The Wizards didn’t show up for game two and the fans are feeling the pain throughout DC tonight. The DC Trifecta was in play but with the Wizards losing the triple win was out of the question shortly after 930p. LP, Joe, and Canada discuss the Wiz/Raptors series and break down what went wrong for DC and what went well for Toronto. Can the Wiz get right and force the series beyond four games? … maybe, but highly unlikely given their game two performance! Plus, what surprised you more… Pacers beating Cavs or D.Wade pretending that age is just a number? The NBA Playoffs are awesome, join the boys and discuss! (Photo Credit: WaPo)
Here we go…The recap to game 1 of the NHL playoffs between the Washington Capitals and the Columbus Blue Jackets. A game that should have been a 4-1 victory for DC turned into an oh-so familiar sloppy 4-3 OT loss. Blown leads, sloppy on the PK and questions at goal keeper.
Photo Credit: NBC Sports Washington
Blown Leads: First and foremost we must all thank the heavens we have Kuzy. Two goals in 30 seconds is no easy task. For anyone. Sadly his heroics couldn’t help the Caps as they went from up 2-0 to losing 4-3. The Caps who constantly found themselves losing face-offs, sloppy on PKs and horrific net-front managed to keep their lead for a while…they even extended it 3-2 thanks to DSP who badly needed to score a goal. Then the mistakes happened…
Sloppy Penalty Kills: Burakovsky got called for a pointless tripping in the offensive zone. Power Play Blue jackets. The Caps who aren’t the best this year at PKs (15th) had plenty of chances, 3 to be exact, to kill the PP. The Blue Jackets, who quite frankly suck at power plays (25th) found a way to keep the puck in play, stay in the offensive zone and charge ahead for the tying goal. This was hands down the reason the Caps lost game 1. However that won’t be the discussion…
Goalie Questions: Gruby got the start because he earned it. Holtby down the stretch was struggling. Coach Trotz did what many figured he would do and play the hot hand. Gruby didn’t lose this game. We just covered how struggles at the PK cost us the game, how the defense net- front was non existent. However Gruby is not proven in the Playoffs. He did play sloppy, giving up four goals on 27 shots. He played glove down over his pads when he’d set up for a shot. Maybe it was nerves, but he did not play well. Enter Braden Holtby. The same Holtby who IS proven in the playoffs. When you have a goalie who currently boasts the second-best playoff save percentage (.931) in NHL history, and started in all but one of the Caps playoff games since 2012, you question immediately if he should get the start before Sunday’s game 2.
Final Thoughts:
1) Coach Trotz’s record in the post season is now 19-31. Much worse than Boudreau at 24-19. During the regular season Trotz is calm, cool and collected. During the post season he looks clueless.
2) Jay Beagle is Missed. Columbus won 33 faceoffs to the Caps 27. Even at 80% the Caps need him back or this series will be lost.
3) Defense as a whole is struggling. They loose battles, make terrible cross ice passes to the other team, and are soft in their own zone. Kempny going out changed the game. Having only 3 top 4 defensemen and playing Orpik and Jerabek more hurt the Caps and allowed the Jackets to come back.
The NBA Playoff picture is in focus now and the LP and Joe are going to break everything down with guest host Mark Hanna. Are the Wizards the best 8th seed ever? Are the Raptors the better opponent that the Wiz wanted to face bypassing the Celtics? Can the Wizards “turn it on” when needed? The boys discuss this and a lot more on this podcast plus take a look around the league too and ponder whether the Jazz are for real, and can Phila stun the world with a playoff series win to cap their incredible 50 game winning season. The NBA playoffs are here! Let’s go Wiz! (Photo Credit: NBCSN Washington)
The 2017-2018 season has come to an end. At the beginning of the season we all predicted the Wizards would be a 2-4 seed at worst. Here we are, the Wizards are the 8 seed. This by no means should be seen as anything except a colossal failure. Sure, John Wall was out for over 2 months but the bench has been significantly improved over last year and Bradley Beal started and played all 82 games. This team was too good to be an 8 seed.
The Wizards will start the playoffs across the border in Toronto where they actually split the season series 2-2. The 2 wins came without John. Is that a reason for optimism? Sure, it can be, however the way the Wizards have ended the season gives us absolutely no reason for optimism. The Wizards had an opportunity to move up to the 7 seed but completely blew another game to a subpar team in the Orlando Magic. The Wizards didn’t come to play, and coach Brooks didn’t coach to win the game. Clearly evident by the showing of G-Leaguer Devin Robinson in the 3rd quarter.
The typical D.C. question is who is to blame? Who should get fired? Who should we rebuild with? And finally, when is Ernie Grunfeld going to get fired? Those are legitimate questions but the season is far from over and we will have plenty of time to talk about that come summer.
Let’s take a step back and look at the situation from an outside perspective. The Wizards clearly have one of the best point guards in the league and he looks fully healthy. The Wizards have one of the best 2 guards in the East, maybe in the league, and he’s been nothing but consistent. It’s really about the other players. Gortat is clearly a better player when John is at PG, all beef aside Gortat. Otto struggles finding his own shot but when playing the wings can hit the big 3 ball and Keef has the ability to turn it on. As the Wizards playoffs go, as John Wall can facilitate the game where the others can hit their shots. Oh, and of course play defense.
With that said I can’t bet against John Wall, maybe it’s the homer in me. Wizards in 6. #DCFamily
Stevie and Joe talk about all kinds of things on the latest episode of the DTC podcast. First, the Wizards are sliding into the playoffs seemingly ill prepared to face the Raptors or Celtics, while the Capitals are set to begin their championship chase with less pressure than years past. After that the boys get a mile wide and a mile deep on all things Nationals from pitching to hitting to the general sense of fear die-hard fans are starting to feel as the bats keep going cold… for Zimm, ice ice cold. Finally what would a S&J show be without some political chatter and a discussion about TV ratings including the dumpster-fire known as “GetUp” on ESPN. Tune in and share this podcast!
Defeating the Curse 