Here's the bad news though - Huet performance last night was at best mediocre, some good saves - some really bad ones though that he should have had. Huet is weak glove side and other teams aren't going to hesitate to take advantage of it... Basically, Gunnar Stahl would have no problem with Huet... So the match-up of Huet and the Capitals might not even happen. It wouldn't be surprising to see Khabby make his debut today. So it could be a lose-lose situaiton, either Huet plays and shooters like Ovechkin light him up... or Khabby goes in without even having played a preseason game.
I don't know if there have been any changes from last year, but the ice at the Verizon Center isn't going to help the Hawks much more than MSG's. It would make sense for the Caps to get a better surface on their own rink since they're a team that relies on speed as well - so lets hope they fixed that.
But it isn't all bad - here's the good news: The capitals looked worse than the Hawks did last night and their new goalie, Jose Theodore, was pulled after giving up 4 goals on 19 shots. The Caps gave up 7 goals in total to the Thrashers - a team that only has one or two good shooters.
The Hawks don't have to worry about the Capitals just sucking to win though - the last time they played the Caps, Khabby was able to keep every shot out of the net in front of a sell out UC crowd which included Tony O. - and an amazing save late in the game that helped us think "maybe Khabby isn't so bad".. at least until his next start.
The Capitals have a great offense, so tightening up our D will be the most important correction to make in this game. The chances were there for the Hawks last game - they just have to finish it. Like Sam said, Versteeg looked good out there and I thought Buff looked even better. The goals will come if they keep generating the chances they got last night. And hey, Havlat made it thru his first game without getting hurt... bonus
But it isn't all bad - here's the good news: The capitals looked worse than the Hawks did last night and their new goalie, Jose Theodore, was pulled after giving up 4 goals on 19 shots. The Caps gave up 7 goals in total to the Thrashers - a team that only has one or two good shooters.
The Hawks don't have to worry about the Capitals just sucking to win though - the last time they played the Caps, Khabby was able to keep every shot out of the net in front of a sell out UC crowd which included Tony O. - and an amazing save late in the game that helped us think "maybe Khabby isn't so bad".. at least until his next start.
The Capitals have a great offense, so tightening up our D will be the most important correction to make in this game. The chances were there for the Hawks last game - they just have to finish it. Like Sam said, Versteeg looked good out there and I thought Buff looked even better. The goals will come if they keep generating the chances they got last night. And hey, Havlat made it thru his first game without getting hurt... bonus
No comments:
Post a Comment