Comments on: Alex Ovechkin got his ice time tonight; Stu Bickel? Not so much

By: rfoster75

rfoster75 — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:51:27 +0000

neither eam was the better team until the very end. Sort of a silly argument. Opportunities were had by both teams. The Caps owned some golden ones however, of which they did not capitalize. When you do that more than once –they did it three times—you play with fire.

By: stakex

stakex — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:26:08 +0000

No, I do not think you were watching the same game as everyone else.

Caps were better and faster in the first overtime, but the Rangers slowly took over going into the second and were the better team from there on out.

By: stakex

stakex — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:24:26 +0000

Oh believe me I know Torts doesn’t like to use Bickell late in the game if he absolutely doesn’t have to, and your right about the Rangers having the better legs late in the game. Still though, just a bit of a suprise he didn’t see a few shifts once it hit the 2nd and 3rd overtimes.

By: rwmilli

rwmilli — Thu, 03 May 2012 12:43:37 +0000

Were we watching the same game….? The caps poured on the pressure throughout the last 2 OT periods, I’m not a fan of either team btw, but the caps looked fresher and had more scoring opportunities. They were actually setting up plays instead of shooting easily seen puck after easily seen puck. Not to mention the fact they had 10-15+ turnovers in their own end, I credit king henrick for keeping these guys alive.

By: jkay1818

jkay1818 — Thu, 03 May 2012 05:01:36 +0000

i see you post on here a lot, you know torts always sits him in the 3rd, nothing new. he even does it in the regular season. i agree with you about a few shifts at forward but as the OT went on, the rangers had better legs. thats really risky throwing a cold player out there like that in such an impt spot. especially since he is prone to take penalties and turn it over a lot (which he does often)

By: jkay1818

jkay1818 — Thu, 03 May 2012 04:59:38 +0000

is there really an article in regards to stu bickell? It didn’t really make much sense to throw bickell in this game after all of these OT’s, he was sitting on the bench, not in the game, a difft mindset. He would have been a complete liability out there, thats a recipe for disaster. A turnover, his legs not fresh etc. Steve Eminger should be playing over him anyway, then the rangers can roll with 6 dmen. Bickell is a tough guy and when playing decent, can get the puck out of the zone.
To answer your last question, no, bickell won’t be a scratch in game 4. If you watched any games in this series or any of the ranger games since bickell has been called up, he is benched 9 out of 10 times in the 3rd period. I dont even have to check the stats sheet for game 1 or 2 and i can guarantee he MAYBE topped out at 2 mins combined in the third. this has been going on since the regular season. eminger has been out and now back and sauer who can fit in to their top 4 pairing at times has been out since the early winter.
any hockey mind wouldnt have thrown bickell into that situation and an intense game like that after sitting that long, it would be absurd. Unless he throws in eminger which is highly unlikely, bickell will be dressed for game 4. good article.

By: stakex

stakex — Thu, 03 May 2012 04:54:51 +0000

Wow. I can’t imagine how hard it had to be for Bickell to sit there for three periods without a shift. I also don’t know why Torts wouldn’t have given him a shift here and there (even as a winger perhaps) to not only give his other players a bit more of a break, but have a player on the ice with fresh wheels during the overtimes. Makes me wonder exactlly what he did to end up not only in the dog house, but a dog house on the roof no less…..