12/07/11 - Studs & Duds

[dyzfunctioned]

Only 3 games on tonight and despite starting finals tomorrow and having no frickin' clue how to write this term paper, I managed to catch a bit of the action.

Studs

3) Sophomore Stud - Skinner only potted one goal tonight (off a crazy lucky bounce of the stanchion nonetheless) but the guy was flying out there. Easily could have put away 2 or 3 more. Played a big part in Muller getting his first NHL coaching win.

2) G-sus - What more can be said about Giroux? He's pretty much a fixture on this list and is now the NHL's scoring leader after posting 1 G (the OTGWG nonetheless) and 3 A to go along with a +3 rating.

1) Carls-on-fire - Carlson's really picked it up as of late under the direction of Hunter. He has 1 G and 5 A in his last 2 games and has 7 points in his past 3 to go along with a +3 rating. He also logged north of 27 minutes tonight, good for second on the team (5 seconds behind Alzner).

HM: Kirk Muller - for picking up his first career NHL coaching win.

HM: The Oil Kids - Nuge and Eberle didn't play a huge part in tonight's game but they kept the streak going. They both now have points in the last 5 and 9 of the last 10.

HM: Ovi of Old - Ovi actually looked somewhat like his former self and scored a beauty after making Karlsson look like a fool.

HM: Sabre Slayer - Jagr potted a goal tonight and added onto his record of most points against the Sabres of any active NHLer. Good for him.

HM: Finally putting it together? - McBain has notched 5 points in his last 3. It looks like he's finally getting some consistent opportunities and maybe we'll see a resurgence.

Duds

3) McNoob - McNabb had a rough outing tonight and posted a team worst -3 rating in just under 18 minutes of ice time. He also potentially reinjured Miller, awesome. Another team worst was Ponikarovsky who went -3 despite the Canes scoring 5 goals. Ouch.

2) Not so Spezztacular - Joining the -3 club was Jason Spezza who was tied with McNabb and Poni for worst +/- of the night and was worst on his team. The good: for leagues that count FOW he got 11. The bad: for leagues that use FO% he went 11/31.

1) Losing his Head - Miller's just taken an absolute beating the last few weeks. Lucic, Tootoo, and now his own teammate, McNabb, have just laid into him. McNabb crashed into him, knocking off his helmet which was followed by a swift puck to the face. After this Miller did not look quite right and would eventually lose the game despite being off to a 3-1 lead. He also posted an ugly .853 SV%.

DHM: Win at Last? - I don't know if this is a stud or dud, but Ward finally gave his owners a win. However, his peripherals blew as usual.

DHM: Bryz - Similiar to above, he got the win but posted awful peripherals and I'm not really sure he's been what the Flyers were hoping for when they handed over that ridiculously fat contract.

DHM: Career Highs! - Again, keeping with the ambiguous theme, Matt Ellis could be a stud or a dud depending on your perspective. He posted 17 PIM tonight which interestingly is more than he's ever posted in an entire season.

DHM: Not so ambiguous, just bad - Schultz played under 4 minutes tonight? Why, an injury you say? Nope. According to Hunter he just didn't seem to fit right in tonight's game.

DHM: Really...? - Good ol' Semin was the only Capitals player to go negative on the night and played a measly 15 minutes.

[Killer67]

Great Job Dyz, Thanks!!

[shook81]

McNoob...hahaha, that's too damn funny!

[Hey Robbie]

Nice work as usual, Diz.

Watching the Caps-Sens game, I indeed had the warm feeling inside I remember from 2 years ago watching Ovechkin's feet churn. Watching him take the feed at the point on the power play but then, unlike the past year, forcing in towards the net or down the wall to disrupt the PK alignment rather than trying to unleash a big (wide) slapper made me smile. After his rush across the goal mouth when his backhander was stopped at the right post, he looked up to the rafters in frustration as he has so often of late, but this time rather than letting the frustration get him down and either gripping his stick too tight or drifting in a malaise, he kept working and it paid off. Sure he was sucking wind after most shifts, but I think that's necessary for him to perform at his best. He doesn't seem to have the preternatural hockey sense of a Lidstrom or St. Louis that allows him to find the right place and the right play and seem to expend no effort. Maybe all the talk of how he needed to alter his style both to save himself from injury and to conserve energy for the playoffs worked a bit, but the psychological toll his decreased performance has had has outweighed any benefit there I believe.

Interestingly, some stats don't seem to bear out the impression made live: his zero Corsi was pretty low; compare Marcus Johanssen's 12 (!) and Halpern's 7 (supposedly while playing against the Ottawa offensive lines).