Popeman38 Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 15 minutes ago, capcrunch98 said: I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT REPEATING AS CUP CHAMPS. I'm talking about a single series vs. one team. The Capitals have a ton more skill, experience, a better goalie (that alone can oftentimes win a playoff series), and home ice, and would be staked to a 2-0 lead against a team they've owned for the better part of 2 seasons and who lost one of their few skilled forwards to a concussion. Carolina is a good team, but the Caps are better and they should've won the series. I personally don't care about the 5 point regular season differential some keep bringing up because I think regular season records can be very misleading. The Coyotes finished 4 points behind the Avs. Can anyone see them knocking off Calgary in the first round? Can anyone even name more than 3 players on Arizona's roster? Hell, the 1998 Caps only finished 10 points behind the Wings that year. Yet everyone on the planet (Caps fans included) saw that as a David vs. Goliath Finals that Detroit easily won (3 1-goal games not withstanding). But for those who do put a huge premium on the regular season, please explain how the Caps going 4-0 against the Canes this year doesn't indicate that maybe they're the better team? Whatever, i'm done with this debate. To those who think Carolina truly was the better team, I respect your opinion. Personally, I think the Caps choked, and I'm not alone. Nuance. It appears to be lost on you. The Caps can be the "better" team and still lose, without it being a choke. The Caps have played a TON of postseason hockey over the last 5 years (2 rounds-14 games, 2 rounds-12 games, 2 rounds-13 games, 4 rounds-24 games, 1 round-7games), the equivalent of 85% of a full NHL season with mostly the same core players. Sometimes, a young hungry team meets a more skilled, but physically tired, experienced team and the young team wins. Doesn't mean the loser choked. Your definition of choked is basically an "upset" in everyday English. Were the Caps favored? Yes. Did they choke? **** no. They lost a game 7 in 2OT. THAT CANNOT BE DEFINED AS A CHOKE (unless they held a 3-0 or 3-1 series lead). Look at the scores of the Caps-Canes in the regular season (6-5 in SO, 4-1, 3-1, 3-2). Also, coaches game-plan for a series, not so much for the regular season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tshile Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 I’m happy for the caps. I don’t care that this series didn’t go our way. I’m still just happy they won last year I’m ok with criticism and being critical. The whining and ****ing is ridiculous though. Haven’t seen a championship in 25 years until they got one last year. Shut. Up. I do find the argument about number of playoff games played over the years and the toll that takes interesting. Makes complete sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tshile Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Ps- watching them lose last night did make me question whether standing outside the stadium before puck drop during one of the home Finals games declining to pay 1k for a seat in the upper level was the right decision given the state of DC sports that was probably my last chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max21 Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 5 minutes ago, tshile said: Ps- watching them lose last night did make me question whether standing outside the stadium before puck drop during one of the home Finals games declining to pay 1k for a seat in the upper level was the right decision given the state of DC sports that was probably my last chance. Lol I dropped an absurd amount on a ticket to game 3 of the finals last year, literally was just thinking about how glad I am I did that. It looks like the caps used all there pick luck last year. Vrana hitting the post and that shot from Ovechkin is like another 2 inches above it’s going over Mrazeks shoulder, so close to getting another goal that at the end of the third. You can’t win it every year and I’m still glad I got to witness one of my teams win a championship in my lifetime. You can never not look at the picture of Ovechkin raising the cup and not get chills. Honestly if we went to the second round and lost to Trotz that would have been even worse than this series IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purbeast Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Yeah I too kind of regretted not going to a finals game last year regardless of how expensive it was. That opportunity is so rare in these parts of town who knows when or if it will happen again in my lifetime. Today I was more disappointed than mad or anything. Like last year's run was just SSSSSSOOOOOO much fun. Everything about it was just so much fun, and then to cap it off with the cup just made it that much more amazing. Like having a game that felt like the Superbowl almost EVERY OTHER NIGHT while they made their run was just incredible. It made every weekend people come over and watch games at my house. It was party central during the playoff times and just so much fun. Just knowing that it's over and that won't happen again this year, is disappointing. And we all know the Redskins are going to be utter **** this year as well so I'm not even really excited about anything Redskins yet. I'm sure I will be come like August, but last year the deep cup run made the couple months before NFL interest started, really bearable. Now there's literally nothing I really care about until NFL starts. I'll watch 3rd and 4th round of NBA finals, but that's about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mournblade Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 2 hours ago, TryTheBeal! said: It’s not a choke. Carolina was simply better. You mean luckier. Caps outplayed them for most of game 7, but gave up some fluke goals, then grew exhausted by 2OT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
max21 Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Does anyone else feel like it’s weird a whole season has gone by since we won the cup? It literally feels like yesterday when we won it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renegade7 Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Saw a stat that said we were 3-9 in game 7s at home. This has happened 9 times now, that is brutal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooleyfan1993 Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 31 minutes ago, Renegade7 said: Saw a stat that said we were 3-9 in game 7s at home. This has happened 9 times now, that is brutal. 9 times in a row losing game 7 at home? Didn’t we win a home game 7 on April 27th, 2015? After that i believe the next game 7 was uh....last year right? (Not a Home game, point still being we couldn’t have lost 9 in a row, if there were only 3 other seasons after that win vs the islanders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 His said now, not in a row. