Preview and GDT: Capitals at Leafs (7 p.m., Sportsnet)
Can the Leafs pounce on the struggling Washington Capitals and grab their first pair of home points? Are the Leafs capable of pouncing on anybody? We’ll find out tonight.
The Capitals have just three points through their opening six and are winless on the road. With the Leafs winless at home, something will have to give tonight. The Capitals opened the season by losing three straight by a collective score of 14-5 before losing two of three in a string of 3-2 games.
Alex Ovechkin has just two points in six games so far this season, and he and Phil Kessel should probably partake in a heart to heart. Both scoring wingers are shooting lots but struggling to find the net, and Kessel can lend a sympathetic ear about the pressures of trying to score with Joey Crabb on the opposite wing. I shouldn’t make that joke, because I’ve just guaranteed a Crabb goal tonight. Let’s face it, it was probably going to happen anyway.
The Capitals have recently spread out their offensive weapons over their top nine in an effort to kickstart the offense. Niklas Backstrom, who has just three points, has been playing on the second line between Wojitek Wolski and Troy Brouwer, while Mike Ribero, their leading point getter with six, has been playing the third between Joel Ward and Jason Chimera. Ribeiro, Backstrom, Ovechkin and Mike Greene form a dangerous looking PP unit (with Ovechkin in his usual spot on the point), but the Caps have only mustered a 16% success rate on the PP so far.
The Leafs have recalled Marlies captain Ryan Hamilton to replace the fallen Mike Brown, who is out a week with a shoulder strain sustained when he fell to the ice fighting Mike Weber on Tuesday. Hamilton was recently named MVP after scoring a hat trick in the AHL All Star game. I’d like to see Carlyle roll four lines a little more and move away from some of the top-heavy allocation of minutes. Hamilton brings an effective power forward’s game with a goal scoring touch around the net for the Marlies (18 goals in 38 games), and might have some use outside of a 3-minute-a-game energy role.
As pointed out over at PPP:
In last Thursday’s epic 3rd period collapse against the Islanders, the Leafs had six (6) players log over 21 minutes of icetime. The Islanders had only two (2) over 21 minutes and it showed with four (4) 3rd period goals scored against a seemingly helpless Leafs team.
If you check out the Marlies’ scoring leaders, it’s a sad state of affairs in terms of the decimation of their depth, but that’s life for an AHL affiliate.
Hamilton will play with Steckel and Orr on the fourth line. The lineup is otherwise untouched from Tuesday’s OT win in Buffalo, as MacArthur (out with the finger injury) and Komisarek (healed enough to play, but scratched) remain out:
Lineup vs. Washington:
van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Kessel
McClement – Grabovski – Kulemin
Frattin – Kadri – Komarov
Hamilton – Steckel – Orr
Phaneuf – Kostka
Gunnarsson – Liles
Fraser – Franson
Capitals’ lineup:
Alex Ovechkin – Jay Beagle – Joey Crabb
Wojtek Wolski – Nicklas Backstrom – Troy Brouwer
Jason Chimera – Mike Ribeiro – Joel Ward
Matt Hendricks – Marcus Johansson – Eric Fehr
Karl Alzner – Mike Green
John Erskine – John Carlson
Jeff Schultz – Tomas Kundratek
Michael Neuvirth
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@JVR sorry I missed that and no I didnt f I'm an idiot
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JVR•3 mths ago
You do realize the Centre Ice package is free for the month of January?
@JVR I wonder if they'll cut it off a midnight, right in the middle of the game? lol
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JVR•3 mths ago
You do realize the Centre Ice package is free for the month of January?
@HisDukeness You do realize the Centre Ice package is free for the month of January?
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HisDukeness•3 mths ago
edm san jose feed seems to be a good one
http://livetv.ru/en/eventinfo/153400_edmonton_san_jose/top one for me is smoothy
@HisDukeness It's not a Head to Head pool, so it doesn't really matter if he's on the bench for a bit, as I can't just fill all my roster spots everyday anyways.
I prefer the season-long points pools better as they require a bit more strategy than the H2H pools.
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HisDukeness•3 mths ago
don't wait his melon is probably gonna make him shaky rest of the year
short season for us only 11 weeks then playoffs and this is week 2 ...9 more left only
edm san jose feed seems to be a good one
http://livetv.ru/en/eventinfo/153400_edmonton_san_jose/top one for me is smoothy
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@JVR don't wait his melon is probably gonna make him shaky rest of the year
short season for us only 11 weeks then playoffs and this is week 2 ...9 more left only
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JVR•3 mths ago
I'm just waiting for Yahoo to put one of Callahan or Landeskog on the IR so I can pick up Frattin in my work pool!
@HisDukeness I'm just waiting for Yahoo to put one of Callahan or Landeskog on the IR so I can pick up Frattin in my work pool!
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HisDukeness•3 mths ago
not my problem poolwise anymore dropped him for this young Frattin kid
didn't have a leaf so what the hey
@JVR San Jose's PP has been awesome so far ....last game the young Oilers looked like deer in the headlights against Thornton and company
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JVR•3 mths ago
San Jose and Edmonton might be alright too.
