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GDT: Round 2, Game 1 Canes @ Caps 5/6, 7:00

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
After a week off and a new guppy, the Canes are back at it.

On one hand, a week off is frustrating. But on the other hand, it gave the team time to heal. Andersen is back, Robinson is back and baby Aho came during the week. They’re not skating this morning, RBA will hold a media availability at 11:30. But based on the lines in yesterday’s practice, it looks like the same lines that they closed the Devils series with.

The Caps had a bit of a struggle against the Habs, finally dispatching them in 5 games. They needed OT in game 1 and game 2 was a 1 goal game until an empty netter. Then the Habs hung 6 on them at Bell Centre. The series turned when Tom Wilson smoked Alexandre Carrier in game 4. The Caps scored shortly thereafter and closed out the series in the next game. Ovechkin led with 4 goals, Dylan Strome had 7 assists and 9 points, getting a point in each game. Logan Thompson’s .923 Save % was 2nd behind Andersen. The Caps averaged 3.60 goals per game, just behind the Canes and allowed 2.40 per game, 2nd behind the Canes. Their PP was 9th at 23.1%, the PK was bad, 13th at 66.7%

National broadcasts the rest of the way. ESPN has the first 2 games with Sean McDonough, Chicken Parm and Emily Kaplan. Mike and Tripp are radio only for the duration.
 
Carolina was a lot more tidy in taking care of New Jersey than the Caps were in dispatching Montreal. Which honestly means very little moving forward, as neither series was really in doubt at any point. I guess you could extract some info on goalie form, but in both cases the starter got a little dinged up and needed backup. Both Thompson and Andersen were excellent in Round 1 and both look to be in full health moving forward.

This series kind of is what it is. Two pretty evenly matched teams that play quite different systems and know each other quite well. The season series was split, and yields no real intel. This one is going to be about execution and opportunism, I think ... unless one of the goalies blinks. Everybody's been off long enough to rest up and get a little rusty so Game 1 may give skewed results one way or the other. I don't think that favors either team in any real way, but you have to figure Washington for the edge tonight simply because they're at home. The matchups will vary a little home and away, but not as dramatically as they did in either teams' last series. Nope ... this one is about buckling down and getting it done and I expect a long one.
 
Well, he was kind of all over the place against Montreal, but that's a target rich environment with guys like Gallagher, Anderson, Savard and Xhekaj. No shortage of dudes to square off with for Wilson and Montreal has liked to engage in the extra judicial stuff under Frodo. Carolina plays him differently. The Canes generally like to pester Wilson and kind of chip and poke him and then skate away ... to see if he'll blow his top like he did in their last game in Raleigh. He got tossed when he overreacted to a no big deal low slash from Aho, and you can bet that the Canes will keep giving him opportunities to lose his marbles. Because Lamplighter is right, Wilson is one of the Caps most impactful forwards in all phases. The more clown stuff he engages in, the less time he has to play hockey.
 
I see Mr. Wilson targeting Freddie and playing close waiting for the little shove towards him then emphasizing the hit and hitting Freddie hard in the head. Others will be targets of opportunity.
 
jeffbear said:
Well, he was kind of all over the place against Montreal, but that's a target rich environment with guys like Gallagher, Anderson, Savard and Xhekaj. No shortage of dudes to square off with for Wilson and Montreal has liked to engage in the extra judicial stuff under Frodo. Carolina plays him differently. The Canes generally like to pester Wilson and kind of chip and poke him and then skate away ... to see if he'll blow his top like he did in their last game in Raleigh. He got tossed when he overreacted to a no big deal low slash from Aho, and you can bet that the Canes will keep giving him opportunities to lose his marbles. Because Lamplighter is right, Wilson is one of the Caps most impactful forwards in all phases. The more clown stuff he engages in, the less time he has to play hockey.
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Wilson wasn't targeting anyone that could fight back. He was targeting Hutson at first but Hutson was just too good a skater and kept side stepping the attempts. Then he targeted Caufield and Carrier. Wilson is a faux tough guy that won't go after guys that'll drop the gloves. Anderson already beat the piss out of him earlier in the year and he wouldn't accept any challenge by Xhekaj.

I don't view big guys that only go after smaller guys as tough, there's another word for those types.
 
Yeah, we've seen Wilson a million times and know exactly what he is.

My larger point is that Carolina over time has settled on trying to diffuse him by getting him ticked off in unproductive ways.
 
Tonight’s officials:

Referees:
TJ Luxmore #21, Wes McCauley #4

Linesmen:
Trent Knorr #80, Scott Cherry #50

Standby officials:
Graham Skilliter #24, Libor Suchanek #60
Series supervisor: Rod Pasma

We had Luxmore for Devils game 1 with Eric Furlatt. This is his first time working the 2nd round. We didn’t have McCauley in the first round.
 
Hmmm ... wonder which one is going to be the one making calls out of that duo?
Hint, it won't be Luxmore unless the league freaking wants chaos. That guy could lose control of a pee wee game. I'd say I'm surprised that he made the 2nd round this year, but I'm not.
 
dwind said:
I see Mr. Wilson targeting Freddie and playing close waiting for the little shove towards him then emphasizing the hit and hitting Freddie hard in the head. Others will be targets of opportunity.
Click to expand...
Freddy is my first guess and the smaller Canes like Blake and even Aho and Jarvis are not far behind on my bingo card. One thing is certain, do not expect those awful Officials or the Department of POS... pardon me player safety to police Wilson and his thug act...
 
CanadaCanes said:
Freddy is my first guess and the smaller Canes like Blake and even Aho and Jarvis are not far behind on my bingo card. One thing is certain, do not expect those awful Officials or the Department of POS... pardon me player safety to police Wilson and his thug act...
Click to expand...
the canes will rise and fall as Freddie rises and falls.
 
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