The Capital goalie cunnundrum

[yave1964]

  First, last night the Capitals fell to the Redwings, a club not exactly known for their offensive prowess 4-3 in a shootout. A shot with seven seconds to go by Ovechkin tied it and forced overtime and they managed to get a point.

  The true first star of the game should have been Michael Neuvirth who faced 43 shots on net as well as a dozen or more that were just wide. The man was acrobatic and kept his team in the game.

  The two previous games for the Capitals, both tended in net by Braden Holtby the Capitals game up 9 goals, so in the past three 13 have been given up. Some clubs do not give that up in a half a dozen or more games. Somehow in these three games they have managed to get 3 points.

 

  Holtby was the starter at the beginning of the year, at one point he was considered a dark horse for the Olympics even, but inconsistency forced him tot he bench.

  Instead of calling on Neuvirth, AKA the forgotten man, they recalled Phillip Grubauer from Hershey who did a good job early before slipping and being sent back to the AHL with a 6-4-5 record.

 So that leaves Holtby and Neuvirth.

  Earlier in the year Neuvirth was one of three Capitals demanding a trade, he wanted out after sitting for most of the first half watching Holtby struggle and a kid doing well before slipping, all the while Neuvirth watched from the press box. Holtby got three straight starts post Grubauer with a shutout in his first start before giving up 9 goals in 2 games.

  The stats this year from the two goalies

 

Holtby:   15-13-2   3.00 GAA. 9.09 save pct.

 

Neuvirth  3-5-2      2.79 GAA  9.17 save pct.

 

  Holtby has been found wanting, too inconsistent, just having one of those years. Grubauer has shown talent and is young enough but really it was not that he was so good as it was that Holtby was so bad. That leaves Neuvirth.

 

  My personal opinion is I would hand the torch to him. I watched him against the Wings last night he was square to the shooter and mechanically sound all night. The Capitals defense seemed out of position all night, much of the goaltending problem in Washington is the defense, they seem much more interested in breaking out of their own zone and driving into the offensive zone, from Mike Green thru Carlson thru the rest. Defense seems to almost be an afterthought.

  Trading for a defensive defenseman or maybe two would improve the goaltending tremendously. Getting the forwards to back check and play a full ice game would be a huge uplift as well.

  In a lot of ways I blame Adam Oates for the problem. He caters to Ovie which quite frankly is understandable, a happy Ovie stirs the drink and scores a lot of goals. But the problem is the other 17 guys see Ovie held to a different standard and attempt to emulate the great eight by being offensive forces and leaving the poor goalie all alone.

  Last night I saw Troy Brouwer three times in front of his own net in a defensive position receive the puck either from a bad pass by the Wings or a blocked shot and instead of pushing the puck out of his zone he thru it into the corner so he could await a defenseman to recover the puck and pass it to him in a position where he (Brouwer) would be in a better offensive position. All three times it backfired, the Wings recovered the puck. Yet Brouwer was on the ice all through the game in spite of his very selfish play.

  So go with Neuvirth until he proves he cannot do the job, trade for a d-man or two who understands their role is to help the goalie and force the forwards to backcheck or else lose playing time, that is the best hope for the Caps right now. Ovie has done all that he can do 39 goals already (!) and one of the few forwards who plays all over the ice, it is up to the Brouwer's and the Ward's and the Chimera's of the world, players brought in for their grit who have forgotten who they are supposed to be and who are playing the wrong style of game for this team to have its best chance to win.

[jammer2]

  Could not agree with you more. Stop the goalie carrousel. Hand the reigns to Neuvirth and give him the ability to have a bad outing and not lose his job. This back and forth is not good for the team or the goalies. Nobody has stood out really, but Holtby has had more than enough chances to take the ball and run, and has failed miserably. Grubauer is young and has a chance to become better, but his place is the AHL where he can fine tune is craft. Neuvirth is the best choice right now. Kinda weird having 2 ex-Spitfire goalies in the mix here.

[yave1964]

  Could not agree with you more. Stop the goalie carrousel. Hand the reigns to Neuvirth and give him the ability to have a bad outing and not lose his job. This back and forth is not good for the team or the goalies. Nobody has stood out really, but Holtby has had more than enough chances to take the ball and run, and has failed miserably. Grubauer is young and has a chance to become better, but his place is the AHL where he can fine tune is craft. Neuvirth is the best choice right now. Kinda weird having 2 ex-Spitfire goalies in the mix here.

  I do not know if you watched the game last night Jammer but Troy Brouwer constantly looked for putting himself in position for a breakout at the expense of the team, it was sickening, honestly if a Wing did that Babs would have nailed their butt to the bench for the rest of the game. Ovie seemed to be the only forward who consistently backchecked. I really think if the Capitals are to win the other forwards need to follow his example on both ends of the ice.

  Neuvirth really deserved to be the first star last night. His defense was non existent, if you watched the Wings lose 5-0 to the Flyers just three nights ago you would not have believed it was the same club the way they moved up and down the ice unchallenged. The Wings are susceptible to the forecheck more than any other club around, the Capitals simply let the Wings move the puck up and down the ice at will unchallenged. Pathetic effort really. If the Capitals somehow manage to make the playoffs they will be embarrassed in four straight by anyone out there if they continue to play this way. As much as I get why Oates treats Ovechkin like a superstar I feel he has apparently lost the rest of the room. Three separate players have demanded trades this year. I cannot think of three others on the other 29 teams combined who have done so.

[jammer2]

@yave1964  I'm working 6pm to 6am right now for the next month, (really tough shift!) so unless the Flyers are playing and I DVR them, I just see the highlights. I hate guys who cherry pick at the expense of their team, it's one of my big pet peeves. When they do it and go unpunished, I hate it even more. That's one of the huge reasons I hated Rychel's tenure with the Spitfires....this kid would leave the zone where his teammates were struggling to gain possession of the puck and literally glide around at center ice waiting for a break away pass...it was sickening. Of course, since daddy was the GM, he always went unpunished. The day he got traded, I was all smiles...and the 11 draft picks were nice also 

 

 I don't recall Brouwer being that type of player. He always seemed like a solid 2 way guy in the past. I do think you are right though, Oates has coddled OV to the point where he has lost the room. OV's 39 goals mean nothing if the other 19 guys despise him. Things are getting ugly in the nations capital, love to see it!!!