Stanley Cup Playoffs

[bjornolf]

Well, the CAPS are going to game 7! They better get their D ready and not eat. I wanna see some hungry guys out there that want to WIN! One of my coworkers got a ticket to last Friday nights game!!! He was soo excited!!!! .... I wonder if he might stumble on an extra ticket or two for Wednesday's game?

If the Habs get the goaltending they did tonight and stick to the tried and true formula for shutting down Russians like Ovechkin, they will win game 7.

I admit, I'm a football and basketball guy. I don't know much about hockey. I basically watch the playoffs when the Caps are in them. I just can't handle regular seasons with 50+ games (hence, I'm not that into baseball until the playoffs, and only if one of my teams are in and I don't like NBA basketball and can't follow the hockey regular season). So, anyway, to those hockey experts out there (I'm looking at you, Colchar, among others), what's wrong with the Caps? What do they need to do to advance, and, more importantly, advance farther than the second round if they manage to beat the Habs? I'm smart enough to know that the Habs goalie was unconscious last night and there's not much you can do about that, but what else?

Is it just me, or have the Caps scored more SHORTHAND goals in this series than power play goals? WTF is up with that?

[Turk]

I'm in. Pens fan here. I began liking them when Jagr was there because I liked the way his hair flowed as he skated.

I don't pay a lot of attention during the season, just the playoffs.

Yeah, Jagr was the king of the hockey hair wasn't he?

I have Jagr, U2's Bono, Billy Ray Cyrus, and that Riverdance guy on my Mount Rushmore of mullets, founding members of the Mullet Hall of Shame....

[colchar]

So, anyway, to those hockey experts out there (I'm looking at you, Colchar, among others), what's wrong with the Caps? What do they need to do to advance, and, more importantly, advance farther than the second round if they manage to beat the Habs? I'm smart enough to know that the Habs goalie was unconscious last night and there's not much you can do about that, but what else?

What's wrong with the Caps? That's easy. Their biggest stars (Ovechkin, Semin) are Russian and Russians are notorious for disappearing in the playoffs when the playing gets rough and things really start to matter. As I've said in other posts here, dealing with them is easy and there is a tried and true method for doing so - hit them, hit them early, hit them hard, and hit them often. Every time they go near a puck make sure there is someone on them.

When playing in the World Juniors Ovechkin was tearing things up. When he played the Canadians they hit him early, hard, and often. Ovechkin disappeared in that game before it was ten minutes old. Look at the Olympics this year - when Canada was playing the Russians they hit Ovechkin early, hard, and often and he completely disappeared. IIRC, he didn't get a shot on net the whole game. The majority of the other Russians also disappeared when they were getting hit.

Plain and simple, the majority of Russian players look good/great in the regular season when the hitting and physical play isn't nearly as bad as it is in the playoffs but, when the game gets tough, they pussy out and disappear. They aren't mentally tough either. They expected to win easily and, now that they aren't, they are playing like sucks. They have no heart, plain and simple.

Add to that the fact that Canadian players (and most Americans too) play rough, tough, playoff style hockey and I would wager that a schism is developing in the dressing room as they bust their asses while the Russians, who are supposedly their best players, pussy out.

[bjornolf]

So, anyway, to those hockey experts out there (I'm looking at you, Colchar, among others), what's wrong with the Caps? What do they need to do to advance, and, more importantly, advance farther than the second round if they manage to beat the Habs? I'm smart enough to know that the Habs goalie was unconscious last night and there's not much you can do about that, but what else?

What's wrong with the Caps? That's easy. Their biggest stars (Ovechkin, Semin) are Russian and Russians are notorious for disappearing in the playoffs when the playing gets rough and things really start to matter. As I've said in other posts here, dealing with them is easy and there is a tried and true method for doing so - hit them, hit them early, hit them hard, and hit them often. Every time they go near a puck make sure there is someone on them.

When playing in the World Juniors Ovechkin was tearing things up. When he played the Canadians they hit him early, hard, and often. Ovechkin disappeared in that game before it was ten minutes old. Look at the Olympics this year - when Canada was playing the Russians they hit Ovechkin early, hard, and often and he completely disappeared. IIRC, he didn't get a shot on net the whole game. The majority of the other Russians also disappeared when they were getting hit.

Plain and simple, the majority of Russian players look good/great in the regular season when the hitting and physical play isn't nearly as bad as it is in the playoffs but, when the game gets tough, they pussy out and disappear. They aren't mentally tough either. They expected to win easily and, now that they aren't, they are playing like sucks. They have no heart, plain and simple.

Add to that the fact that Canadian players (and most Americans too) play rough, tough, playoff style hockey and I would wager that a schism is developing in the dressing room as they bust their asses while the Russians, who are supposedly their best players, pussy out.

Is Green Russian too? ;)

%%

[Lavabe]

I'm in. Pens fan here. I began liking them when Jagr was there because I liked the way his hair flowed as he skated.

I don't pay a lot of attention during the season, just the playoffs.

Yeah, Jagr was the king of the hockey hair wasn't he?

I have Jagr, U2's Bono, Billy Ray Cyrus, and that Riverdance guy on my Mount Rushmore of mullets, founding members of the Mullet Hall of Shame....

What about MulletMan?

[colchar]

So much for the Caps eh?

[cl15876]

So much for the Caps eh?

Unfortunate, but nice call! You were spot on with your assessment and I was keeping the faith in hopes to see a different team last night, but there's always next year!

[bjornolf]

So much for the Caps eh?

Unfortunate, but nice call! You were spot on with your assessment and I was keeping the faith in hopes to see a different team last night, but there's always next year!

I don't know, I thought the Caps played pretty well. How do account for a goalie that stops like 140 out of 143 shots over 3 games? That's just insane! Against a good goalie having a normal game, the Caps win each of those games by three or four goals. That guy was just unconscious for all 3 games.