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This and that, Caps third period struggles, Blackwood with the save of the year


yave1964

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Lets start with Blackwood and his incredible toe save with a handful of seconds to go to preserve a 1-0 victory in regulation over the Bruins. If Boston misses the playoffs by a point or two this is the reason why. A minute and a half before this Bergeron had a goal waived off as Krejci interfered with Blackwoods ability to play the puck in the crease. Boston is incensed and feeling that they may have lost more than one game.

 

  Washington is sitting pretty atop their division but man do they have problems in the third period which was evident in last nights game against the Rags as the Rangers scored 4 in the third to keep it close after Washington went in leading 3-0 to start the third. It looked like it was over but the Caps barely held on.

  This is becoming a big problem for Washington, a team built around offense, once they have a lead and need to switch over to keepaway and protection they simply do not have the personnel to do so. A quick look at some numbers:

 

FIrst period 31 goals for 23 against plus 8

Second period 50 goals for, 32 against plus 18

third period 34 goals for 40 against minus 6

 

It is actually worse in the third when you factor in the 4 empty netters they have scored and subtract those they are actually minus ten in the third.

 

  The plus 18 in the second is the second highest total for any one period for any team in the league this year, but then once the lead is there they simply do not have the makeup to close out a game so they gey pushed around and the other team, like the Rangers yesterday hangs around and makes it much more interesting than it should be.You can get away with being a one dimensional team in the regular season but if they continue this trend into the playoffs they will be a one and done for the third year in a row.

 

 The Blues are in trouble and it is at a time when the Coyotes and the resurgant Kessel as well as the mix of vets and hungry kid Kings are both hanging around, waiting to see if they can steal a playoff spot. I wrote in here over a month ago that the Blues looked off as if they were waiting for someone else to do the heavy lifting and my opnion has not changed. They are probably still a playoff team but it is uncertain.

 

  In the Central, The Hawks have fallen apart, the Jackets are dead letting the Stars and Predators claw back into the race for the 4th spot. A week and a half ago it appeared that Ekholm and Ellis would be traded now Nashville may add as they feel a playoff spot is up for grabs and they are riding a 5 game winning streak.

 

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21 hours ago, yave1964 said:

Lets start with Blackwood and his incredible toe save with a handful of seconds to go to preserve a 1-0 victory in regulation over the Bruins.

 

Man that is about as close as you will ever see.

 

Bruins announcers tried like hell.

 

But they got it right.

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On 3/29/2021 at 10:22 AM, yave1964 said:

third period 34 goals for 40 against minus 6

 

It is actually worse in the third when you factor in the 4 empty netters they have scored and subtract those they are actually minus ten in the third.

 
As my post under the Caps section of this forum said, their 3rd period goals against for the 2 latest months is alarming.

 

The Caps are failing my ‘eye test’ most of the time in the 3rd.  They just don’t look confident when pressed.  They don’t often show the skill to ‘break out dangerously’ in such situations.  (If this was basketball, any team would do well to go full-court-press in the latter stage of a game.)

 

The much more eagle-eyed folks over at The Athletic only have Washington rated 9th in their latest NHL Power Ranking.  In their division, the Isles (6th) and Bruins (8th) rank a wee bit higher.

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