[POSTGAME] Washington Capitals @ Tampa Bay Lightning – 2/22/24 – The One Where ESPN’s Idiot Camera Operator Couldn’t Stop Zooming In

33 comments

1. That was definitely a hockey game

2. I could get onboard with a Vasilevsky trade

3. And we are out of wildcard spot. Awesome

4. We yet again failed to score more goals than the opposing team and lost.

5. Red wings beat the avs in OT. Fuck.

6. I enjoyed the brief few minutes where it felt like we may actually get a greasy point before a mediocre wildcard rival completely owned us in a 4 point game.

7. Shit. Shitty refs, shitty team, shitty all around. Eve kucherov is playing shitty rn. His hart and Ross chances just took a dive off a cliff

8. Who are all these people I’ve never seen post shit on the game thread coming to talk trash about the team and Vasy? Fucking chill

9. Why are people saying we are out of a playoff spot. We are WC2 right now no?

10. This team is cooked. The defense is fucking atrocious and I have no confidence that JBB will do anything to improve it. He’ll trade for bottom 6 grinder and hope for the best.

11. Back to back unacceptable games by Vasy. Basically single handedly dropped 4 points this team had to have against non playoff teams at home. The defense isn’t great on paper but how many dangerous chances can you truly say the Caps had tonight? I really don’t think it was that many. 4 goals on 23 shots is just never going to get it done. I’m really not sure what you do about the goaltending situation short of trying to acquire someone at the deadline.

12. “We’ll be focused on next game and come out strong” calling it now

13. Everyone wants to blame refs fine sure it doesn’t help. Still had multiple powerplays and did absolutely nothing with them. Fucking garbage.

    This team has the pieces and has a core that can win it again I’m sure. Lots of solid talent is young or just around 30. There’s still time. But to think this year is any kind of chance is foolish. The best we can do is sell, tell Stamkos he takes a cheap contract or fucks off, retool (please be the right fucking pieces) and hope some dudes rebound. Need some players to be better than this. Cirelli is a god damn anchor contract.

    That said 2024-2025 we could have a bounce back depending how it goes but this year is cooked.

14. We are in serious trouble.

    Back to back matinee games up next against two teams that need to beat us and will probably be playing like it. If we can’t figure it out soon, things can get out of hand real quick.

    Something has to be done about our D, this group is just not cutting it.

15. vasy’s being paid like he’s one of the best goalies in the league, he needs to play like one

    coop putting these lines in a complete blender will never not be ridiculous to me, also, why are we deploying our 4th line in the o-zone in a tied game with 4 minutes left to go ???

    if we are going to blend the lines, why haven’t we tried the stamkos/paul/sheary line that had great advanced stats before it got thrown to the curb never to be tried again after sheary got injured ??? all these players are struggling hard rn

    stamkos continues to be completely useless in our zone

    also, why the fuck is paul not on pp1? why our we tinkering with our powerplay that is on pace to be historically good? it’s looked so much worse since he left

    jbb needs to either make a trade or start selling, cause running out hedman and 5 ideally bottom 2 (if not 7th-d) defenseman is not the move

16. More fan noise during the women’s basketball game that followed our game.

17. Yeah this isn’t good. Tough pill to swallow that we’re just not as good as we used to be last few years.

18. Trade deadline is in two weeks. Frankly whatever we do…I’m not looking forward to it

19. Stamkos is in a sink or swim year and right now it’s a coin flip at best. At best.

    As for the game the Bolts had their looks. Plenty to be said about the refs, but this homestand has been a nightmare. Good time to get out on the road.

20. We beat Boston and Colorado and said we’re done winning games

21. 1. With two days of rest, coming off two bad losses, at home, in a critical matchup against an inferior opponent, it’s entirely unacceptable to not come out and *dominate* play. Between offense, defense, and goaltending, none of it was good enough to make the playoffs, and if they didn’t have it in them given the circumstances tonight, it’s hard to imagine they have it in them at all.
    2. We indeed would have won anyway if the referees didn’t put on an absolutely fireable performance, indicative of such incredible incompetence that it is nearly impossible to believe it is not more than incompetence, including ignoring two obvious calls that led directly to goals in a one-goal game and, of course, the obvious Kucherov trip that negated a high-danger offensive chance. This is absolutely not a point that should be buried under a pile of complaints about the way the Lightning played; it made an obviously critical impact, there is absolutely no excuse for it, and the fact that this happens regularly massively undermines my ability to respect the integrity of the game of hockey.

