I had a bad feeling about tonight as soon as I boarded the Metro on the way to the
game — my 20 minute trip stretching to 75 minutes due to a damaged
track.
The pregame skate was an indicator of things to come, as Washington Capitals forward Boyd Gordon re-injured his back. Gordon will likely miss Saturday’s game in Montreal, though he had not yet been medically evaluated when Coach Boudreau addressed the injury after the game. The team played with only 11 forwards and for the most part rolled just three lines.
Boudreau’s press conference, while understandably less energetic than usual, still provides some good insights into dealing with Columbus’ stifling style of play and the team’s increasing frustration as the game progressed.
On Frozen Blog 
I’ll maintain, half the problem is the Caps’ lackadaisical movement in transition. I won’t call this an overarching “attitude” toward playing lazy hockey, but there’s no question that our skill players rely on things “going their way.” Hence, when bounces aren’t going their way, when players aren’t rotating into position in the way their linemates are used to, it’s going to get ugly. Frustrating is exactly right. For the players as much as the fans.
Green in particular is driving me crazy. I’ve never seen a guy make so many nearly brilliant plays followed by the dumbest, laziest, passive play immediately thereafter. Case in point, in the first period on the PP, he makes a great keep at the blue line on a too-hard pass from the corner (one of several tonight), and immediately tries to wing it across to the other point without looking. A Blue Jacket shin guard was waiting to deflect it to center ice. Multiply that problem times 50 and you’ve got some estimation of total tonight’s missed chances to capitalize.