I might just have to buy this Centre Ice Package
@rustynail not my problem poolwise anymore dropped him for this young Frattin kid
didn't have a leaf so what the hey
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rustynail•3 mths ago
still day to day
@DefenceWinsChampionships He even threw some hits out there tonight!
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DefenceWinsChampionships•3 mths ago
Kessel update:
7 games played
33 shots, 0 goals
4 primary assists, 0 secondary assists
His luck has been incredibly bad. Hasn't even been fortunate enough to get a secondary assist. Once he gets one goal, he's going to get a lot. If he keeps getting as many shots as he has been, he'll easily end up scoring at a 30+ goal pace by the end of the season. His shooting percentage will work itself out.
His current shots/82-games pace: 386.6
With his career average shooting percentage applied, that's a 41 goals/82 games pace. He won't sustain his 4.7 shots/game pace, but it is clear that we don't have to worry about Phil.
Oh, and he's back-checking a lot now. He's buying in to Carlyle's system.
@JVR I stream the games but feeds have been pretty iffy this year so far
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JVR•3 mths ago
San Jose and Edmonton might be alright too.
I might just have to buy this Centre Ice Package
@HisDukeness San Jose and Edmonton might be alright too.
I might just have to buy this Centre Ice Package
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HisDukeness•3 mths ago
LA vs Nash tonight late nighter be a nice one to catch
@DefenceWinsChampionships I'd rather see him get 15 and we make the playoffs then him getting 25 and we miss them
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DefenceWinsChampionships•3 mths ago
Kessel update:
7 games played
33 shots, 0 goals
4 primary assists, 0 secondary assists
His luck has been incredibly bad. Hasn't even been fortunate enough to get a secondary assist. Once he gets one goal, he's going to get a lot. If he keeps getting as many shots as he has been, he'll easily end up scoring at a 30+ goal pace by the end of the season. His shooting percentage will work itself out.
His current shots/82-games pace: 386.6
With his career average shooting percentage applied, that's a 41 goals/82 games pace. He won't sustain his 4.7 shots/game pace, but it is clear that we don't have to worry about Phil.
Oh, and he's back-checking a lot now. He's buying in to Carlyle's system.
@HisDukeness still day to day
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HisDukeness•3 mths ago
anyone got inside track on Landeskogs injury how long is he out ...seems like no one seems to know for sure
is his melon mushed or whats that word
adater @adater
More soft play from Stastny and it's 3-3, killer goal against
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anyone got inside track on Landeskogs injury how long is he out ...seems like no one seems to know for sure
is his melon mushed or whats that word
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Kessel update:
7 games played
33 shots, 0 goals
4 primary assists, 0 secondary assists
His luck has been incredibly bad. Hasn't even been fortunate enough to get a secondary assist. Once he gets one goal, he's going to get a lot. If he keeps getting as many shots as he has been, he'll easily end up scoring at a 30+ goal pace by the end of the season. His shooting percentage will work itself out.
His current shots/82-games pace: 386.6
With his career average shooting percentage applied, that's a 41 goals/82 games pace. He won't sustain his 4.7 shots/game pace, but it is clear that we don't have to worry about Phil.
Oh, and he's back-checking a lot now. He's buying in to Carlyle's system.
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LA vs Nash tonight late nighter be a nice one to catch
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@keon Mitchell with another goal ;)
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keon•3 mths ago
Colorado up 3-2 on Calgary now
Washington doesn't look great right now. We only played like 1 decent period of hockey.
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@HisDukeness He may not be scoring but is playing a very solid two way game and assisting on goals........can't fix stupid
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HisDukeness•3 mths ago
some goon on radio ragging about Kessel not scoring ...boy patience is not a virtue in Leafland...hes gets 2 next game can we get on someone elses case
@BeLeafer29 beating the Sabres that was a monkey off the back kind of night
now if we can just beat the Islanders
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BeLeafer29•3 mths ago
Perhaps we reversed a CURSE tonight.
We won a Home game for only our 3rd time since #13 went into the rafters, on 1/31/13!
Nice come back Win Boys!!
@Cameron Ryan O'Reilly would be really nice to see on this Team
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Cameron•3 mths ago
For that kind of package, you could go after the more appealing O'Reilly. Or just save the assets for an actual star.
@Cameron I still think Pit is team to beat with Rangers a close second
they can beat each other up all year I hope
we slide in 8th and meet one of them in first round
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Cameron•3 mths ago
Meh, we also got the Rags when they were pissed off though...
Hockey's Future @HockeysFuture
Morgan Rielly tops among drafted #WHL defensemen -http://tinyurl.com/aev66x8
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some goon on radio ragging about Kessel not scoring ...boy patience is not a virtue in Leafland...hes gets 2 next game can we get on someone elses case
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Colorado up 3-2 on Calgary now
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@rustynail yep, 44.5%
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rustynail•3 mths ago
Wasn't Grabo like 40% his first season?
@HisDukeness Meh, we also got the Rags when they were pissed off though...
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HisDukeness•3 mths ago
Pit shut out the Rags tonight good thing we got Pit before they get rolling