22. Can’t wait to see who we decide to sell at the deadline.

    This roster is cooked. No amount of retooling is gonna get us in a playoff spot.

23. Listen, has this year been a gut punch reality check absolutely. Haven’t felt this way about a bolts team since 18-19’ but this is just the price you have to pay for the success of the last 3/4 years. Have they still underperformed this yeah absolutely but think how much hockey the top 6 and Hedman have played the last 4 years. Add in Vasy who’s played all that time and also coming off of major surgery this offseason. I’m sure he’ll be the first to admit he’s not been great but our defense certainly hasn’t given him a lot to work with this year. Hope a move for a solid defenseman is made this deadline without giving up too much cause it needs to be done. Hang in there bolts fans, let’s appreciate the scenario this years roster has meant for banners

24. If we keep shitting the bed these next few games we need to sell cause a lot of our opponents are WC competitions

25. Yeah we are slumping but that was a total ref job. Honestly. Missed trip on hagel – goal. Missed interference on Aube-Kubel- goal. No call on interference / trip during a scoring chance in dying minutes.

    Like I don’t know if we deserved a point but the refs were fucking horrible.

    Also feel like we are back to the point where we basically can’t allow ANY shots to get through. We haven’t gotten the saves. Straight up. Lost the goaltending match up in every game.

26. I’ll keep rooting for us to turn it around, but missing the playoffs may be good for this team. It’s better to recognize quickly when your cup window has closed than to keep trying to crawl into a playoff spot. I don’t want to see any more assets given up to try and make this team a contender right now because they just aren’t going to be.

    What’s a real shame is that even Kuch has been poor these last several games. I don’t realistically see him winning the Hart at this point. MacKinnon is gonna go on a heater, McDavid is probably going to catch up in points before the season’s done, and Matthews may sneak into the race if he keeps scoring like he has been. Kuch had so much success earlier this season because he finally adopted a shoot-first mentality and stopped trying to make unnecessary passes, but now he’s back to the passing game and I don’t know why.

27. I don’t think JBB and Coop will ever accept a wasted season. Unless we have an epic collapse over the next 7 games I still think JBB will be a buyer at the deadline. I’m not sure how I feel about it because this off-season sets up nicely for a retool if we can dump some cap in a trade.

28. It’s interesting how ESPN talked about the Lightning’s good ole days, while WSH has about 5-6 names way past their prime…old and slow. I guess that’s TBL 3 years down the road

29. Can we stop deflecting pucks and screening our own goalie? Wtf???

30. If I had to guess and make a prediction for the deadline (because that’s what I’m looking forward to), JBB pulls a shock move by shipping off a big piece or two that defines the future of the entire franchise for the next 5 years. 

    Could be good, could be sh*t. Who knows with this team.

31. No fucking heart. Dudes just standing still watching in the D zone and giving the Caps (the fucking caps with a shell of an ovi) free take of the blue line is pathetic. I think lilleberg is the only person I saw attempt at checking anyone. Where’d our physical gameplay go? We always play so good when we are throwing hits. Everyone’s out there looking afraid to make contact. Lackluster effort. Fucking bring up the entire Syracuse roster and make a statement to the team. I know we may not be winning the cup this year but it’s getting pathetic. I’m honestly wanting jeannot back just to fucking throw his body around.

32. Getting a little tired of the Bolts allowing these shit box teams to win.

33. This makes 3 in a row that I’ve left before the start of the 3rd. Lack of energy, Lack of execution, and Lack of fight. Don’t want to hear the excuses tonight, it will be the same old shit. I wouldn’t even consider being buyers at the deadline.