Page 1 of 1

GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/KMOX

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 7:23 am
by dmiles2186
BLUES (13-2-3) at CAPITALS (11-8-1)

TV: FS-MW, CSN-DC

Last 10: St. Louis 8-1-1; Washington 6-3-1

Season series: This is the first of two meetings between the St. Louis Blues and Washington Capitals. They won't face each other again until April 8 at Scottrade Center.

Big story: Alexander Steen and the Blues continue to roll, attempting to keep pace with the Chicago Blackhawks in the Central Division. Steen scored his 17th goal of the season Saturday night, helping the Blues earn a 4-2 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Steen added an assist and passed Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby to grab the NHL scoring lead with 26 points. He also extended his point streak to 13 games. He has 13 goals and five assists over that stretch.

Team Scope:

Blues: After watching a 2-0 lead evaporate in 57 seconds late in the second period, Steen responded for St. Louis 6:20 into the third and T.J. Oshie scored an empty-net goal in the final minute to help the Blues finish their five-game homestand with a 4-0-1 record.

"Big goal ... big-time player, big goal," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said of Steen. "We needed that goal right there. We dialed it up.

"We really had a good start to the third period. We really dialed it up, and I thought we took control of the hockey game again."

Capitals: After a 4-3 shootout win against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Friday night, Washington returns to Verizon Center to begin a three-game homestand. The Capitals trailed 3-1 before Alex Ovechkin and Michael Latta scored in the third period to force overtime.

Ovechkin believes the growth of linemate Marcus Johansson has played a huge role in recent games.

"To be honest with you, it's just experience," Ovechkin told reporters after practice Saturday. "What we have on the line and he's growing up like a player and like a person as well. He's playing with confidence right now. He's not afraid to take a hit, make a move. It's good for us."

Who's hot: Blues captain David Backes has two goals and three assists during a three-game point streak. Defenseman Jay Bouwmeester has five points (one goal, four assists) in as many games. … Ovechkin has seven points (five goals, two assists) in the past seven games.

Injury report: St. Louis defenseman Jordan Leopold (hand) and forward Magnus Paajarvi (upper body) are on injured reserve. … Capitals coach Adam Oates said Saturday he's hopeful defenseman Mike Green (lower body) will be able to play against the Blues. Green has been day-to-day since playing more than 23 minutes last Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Defensemen John Erskine (upper body) and Jack Hillen (leg) are out.

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:40 pm
by STLADOGG
I'll miss most of the game today, stupid work.
My brother will be down at the game though, hopefully we can get 2 points away tonight.

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 12:40 pm
by gaijin
Thought about driving up to DC for this one. Starting to feel a little guilty.

Petro + Bouw > Ovie

2 points, please. :letsgoblues:

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 3:12 pm
by Oaklandblue
Cap the Caps!

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 4:50 pm
by drwoland
4-3 Blues in OT, tough tough game. Steen and Ovechkin drop teh mits.

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 5:00 pm
by sseagle
(Frank) the capitals... horrible

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 5:33 pm
by gaijin
gaijin wrote: Petro + Bouw > Ovie
Boy, I'm pretty damn wrong so far, aren't I? :facepalm:

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 5:34 pm
by drwoland
YEAHHH maybe let's not get Ian Cole out there against Ovechkin QUITE as much.. I like the guy and all, but he just doesn't look ready for the challenge.

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 5:53 pm
by Frusciante
Cole and Halak have just given this one away far too easily. How the hell are we down 3-0? We've spent 9/10's of this period in their end. (Frank) it.

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 5:57 pm
by dmiles2186
drwoland wrote:YEAHHH maybe let's not get Ian Cole out there against Ovechkin QUITE as much.. I like the guy and all, but he just doesn't look ready for the challenge.
i don't know if it's that so much or Oates seeing Cole out there and getting Ovie on there as fast as (Franking) possible to exploit the matchup. And exploit, he has.

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 7:02 pm
by Oaklandblue
What the hell is Ian Cole doing out there when Ovi's on the ice to begin with??? O.o

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 8:36 pm
by BlueNoteworthy
Good job by Oates exploiting matchups. Awful job by Cole and Halak. Great job by Holtby. Not to take anything away from Holtby, but did it seem like the Blues were putting most of their shots right in his chest? Maybe it just looked that way due to his great positioning. Regardless of where the shots are, stopping 46 of 47 is impressive. Elliot was also impressive coming in relief. The only one he let in was a super clean and quick pass into a well-placed cannon. It would take a super-human to have reflexes fast enough to save that. He did have some great saves on Ovechkin. Overall, not a pretty game for the good guys.

drwoland wrote:4-3 Blues in OT, tough tough game. Steen and Ovechkin drop teh mits.
At one point, Steen was tussling with #88 for the Caps, Schmidt. I saw Steen and as Schmidt turned, I only saw the one 8. I thought the second half of your prediction was going to happen. Then the refs broke it up and I saw the other 8 :(

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 7:54 am
by dmiles2186
I'm not going to complain about this one. Second game within a 24 hour span, on the road, against an offensively gifted team. Blues just came out too slow and it burnt them. But it's only the 3rd regulation loss, they're still at 29 points. On the plus side, I thought Elliott came in and settled things down and made some big saves to save it from getting worse. The Blues had some chances but Holtby wasn't letting much through. Either way, time to move on to Buffalo.

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 3:02 pm
by ViPeRx007
I HATE THIS TEAM!!1111 :ninja:

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Mon Nov 18, 2013 8:17 pm
by glen a richter
How do you call 47 shots on goal coming out slow? I get the whole giving up 3 goals in the first period being an obvious issue, but its not like the chances weren't there. Against many other teams, 47 SOG would translate to a lot of franking goals. A game against Buffalo may be just what the doctor ordered to get the bad taste of the Washington loss washed away.

Re: GDT #19: 11/17/13 > Blues vs Capitals > 5:00 PM > FSMW/K

Posted: Tue Nov 19, 2013 9:14 am
by Kreegz2
This was the first game that I missed all year(wedding). Did the team play as bad as the score suggests? Or was it just a combination of a stinker from Halak and an amazing game from Holtby?