Caps Are Getting Worked By The Sens

[centrehice]

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3-0 halfway through the 2nd Period. Big trouble in DC.

Yowzza

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[walker066]

Caps are not good. They have been getting worked all year by teams. They only get up for the Penguins.

[slfc]

Yeah, it sucks. Even in this weak division I don't see them making the playoffs. They just aren't that good this year and have seemingly gotten worse under Hunter. Their offense has completely disappeared.

[walker066]

Being a Pens fan, I love it lol. But seriously, the coach is not a head coach. Ovechkin in my opinion is a great talent, but cannot make his teammates better. The league has caught up to his antics and he is so predictable that he isn't what he used to be. The great players make adjustments. He wont.

[mugatu471]

Erik Karlsson is a bloody beast. Kid is going to have a great future.

[centrehice]

Being a Pens fan, I love it lol. But seriously, the coach is not a head coach. Ovechkin in my opinion is a great talent, but cannot make his teammates better. The league has caught up to his antics and he is so predictable that he isn't what he used to be. The great players make adjustments. He wont.

What antics? You need to elaborate on that. Ovechkin is being told to play defensive hockey. His shots per game are down by 1/3.

When Ovechkin shoots the puck a lot he scores. I know the Bandwagon hates that, but those are the facts.

[walker066]

What antics? You need to elaborate on that. Ovechkin is being told to play defensive hockey. His shots per game are down by 1/3.

When Ovechkin shoots the puck a lot he scores. I know the Bandwagon hates that, but those are the facts.

He isn't allowed to roam free on the side anymore where he used to be open. Someone is always following him unless he is cherry-picking. He won't change his game.

The reason he USED to score if because he shot the puck more than anyone in the history of the NHL. He has regressed over the past two years and it's not because he is told to play defense. Why would you tell your leading scorer to focus on defense? Seems to me they need better management then.

[slfc]

That is their biggest problem, nobody's shooting the puck (apart from tonight). Can't sit there and play defensive hockey and still get outscored, 100-91 since Hunter took over. They're being shoehorned into a defensive system when the core wasn't built around that.

[centrehice]

He isn't allowed to roam free on the side anymore where he used to be open. Someone is always following him unless he is cherry-picking. He won't change his game.

The reason he USED to score if because he shot the puck more than anyone in the history of the NHL. He has regressed over the past two years and it's not because he is told to play defense. Why would you tell your leading scorer to focus on defense? Seems to me they need better management then.

He already has changed his game, to a more defensive minded player. Offensive output suffers because of it.

If Ovechkin had no responsibility other than too shoot and score, he'd have more points.

What you are missing is that Hockey is a team Sport and Ovechkin has one of the weakest supporting casts in the league. That's the biggest difference, Caps players just assume he can do it all.

[30ranfordfan]

Gotta agree with centrehice here. It started under Boudreau and has continued under Hunter. The Caps were a great team when Ovechkin did whatever he wanted and shot the puck like crazy. Over coaching to put structure into their game.... Be more responsible.... it's sucked the game right out of him.

I'm. Sure the intent was to turn them into a team that would win in the playoffs by employing more 'grit' or 'heart' or some other cliche.... But all they've done is take a Superstar. And turn him into a star.

IMO what they should have done was employed a Kevin Considine style trap.... Cira Pittsburgh around the turn of the century. Put three lines out that will trap and play defense... Shut down the other team's top line. Then have one that goes run and gun.... Doing pretty much whatever they want.