Eastern Conference: (2) Capitals vs. (4) Penguins

[ridinryan44]

I cannot wait to watch every single second of this series. I don\'t know if Washington has what it takes to beat Pittsburgh, as much as I would like to see it happen. Washington\'s defence, other than Morrison, is just awful, and they\'ll need to count on Varlamov to come up BIG if they want a chance. Pittsburgh\'s defence is much better than Washington\'s IMO and Fleury has been here before. I\'m not a Fleury fan but he has been absolutely stellar so far this playoffs. He\'s made all the big saves and that\'s what it takes to beat Washington. I pray to the hockey gods that Washington wins this game, but I just don\'t see them matching up to the Penguins. God I hate Crosby. I hope Ovechkin knocks him even deeper into his mother\'s womb, and he never finds his way back out.

[lanky]

ridinryan44 wrote:

I cannot wait to watch every single second of this series. I don\'t know if Washington has what it takes to beat Pittsburgh, as much as I would like to see it happen. Washington\'s defence, other than Morrison, is just awful, and they\'ll need to count on Varlamov to come up BIG if they want a chance. Pittsburgh\'s defence is much better than Washington\'s IMO and Fleury has been here before. I\'m not a Fleury fan but he has been absolutely stellar so far this playoffs. He\'s made all the big saves and that\'s what it takes to beat Washington. I pray to the hockey gods that Washington wins this game, but I just don\'t see them matching up to the Penguins. God I hate Crosby. I hope Ovechkin knocks him even deeper into his mother\'s womb, and he never finds his way back out.

well pittsburgh\'s only win this year during the regular season against washington came in a shootout (which we all know doesn\'t count in the playoffs).

i don\'t know how many times (if any) they played after guerin, kunitz, and byslma joined up with the pens... and in that respect, this series could be as difficult to judge for the caps as their last one (with avery, morris, antropov, and tortorella).

I wouldn\'t say that washington\'s defense is bad by any means though... just somewhat unknown. Erskine, Morrison (whom you mention), Pothier, Jurcina, and Green are all really decent in their own end. More importantly, these guys are all pretty big and/or physical guys (unlike what philadelphia had), so i don\'t expect them to get \"pushed around\" as much as smaller guys like timonen and carle did.

should be really interesting to watch... because so far this season, the caps have had pittsburgh\'s number.

[Shao]

WSH in 6..woohoo!

[ridinryan44]

lanky wrote:

ridinryan44 wrote:

I cannot wait to watch every single second of this series. I don\'t know if Washington has what it takes to beat Pittsburgh, as much as I would like to see it happen. Washington\'s defence, other than Morrison, is just awful, and they\'ll need to count on Varlamov to come up BIG if they want a chance. Pittsburgh\'s defence is much better than Washington\'s IMO and Fleury has been here before. I\'m not a Fleury fan but he has been absolutely stellar so far this playoffs. He\'s made all the big saves and that\'s what it takes to beat Washington. I pray to the hockey gods that Washington wins this game, but I just don\'t see them matching up to the Penguins. God I hate Crosby. I hope Ovechkin knocks him even deeper into his mother\'s womb, and he never finds his way back out.

well pittsburgh\'s only win this year during the regular season against washington came in a shootout (which we all know doesn\'t count in the playoffs).

i don\'t know how many times (if any) they played after guerin, kunitz, and byslma joined up with the pens... and in that respect, this series could be as difficult to judge for the caps as their last one (with avery, morris, antropov, and tortorella).

I wouldn\'t say that washington\'s defense is bad by any means though... just somewhat unknown. Erskine, Morrison (whom you mention), Pothier, Jurcina, and Green are all really decent in their own end. More importantly, these guys are all pretty big and/or physical guys (unlike what philadelphia had), so i don\'t expect them to get \"pushed around\" as much as smaller guys like timonen and carle did.

should be really interesting to watch... because so far this season, the caps have had pittsburgh\'s number.

Well I love to hear that!!! I wasn\'t up to date on those stats and that puts a little confidence in them for me!!!! You\'re definitely right on the wash defence, they are big and tough... I just don\'t get a real feeling of confidence from them, maybe because Tom Poti plays for them, lol. I hope you\'re right my friend, I\'d way rather be watching Ovie in the quarters than Crosby!

[playmaker26]

lanky wrote:

Anyone else notice that Jeff Schultz has been out \"injured\" since that game 1 aginst the rangers where dubinsky blew out his tires? LOL.

