by Hockey Guru
Washington Preserves the One Goal Defeat
Down two games to one. Down two goals to one. Late in the third period.
Sean Avery takes yet another penalty away from the play.
The opportunity for the Capitals to tie the game was there. The powerplay had some chances throughout the game. And on the previous powerplay, the Caps did everything right. But they just couldn't get one past King Henrik.
Three minutes left, now.
A goal here is absolutely necessary, or the season is on the brink.
Under the new rules, the faceoff is automatically in the offensive zone. Why not pull the goalie right now? Make it a 6-on-4. Get an extra body in front of the net. That's the best chance you have, Bruce.
Sure, there's the risk that an empty netter puts you down two, but take your shot when it presents itself. If you go to the bar and the most beautiful girl there wants to leave with you, do you turn her down because it's not closing time?
Nope. Boudreau played it safe. He wasn't ready to sack up. A crucial situation and he didn't send the message to his team that the time is now - it's do or die.
Instead, he can hold his head high and think about how close he was - only losing by one goal. Lamenting how unfortunate that Ovechkin hit the crossbar, about all the posts, blah, blah, blah.
Sometimes a coach just needs to show some guts.
Random Thought
Must Win games in the playoffs.
Teams and coaches prefer to minimize the use of this phrase. It just doesn't make sense anymore. While the regular season is referred to as a marathon - and the playoffs a sprint - wouldn't it be appropriate for a coach to treat every game as a MUST WIN?
Wouldn't the urgency and importance of every shift be emphasized to the players?
If a play-off game is not a MUST WIN, does that make it an OKAY-TO-LOSE game?
An Old-Time Hockey Lesson
Watching the Flames' / Hawks' Game 4 brought to mind the story Wayne Gretzky has told many times, about the Oilers loss to the Islanders in the '83 Cup Finals.
In short, after the loss, the Oilers had to walk past the Islanders dressing room to exit the arena. Edmonton players had expected to see the Islanders celebrating and whooping it up. When they passed the doorway, however, they saw quite a different scene.
Most Islanders' players were still in uniform. Those that were undressed were covered in ice packs. There was no celebration. It resembled more of a M*A*S*H* unit.
Gretzky realized right there, the reason why the Islanders had won. The Oilers, by contrast, hadn't left it all on the ice.
How does that relate to last night's Flames / Hawks game?
Look at the TOI report for the game - particularly for the forwards. For Games 3 and 4. Chicago had a chance to win one of those two games, and take a commanding lead in the series. They chose instead, to keep the legs fresh for later in the series.
Well congrats, Coach Q. There'll be at least 6 games in this series now.
Top 4 forwards in terms of ice time:
Calgary: Iginla, Jokinen, Glencross, Bertuzzi
Chicago: Bolland, Havlat, Pahlsson, Byfuglien
Guess who won both games?
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