So, I didn’t see that coming. In fact, I predicted a Washington sweep. The Canadiens winning in 7 wasn’t even a remote thought for me. Oops.
tim3rd were talking about a week ago about the lack of a standout goalie during the first round. Needless to say that was before Jaroslav Halak decided to go Dominik Hasek on us.
What do the Caps do from here? This isn’t their first playoff flop but the reality is sometimes in hockey you just run into the hot goalie that steals a series. It’s one of the charms of the sport, so long as it’s not your team getting hitting the wall.
Right now you look at the Capitals and you see the start of an Atlanta Braves run…awesome regular seasons followed by playoff flops. A one seed (the President’s Trophy winner) losing to an eight seed after taking a 3-1 series lead? That’s an epic FAIL.
Do they rip the team apart? Find a new coach? It’s a lot easier when you are a bad team, at least you know what to fix. What do you with a team that wins a lot of games in the regular season (dominates it really) only to flop like this? The moves aren’t so obvious.
Tonight’s game marks the end of the first round that has seen some great hockey. Other than the NJ-Philly matchup, every other series featured great play, dramatic finishes and entertaining hockey. It’s time like this I feel a certain moral superiority for being a hockey fan. Most sports fans in the US don’t watch hockey and it’s there loss.
Quick look ahead to Round 2-
Red Wings v. San Jose: San Jose nearly choked up their opening round series against a very young but talented Colorado team. Have they overcome their jinx or did they just delay it? I say they delayed it. Red Wings looked good in closing out a pesky Phoenix team. Howard should settle down now in goal with a series in his pocket. I think the Red Wings will be too much for Nabakov. Wings in 6
Vancouver v. Chicago: I predict lots of scoring in this series. Vancouver is such an odd team. Louongo keeps winning but you feel it’s a high wire act about to go all wrong at every turn. Chicago also has a lot of premiere talent up front and while Antti Niemi was played reasonably well in the first round it was agains defensively a solid but not scary Predators team (with apologies to tmi3rd). The Sedin twins along with Mikael Samulesson are going to scorch the Hawks. Luongo will do what he always does…just enough not to lose. Blackhawks in 6
I was going to do the east but it’s late and I have a few days until it starts.
The complete Round 2 schedule is here.
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