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Switchgear Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 The randomness in hockey is hard to overstate. The puck bouncing over a stick or settling perfectly can be the difference in a game, in a series. Skill and gameplan matter, but they don't determine outcomes. How else do you explain a blowout each, while the rest of the games were hard fought and close (empty netters aside). Last year, everything broke right and we won it all. I just hope it happens again in my lifetime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonArtest15 Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 Disappointing result, but losing both Kempny and Oshie REALLY handcuffed the team....especially on the defensive end. I'll say this, I expected WAY more out of Holtby last night. He let in two horrendous goals. It's going to be interesting to see what happens with him going forward. Contract year for him next year, and he's mostly been up and down for the past few seasons. Samsonov waiting in the wings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c slag Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 When does next season's schedule get announced ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Springfield Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 6 minutes ago, c slag said: When does next season's schedule get announced ? Late summer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ixcuincle Posted April 27, 2019 Author Share Posted April 27, 2019 I'm tired of hearing about "Caps West" San Jose. In fact, the Sharks have been a pesky thorn in our sides at Capital One Arena and especially at SAP Center where they had a long winning streak against the Caps until this year. This season was the first time the Caps beat "Caps West" at San Jose in a very long time. Even if you discount the Sharks dominance over Washington at SAP Center, the Sharks actually went to the Western Conference final multiple times before the Capitals with the Ovechkin core could even sniff one. In fact, they even made the Stanley Cup Final before the Caps did in 2018. To me, Caps West is SMASHVILLE. They have former Caps GM David Poille as well as Filip Forsberg. There isn't really any kind of link between San Jose and Washington which would warrant them being Caps West. Last point on Nashville being Caps West. Before their SC Final year against Pittsburgh, Nashville had NEVER gotten out of the second round. The Capitals between 1999 and 2018 only got out of the second round once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mournblade Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 A couple of days later...in many ways, it feels better to get knocked out early like that, instead of getting your hopes up and getting knocked out in the ECF of even the Finals. That would have felt brutal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hail2skins Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 On 4/25/2019 at 5:37 PM, max21 said: Does anyone else feel like it’s weird a whole season has gone by since we won the cup? It literally feels like yesterday when we won it That's because the Caps only had like a four-month offseason between winning the Cup and the start of this past regular season. This offseason will be roughly six weeks longer due to the early playoff exit, but still not nearly as long as the football offseason is, particularly for the Skins who haven't played past early January in forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradeTheBeal! Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 1 hour ago, Mournblade said: A couple of days later...in many ways, it feels better to get knocked out early like that, instead of getting your hopes up and getting knocked out in the ECF of even the Finals. That would have felt brutal. Isles would’ve smoked us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 Still stuck in anger. Hope to graduate to depression soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c slag Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 3 hours ago, Mournblade said: A couple of days later...in many ways, it feels better to get knocked out early like that, instead of getting your hopes up and getting knocked out in the ECF of even the Finals. That would have felt brutal. Well even when they got knocked out of the finals in 1998 ,seeing the Eastern Conference Championship banner dropped from the rafters was still pretty awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mournblade Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 1 hour ago, c slag said: Well even when they got knocked out of the finals in 1998 ,seeing the Eastern Conference Championship banner dropped from the rafters was still pretty awesome No 1998 was a magical run, only second to last year, because (like last year) it was totally unexpected. I mean that team had Kolzig and Bondra and a bunch of warm bodies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hail2skins Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 6 hours ago, Mournblade said: No 1998 was a magical run, only second to last year, because (like last year) it was totally unexpected. I mean that team had Kolzig and Bondra and a bunch of warm bodies. I can't claim to be a huge hockey fan, but its hard for me to believe that a team which had 100+ points the three seasons prior to the Cup year's run was totally unexpected. Granted, from what I've heard, the Caps did have significant shifts in defensemen between 16-17 and 17-18, but still. The team has been fairly solid for much of the past decade. I think the historical chokes in the playoffs and particularly the inability to get past the Pens was what was in people's heads more than anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mournblade Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 16 minutes ago, hail2skins said: I can't claim to be a huge hockey fan, but its hard for me to believe that a team which had 100+ points the three seasons prior to the Cup year's run was totally unexpected. Granted, from what I've heard, the Caps did have significant shifts in defensemen between 16-17 and 17-18, but still. The team has been fairly solid for much of the past decade. I think the historical chokes in the playoffs and particularly the inability to get past the Pens was what was in people's heads more than anything. Most fans thought that the Caps were done after the 2017 debacle. In 2017 the Caps had probably their best team ever on paper. In addition their main rival Pittsburgh were without D Letang and G Murray, and Crosby was in and out of the playoffs with concussion issues. The Caps should have made it to the finals at the very least, and yet once again they got knocked out by an inferior Pens team in the second round. By all accounts at the start of training camp in 2018, the Caps were moping around, looking depressed, and not appearing to believe in themselves. They had lost critical players like Mojo, Justin Williams, Kevin Shatterkirk and Nate Schmidt. Furthermore, teams like Tampa and Pittburgh had grown stronger during the off-season. It looked like the Caps window had closed with the 2017 season. And yet they went on to win the 2018 Cup to the shock and delight of their fans. It came as a COMPLETE surprise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hersh Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 Um, slightly disagree with that entire assessment from The Who you label as “critical players” to a complete surprise. Some fans here accurately assessed the problem from 2017 being the disappearance of Kuzy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCSaints_fan Posted April 28, 2019 Share Posted April 28, 2019 9 hours ago, Mournblade said: No 1998 was a magical run, only second to last year, because (like last year) it was totally unexpected. I mean that team had Kolzig and Bondra and a bunch of warm bodies. Adam Oates was alot more than a warm body. Hunter was old but still effective, granted in a reduced role. And our defensive corp was pretty darn solid with Johanson, Gonchar, Reekie, Witt, Klee and Tinordi. But I agree that it was a pretty magical run. Partially enabled by the fact that New Jersey and Philadelphia had been eliminated in the first round. Then we ran into the buzzsaw of Detroit. That team had seven hall of famers . This was before the hard cap came into play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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