over right now with consistent goaltending.

Lets hope Freddie comes back with a Game 2 or 3 performance for the remainder of the series.

We're still very much alive here. One thing I like is that, while they're obviously a great team, they have tended to be strong early and fade late. that plays in our favour I think with the young legs.

Big thing to avoid next game is letting them get that jump early and going down a goal or two.

Need to come out hitting everything with a hard forecheck right out of the gates tomorrow

They played like garbage for most of the game and it still ended up as a 1 goal game. Washington just hasn't been able to pull away from the Leafs the way San Jose did to Edmonton.

The longer this series goes, the better for the Leafs. Washington is clearly showing signs of struggling with adversity.

Oh and Babs, next series don't say anything negative about the other teams players. ****ing Wilson. That save in the first leading to a goal ended up being the difference in the game. He was much more effective last night when he didn't have to deal with Martin punching his face in all game.

Artnes said:

Big thing to avoid next game is letting them get that jump early and going down a goal or two.

Need to come out hitting everything with a hard forecheck right out of the gates tomorrow

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Too many slow starts and soft goals by Anderson. When be finally gets going, be plays well enough to keep us in the game. It's the time leading up to that point that kills us. We need a goalie for this team who is a starter. Not a backup hoping for a promotion.

still don't get why Babs didn't challenge the first goal. thought that was clear interference.

Seems to me we've found Holtby's weakness though - he's kind of impossible to beat clean on first shots, but he sells out a bit to do that and is vulnerable to rebounds as a result. Without Alzner there to help clear the front those rebounds are becoming more available, too.

Under 13min for Shattenkirk in this crucial game. Not exactly what they thought they were getting.

I was already pretty much all the way in the "let's not sign Shattenkirk" camp, though I have at times kicked around the idea of trying to entice him with a big 1-2 year deal.

The more I watch him in this series though, the less interested I am.

He's a nice power-play weapon generally, but I don't think he'd be a help to us at five-on-five if we plugged him into our top-4 alongside either Rielly or Gardiner. And this summer, some team out there is going to be paying this guy like he's a high-end top-4 defenseman for a whole bunch of years.

he's basically justin schultz, but unlike schultz has never been asked to be more than a depth guy on a good team.

Trotz has realized how good Schmidt is. Not sure alzner gets back in the lineup. Trotz mentioned that he's making it a very difficult decision for when alzner heals.

He was their best defenseman last night. Great player

Man, you're such a weirdo.

I guess Nate Schmidt is your new Sean Couturier? Some random, really middling player that you can't stop talking about for whatever reason?

I hope so because since Alzner has been out Matthews and Willy have been doing well

Preston is prestoning but Schmidt was hella good last night.

Schmidt is basically a way worse Gardiner. But yeah he's solid. His skating ability makes him an effective possession driver. And the Caps needed some speed to combat the Leafs. Their D isn't the most mobile.

Alzner and Schmidt do different things though. The Leafs have had a much easier time in front of Holtby the last two games.

Orpik would be the obvious guy to come out if Alzner is healthy.

saying Schmidt was awesome is like saying hunwick was awesome.

Matthews and Willy have exploded since Alzner went out. 3gls/6pts in 2gms.

It's a disappointing game, and while that is not unexpected of young teams, I also feel it really was a missed opporunity. And I really blame that on Andersen. On a team full of rookies, goaltending has to be the rock for us, and 2 games in the series now he's come short of at least being 'good' in a game. I don't expect him to be 'great' but at least be good. He looked very average last night.

The 5th goal was really a back-breaker and that one was on Brown (who fanned on the clear, but still got it out!), Carrick (WHY did you bring the puck back in?? The team's already scrambling it's wise to push the puck towards the OTHER direction, not back into your zone!) and Freddie (it is OK to get beat on a breakaway, but not in the 5 hole when Oshie didn't even make you move E-W)

All game long Andersen played 'scared' imo, he was caught out of position SO often and it seems to me he didn't often knew where the puck was. We need better goaltending from Andersen next game.

Other than that, some random thoughts:

- WSH was clearly the better team, and they deserved the W. Still, I can't help but lament if Brown/Carrick/Andy didn't give up that 5th goal, how would WSH fare in OT when the Leafs came back from 4-1 to tie the game 4-4.

- WSH is a great team, and I picked them to win the cup but their resolve especially with a big lead really lead me to believe this team will never be a cup winning team.

- Shattenkirk is playing 3rd unit ES minutes and getting 3rd unit matchups, and still isn't excelling out there. I want no part of him.

- Kudos to the team for never giving up, despite them got themselves in a pretty big hole. We have to weather the storm in the first 10 min next game though. We can't afford to start every game down 0-2.


Next game will be the biggest game of the season for the buds. Can't wait till Fri night.

Caps scared me going into this. That fear is gone now that I see they are beatable

My worry is that we're going to beat ourselves the way we did last night.

If our heads are screwed on straight, the Caps are roadkill.