I think he\'s been a healthy scratch if you ask me. I said after that first game that I was shocked that Boudreau went with schultz over pothier... well... pothier\'s been in since then hahaha.

Interesting that nylander isn\'t even on the ice though... I mean even as a checking line guy that pitches in 8 minutes a game. He\'s decent at faceoffs, so Boudreau must really think he\'s a liability to healthy scratch him for 6 games.

Prime candidate for a buyout this summer perhaps?

Yeah, I don\'t see Schultz getting into the lineup unless a serious injury happens to one of the defenseman on Washington.

[playmaker26]

ridinryan44 wrote:

I cannot wait to watch every single second of this series. I don\'t know if Washington has what it takes to beat Pittsburgh, as much as I would like to see it happen. Washington\'s defence, other than Morrison, is just awful, and they\'ll need to count on Varlamov to come up BIG if they want a chance. Pittsburgh\'s defence is much better than Washington\'s IMO and Fleury has been here before. I\'m not a Fleury fan but he has been absolutely stellar so far this playoffs. He\'s made all the big saves and that\'s what it takes to beat Washington. I pray to the hockey gods that Washington wins this game, but I just don\'t see them matching up to the Penguins. God I hate Crosby. I hope Ovechkin knocks him even deeper into his mother\'s womb, and he never finds his way back out.

I agree Ryan. With everything you said. I have Pittsburgh winning but I want Washington too.

[honduranhockey]

7 high-scoring games, 5 of them resolved in overtime, with highlight-reel plays after every game on every major sport outlet in North America.

The NHL overtakes NASCAR in popularity, sponsorship money rolls in, and a new long-term lucrative deal is reached with ESPN.

Gary Bettman has his contract extended for 10 years, gets an NHL logo tattooed onto his chest after a week straight of coke and Las Vegas hookers. The logo is engraved backwards so he can look at it in the mirror every morning.

The NHL expands faster than a Donald Trump empire, but collapses just as quickly due to increasingly frequent labour disruptions. Several high-profile teams go bankrupt, and the league eventually scales back to a mere 16 teams.

Ovechkin and Crosby continue their long rivalry as coaches of teams in the same division, and are the only thing with any dignity left in the New New NHL.

Is it worth it? Is it really worth it?

Caps in 7.

[andrewklassen]

lanky wrote:

i don\'t know how many times (if any) they played after guerin, kunitz, and byslma joined up with the pens... and in that respect, this series could be as difficult to judge for the caps as their last one (with avery, morris, antropov, and tortorella).

WAS @ PIT [WAS wins 4-3] Oct. 16th
Summary-WAS is outshot 20-9 through 2 periods and trails 3-1, but storms out in the 3rd firing 21 shots and scoring 3 times to eek out a win. No Gonchar, Whitney, Guerin, Kunitz or Bylsma.

WAS @ PIT [WAS wins 6-3] Jan. 14th
Summary-PIT was playing their 2nd of back-to-back games having slugged is out 4-2 over the FLYERS the day before. WAS played the night before also, but against EDM and lost 5-2...apparently this was a motivating factor. WAS went 2/3 on the PP and peppered Fleury with 42 shots on goal to PIT\'s 29. R. Whitney was in the lineup...he\'ll have just returned.

PIT @ WAS [WAS wins 5-2] Feb. 22nd [Sun. afternoon]
Summary-Once again PIT played a huge game the day before [the FLYERS again] and won 5-4. Despite a WAS parade to the sin bin PIT came up short going 1/7 to WAS\'s 2/3 on the PP. Fleury was pulled in the 2nd period. I believe Bylsma started on Feb. 16th so this would have been his 3rd game coaching and his first loss I believe. Gonchar and Whitney were in the lineup.

PIT @ WAS [PIT wins 4-3 in a SO] March 8th [Sun. afternoon]
Summary-WAS needed 2 3rd period goals to force overtime and secure a single point. This will have been the only game with Guerin and Kunitz in the lineup.

PIT\'s record in afternoon games is 7-12 [I didn\'t bother adding the specifics of SO\'s and overtime into this equation].

It\'s tough to get a firm read on this coming series as PIT is really a very different team than the one WAS faced for 3 of their 4 regular season games. The March 8th game being the closest comparison. PIT playing and beating their rivals from PHI the day before 2 of the WAS wins is telling to me. PIT gave a great effort the day before and struggled to match the intensity level the following day with no time to rest up. Also, 3 of the regular season games were without Gonchar, Kunitz, and Guerin. Only 2 of the games were with Bylsma behind the bench.

