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GDT: Round 2, Game 2 Canes @ Caps 5/8 7:00

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
A chance to sweep the first 2 games in Washington.

The Canes got to their game early in game 1 and kept their foot on the gas the entire game. The PP had a chance to win it late in regulation but it was awful. Maybe extend the volume shooting mindset to the PP? The 94 shot attempts included 5 posts, so a fraction of an inch and the game would have been a runaway. Jankowski is a game time decision, it sounds like he just had a bug, he was feeling better yesterday.

Carberry said their game wasn’t good. They were held to 14 shots on goal, only 1 from Ovechkin. The Caps were reduced to Tom Wilson diving and begging for a call from the slightest contact. He flopped more than a Brazilian soccer player. They're going to push back hard tonight, if the Canes can withstand the initial push, it should be business as usual.

ESPN for TV with McDonough, Parm and Emily Kaplan. Mike and Tripp on The Fan.
 
andyt said:
Carberry said their game wasn’t good.
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Well, he gets paid the big bucks for fearlessly stating the obvious I guess. Washington did exactly one thing well as a team in Game 1 ... block shots. And even that took a toll, as they looked all kinds of beat up by the end of the game. They HAVE to generate some O Zone time in Game 2 or else it's just going to be more of the same. I suspect they'll actually start on the other end by reorganizing their pressure to try and add another pass to Carolina's zone exits. The Canes entered the neutral zone with speed WAY more often than we're used to seeing against good teams and that's a fairly simple fix. I also expect him to take advantage of Protas looking frisky upon his return by moving him into the Top 6 and not shackling him to Dowd and Duhaime. I'd guess he'll land on Ovie's line, but Carberry may want to send a wake up call to his first line. They were just terrible in Game 1.

For Carolina, they'll be looking to dish out the same sort of onslaught they served up in Game 1, but I wouldn't count on anything being that easy. More than likely, the Caps will muck up the neutral zone and Carolina will have to chip and chase a lot more. Which is fine, since that's sort of like forcing a pig to slop. They'll want to clean up their transition D though, as Washington is really good at counter punching when the puck is turned over. Look for them to throw pucks over Burns and Orlov and try to isolate them in the corners. That's something they normally do to the Canes but never really got to in Game 1. I'm also looking for some PP adjustments from Carolina. They were looking to wear down Washington's kill groups with perimeter movement but they kind of hypnotized themselves in the process. Specifically, I'm looking for more movement across the zone instead of around it, and more stress on the seams. If Roslovic does tag in for Jankowski, I'd think about putting Hall back on PP1 because working diagonally is his default setting

Bottom line -- Carolina's primary objective for the opening game set is already met. They flipped home ice with a win on the road and whatever they get out of this game is gravy. In the past, that's been a pretty good platform for results for the Hurricanes. They can relax, get to their game and take what they get tonight. I just hope they shoot it 150 times and give McDonough an aneurism.
 
Expect the caps to come out absolutely on fire in this one; just survive the first 10 minutes and then get to your game as quickly as possible. Heavy on the forecheck and let Andersen continue his stellar performance this playoffs.
 
polarbare said:
Expect the caps to come out absolutely on fire in this one; just survive the first 10 minutes and then get to your game as quickly as possible. Heavy on the forecheck and let Andersen continue his stellar performance this playoffs.
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Or like MO says...they will come out with their hair on fire...

The Canes know if they play their game to a T like they did Tuesday night, the Caps will be chasing again and that spells trouble for the home team. I expect the Caps to elevate the physical play and hope the game is more of a slog than a track meet...
 
Worth noting ... Carolina had like 75% of the offensive zone time in Game 1. That's just not going to happen again. But if and when Washington turns up the possession, that's not some sort of failure by Carolina, that's a good team refusing to suck that badly in two games in a row. Just setting expectations a bit.
 
Tonight’s officials:

Referees:
Chris Rooney #5, Graham Skilliter #24

Linesmen:
Ryan Daisy #81, Ryan Gibbons #58

Standby officials: Francois St. Laurent #8, Libor Suchanek #60

Neither team had Rooney in the first round. Both had Skilliter and both lost the only game he worked in the series. This group of 4 worked Leafs/Panthers game 1. Nothing of any consequence happened in that game, right?
 
Rooney made an absolute hash out of that game, but he's reffed a million games, so ... here we go. Carolina tends to do pretty well when he works their games, mostly because he doesn't call much.
 
jeffbear said:
Rooney made an absolute hash out of that game, but he's reffed a million games, so ... here we go. Carolina tends to do pretty well when he works their games, mostly because he doesn't call much.
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Caps backup goalie Charlie Lindgren is unavailable tonight due to personal family reasons. Mitchell Gibson is the backup.
 
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