I’m begging for a Milano Strome Miro line. That line would be so insane

Not signing Hathaway was a mistake imo

much more encouraging game today. was nice that we were finally actually maintaining pressure in the zone and not just turning it over at the blue line. ovi had maybe his most complete game in a year imo, all over the ice on offense and while he will never be a great defender actually skated and gave a **** on that end. kuemper and special teams cost them the game

Fire up the parade buses, the Caps won the deserve-o-meter again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Team looked better but still don't like what seems to be a complete inability to enter the offensive zone at times. Very happy they seemed to actually get it deep more often than not but still too many ill-conceived passes that nearly led to turnovers. I can think of a couple from the 1st period in which both Kuznetsov and Milano pulled up at the blue line and smoked a pass right off the stick of Fehervary, which led to odd man breaks. Need to eliminate that from the gameplan, would rather dump it and not get the puck back than gift the other team a 2 on 1.

Great goal by my favorite player who I have never criticized ever, Anthony Mantha

Caps fans shocked to learn that the 27 year old AHL goalie might not be the goalie of the future

probably not their biggest problem but doesn't help that our goalies have given up at least one bad goal every night so far

vanacek and seigenthaler having real stinkers ...

mantha and mcmichael tonight

Was at the game last night. A few observations:

1. I think every Caps fan would say this - Mantha was very noticeable (in a fantastic way). He was strong offensively, and even threw his body around a touch. One thing I noticed (that drove me nuts) - his defensive zone breakouts are horrible. He tries to chip it against the wall everytime he gets the puck in the d zone, and it rarely works. Other than that, I thought he played very well - build on that big man!
2. Milano was outstanding - absoluately flying around. I think he is our most effective player in this young season.
3. Jack Hughes is very good at hockey.
4. Fun to see Shepard, but I don't see him as an NHL goalie. Would like to see more of him and be proven wrong.
5. TVR skated around the ice almost every TV timeout - maybe he is trying to work out a nagging injury...? Something to monitor I guess
6. Jensen seems off so far this year - not as reliable. Might just be taking some time to get used to the new system (it took him almost 1.5 years to get used to the Caps system when he came from Detroit, so I am giving him some time before really critiquing his play).
7. I thought the Caps started to play "safe" too early last night (looked to be almost 10 min left in the 3rd). I really think, because the Caps are not the best defensively, they need to keep up the pressure on offense late in the game when holding a one goal lead. Don't just make teams play the full length of the ice for 10+ min (i.e., just chipping it into the zone and falling back) won't work for an older team.

Anyways, good win. Build on this

agree with everything here. mantha's best game as a cap?

Definitely think so

Two additional edits:

Oshie looked horrible. Slow, not controlling the puck, just really..bad. No other way to say it
Same could be said with Wilson - he has not look good so far this season.

https://x.com/JohnWaltonPxP/status/1718693244098261242?s=20

interesting clip from carbery here. feel like its been a very noticeable change from lav

Dylan Strome for the hart

I'm starting to think the training staff might be to blame with the sheer amount of injuries over the last two years.

thought i read he took a shot off his knee awkwardly, doesn't seem like a re-injury from coming back too soon

My ideal lines for the forseeable future:

Ovi-Strome-Wilson (do not break up)
McM-Kuzy-Oshie (do not break up McM and Kuzy)
Milano-Backstrom-Mantha
Malenstyn-Protas-Phillips

Fehervary-Carlson
Sandin-TVR
HHA-Jensen

Edmundson can't come back soon enough, all 3 of Johansen, AA, HHA have been super disappointing

Spot on.

My ideal lines when healthy:

Ovi - Strome - Wilson
Patches - McMike - Kuzy (likely will have kuzy and mcmike swapped tho
Mantha - Backy - Oshie
Milano - Dowd - Protas

Not sure on D pairings

just got back from the wizards game and as bad as the caps have played sometimes in the last year or so but oh man are the wiz AWFUL

dc sports have been rough lately

cant we scratch oshie

been saying this for a while and its based off a small sample size from a few year ago.

the line of

sprong mcmike wilson

dominated. should explore and bring it back. possibly

Not super excited about that. I remember one solid game from them against Columbus but this wasn't a long term successful line. Wilson was needed elsewhere and Sprong being a black hole defensively really kills a lot of his appeal, plus McMichael's defensive game still is a bit rough to use at center, especially with the other center options. Sprong isn't what Washington needs anyway. He's another more expensive winger that needs major PP time and large amounts of insulation to succeed, neither of which the Caps can or would be willing to afford him (especially when Patches is healthy and they need to scratch a winger). A 3rd line winger isn't, or at least shouldn't, be the main focus for the team if they actually want to compete.

Hate to see Backy go out not on his own terms. Most likely is the end for him. Hes an all time great and im glad he was able to help lead us to a cup.

With that being said, McMike getting to play C and $9.2m in cap space really gives us the opportunity to make a high end move.

Will be curious if we look to make a move this season or wait for the offseason.