At the very least we should surmise that the WAS series lead of 3-0-1 is misleading. These two teams should be very close in ability and aptitude. Assuming the stars come to play and both G hold the fort, this series should come down to depth scoring and I\'d give an edge to Staal and the PENS in this category, but you can all draw your own conclusions.

[lanky]

andrewklassen wrote:

It\'s tough to get a firm read on this coming series as PIT is really a very different team than the one WAS faced for 3 of their 4 regular season games. The March 8th game being the closest comparison. PIT playing and beating their rivals from PHI the day before 2 of the WAS wins is telling to me. PIT gave a great effort the day before and struggled to match the intensity level the following day with no time to rest up. Also, 3 of the regular season games were without Gonchar, Kunitz, and Guerin. Only 2 of the games were with Bylsma behind the bench.

yep... that\'s what i was thinking...

I was thinking that similar to the NYR series, the capitals can\'t really take any of their regular season experience against this team into the playoffs...

man... what a tough draw for the capitals. Two teams in the first two rounds that are basically completely different, coached differently, and with several new players.

hopefully, it doesn\'t take the capitals 2 losses at home to figure out the \"new\" penguins.

[angus]

honduranhockey wrote:

7 high-scoring games, 5 of them resolved in overtime, with highlight-reel plays after every game on every major sport outlet in North America.

The NHL overtakes NASCAR in popularity, sponsorship money rolls in, and a new long-term lucrative deal is reached with ESPN.

Gary Bettman has his contract extended for 10 years, gets an NHL logo tattooed onto his chest after a week straight of coke and Las Vegas hookers. The logo is engraved backwards so he can look at it in the mirror every morning.

The NHL expands faster than a Donald Trump empire, but collapses just as quickly due to increasingly frequent labour disruptions. Several high-profile teams go bankrupt, and the league eventually scales back to a mere 16 teams.

Ovechkin and Crosby continue their long rivalry as coaches of teams in the same division, and are the only thing with any dignity left in the New New NHL.

Is it worth it? Is it really worth it?

Caps in 7.

:laugh: :laugh:

[Dakkster]

honduranhockey wrote:

7 high-scoring games, 5 of them resolved in overtime, with highlight-reel plays after every game on every major sport outlet in North America.

The NHL overtakes NASCAR in popularity, sponsorship money rolls in, and a new long-term lucrative deal is reached with ESPN.

Gary Bettman has his contract extended for 10 years, gets an NHL logo tattooed onto his chest after a week straight of coke and Las Vegas hookers. The logo is engraved backwards so he can look at it in the mirror every morning.

The NHL expands faster than a Donald Trump empire, but collapses just as quickly due to increasingly frequent labour disruptions. Several high-profile teams go bankrupt, and the league eventually scales back to a mere 16 teams.

Ovechkin and Crosby continue their long rivalry as coaches of teams in the same division, and are the only thing with any dignity left in the New New NHL.

Is it worth it? Is it really worth it?

Caps in 7.

Thank you for that simply awesome post

[Dutch]

Hopefully the caps will win

Although I want the caps to win, I would LOVE to see Varlamov quit playing so well until next year. (otherwise other gm\'s may get a similar idea as I have...)

Hopefully the refs won\'t be ruining this series

Hopefully Malkin and Ovy will get into it with each other

[mister_mcgoo]

lanky wrote:

Not to discredit crosby/malkin, etc... but i just don\'t think they are on the same defensive level as drury, gomez, etc... from new york.

This is the meat of it I think...this and how well the goalies play of course. I think the Rags play a more complete defensive game than the Pens do so I expect a ton of goals in all the matchups. Remember how dominant Orpik was last year? He and Fleury could be the difference in this matchup.

I am really hoping for Caps in 7 but I have a feeling it will be Pens in 6

[Spec7ral]

Caps in 5.

[nazkev83]

Spec7ral wrote:

Caps in 5.

Caps win all 3 at home *and* 1 on the road? It\'s nice to live in dream world.

I think this series comes down to the one or two times per game where AO decides he\'s too \"Great\" to get back and play any sort of defense. A breakout goal here or there for the Pens wins them the series in 7.

(Side note: Nothing against AO here as a dynamic offensive player and prolific goal scorer... I just think that Malkin has more of a \"whatever it takes for my team to win\" sort of mentality that will carry the Pens to the Eastern finals.)