We were all curious as to how the Caps were going to look in their first game under new head coach Peter Laviolette — ‘though we did have a pretty good idea, having watched Laviolette coach the Carolina Hurricanes, Philadelphia Flyers, and Nashville Predators in the past.
We knew that they’d be aggressive in all three zones, dictating the game rather than waiting for the game to come to them — and we knew that they’d have their defensemen activating a lot to push the offense, as well as putting the puck at the net with increased frequency (something that was sorely lacking under Todd Reirden’s tutelage). And through one game so far, I have to say — I’m impressed.
Although there was some obvious rust, and it was sloppy at times (to be expected when you’ve been without meaningful games for so long, and with a shorter-than-usual training camp and no preseason games, etc.) — the Caps were decidedly less rusty – and more prepared – than their counterpart the Buffalo Sabres, and that helped the Caps to get the right result on the scoreboard on Night One.
Yes, all things considered, they played pretty damn well — rolling to a 6-4 win and never trailing in the game. The top line of Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and TJ Oshie combined for 7 points, and the Caps got 2 goals from defensemen — one from John Carlson, which is not surprising; and one from Brenden Dillon, which IS surprising (it was the shutdown defenseman’s 2nd goal in his past 143 games).
Overall, it was a good reminder of how the Caps are looking to play under new head coach Peter Laviolette — aggressive on offense, controlling the puck and controlling the play, with the defensemen activating and being a part of the attack. And ‘Laviolette Era Hockey’ definitely lived up to its billing in Game One.
QUICK SCORING NOTES:
- Caps’ 1st goal: Backstrom finishes a tic-tac-toe passing play from Ovechkin & Oshie.
- Caps’ 2nd goal: Oshie jams home a rebound off of an Ovechkin shot on the power play. Carlson with the secondary assist.
- Caps’ 3rd goal: Carlson buries a heavy shot on the breakaway. Backstrom with the quick-up play from his own zone had found Oshie, who then found Carlson for the break — great defense quickly turns into offense.
- Caps’ 4th goal: Dillon scores on a shot from the point through traffic. Eller won the draw, Sheary bumped the puck back to Dillon, and then the red light was on.
- Caps’ 5th goal: Vrana steals a puck in the offensive zone and roofs a wicked shot for the unassisted goal.
- Caps’ 6th goal: Hathaway scores into the Sabres’ empty net, which was impressive because he fired the shot all the way from his own zone.
Overall, we know that there’s obviously a natural offensive chemistry amongst most of these players. Most of them – the core of this team – have been together for a long time, and have scored a lot of goals together, and have won a lot of games together. So the offense with this team is always to be expected. They’re always one of the highest scoring teams in the NHL.
But where I was particularly impressed during their first game under Laviolette was in their defensive coverage, especially by the forwards. Guys just seemed to be in the right places all the time and it looked easy to them — and because they were always in the right places, the opposition was finding it hard to generate any real offense.
Defensive coverage as a whole was something that was certainly missing under Todd Reirden, so it’s encouraging to see that already in their first game under Peter Laviolette, it already looks as if it’s improved ten-fold.
If I had one real concern from this game, it would be the play of Ilya Samsonov. To put it bluntly, he looked like shit in his first start of the season and first game since injuring his neck/back in an ATV accident over the summer — so that will definitely be something to keep an eye on as the season moves along. The Caps have high aspirations yet again this season, and they’re going to need a goalie who’s playing a whole lot better than Samsonov did last night if they want to make it all the way to their goal. The Caps have said that Samsonov is now 100% healthy, and maybe he is — but if he is, then his timing is certainly still off. He looked shaky right from the very first puck that came his way, and he remained that way all night — all in all, the Sabres got 4 goals past him on just 26 shots. The Caps’ defense – like I mentioned earlier – really didn’t give the Sabres much at all.
But for me, it wasn’t even so much just the quantity of goals that got past him — it was moreso the way he looked in the net. Like I mentioned, he was shaky — he was out of position, he was swimming around, he was handing out huge rebounds as if they were candy on Halloween. He just didn’t look confident in what he was doing out there.
And again — it’s to be expected that Samsonov would be rusty. It’s even to be expected that he would be a lot MORE rusty than others, given that he couldn’t participate in the playoff bubble over the summer due to injury. So this isn’t an indictment on Samsonov. He’ll simply need to shake it off, and get his timing – and his confidence – back if he wants to be the starting goaltender for a team that can go all the way. Like I said, his performance will be something to really keep an eye on here as the season moves along. A lot of pundits right now have the Caps as a top Stanley Cup contender, with the except for the goaltending part. So I’ll be looking for Samsonov to prove those pundits wrong, and prove that he can handle the responsibility of being the No. 1 guy on a top contending team.
We’ll have to wait a little longer to see how Samsonov looks in his next start, however — as Vitek Vanecek will make his NHL debut in the second half of this back-to-back.
