Penguins eh?

Penguins eh?

I couldn't care less where Table Mountain National Park is, but this is just too perfect. I don't care that it's certainly on the opposite side of the Earth from Ottawa. Winning the series might be tough without Kovalev (depending on who you ask, it might help too)...Go Sens?

Brian Boucher

It's that damn Boucher! He's so hot right now!

Although it's naive to hang your hat on stats, especially barely relevant ones, Rich Hoffman of the Philadelphia Daily News (via philly.com) brings up a nice point regarding Brian Boucher:

In the last five games, though, it is .931, which is excellent.

It's a good read, one of the few nowadays unfortunately, but I digress. Bouch may have hit one of his hot streaks he's been known to hit once in a while. Remember back in Phoenix when he blanked five in a row (nearly six, ruined by a fluke goal)?

If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'

I'm not saying it's going to happen again, but let's be honest here, Sunday was the perfect day to get hot. Hopefully he can keep it up playing opposite the greatest goaltender to ever play the game. It's payback time for 2000 (what IS the record for longest time between playoff rematches with the same goaltenders on the same teams?), and we all know payback is a bitch.

Let's Go Flyers! Beat the Devils!

Caps first round playoff matchup

The Washington Capitals will play the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the playoffs. The Habs won the season set 2-1-1.

Key matchups:

Markov on Ovechkin. Hal Gill used to be decent at being a shut down defenseman, but that was in the hook and hold era. Markov isn't anyone's shut down guy, but he's the best Montreal has, is a good skater, and an interesting twist is that he and Ovechkin are great friends off the ice. I wonder how this will play out. Advantage Ovechkin.

Schultz on Gionta. I hate to say it, but Schultz has become the Caps top shut down dman. That's a sad sight, as he is about as physical as a marshmallow. But he is a good skater for his size, and that's going to be key in this matchup. Gionta is slippery, but Schultz isn't going to throw any big hits anyway, so that doesn't matter. Schultz will have to remain in good positioning, keep Gionta to the outside, block some shots (Gionta averaged 3.92 shots per game), to give whoever's in goal a chance to win. Advantage Schultz.

Halak on Theo. I predict the Caps will start Theo, and Halak should be the Habs starting goalie. This goalie head to head matchup will be key, along with every playoff series, ever. We've seen how a goalie can steal the show (Cam Ward), and this series is no different. Even with all of the Caps firepower, if Halak shows up to compete, and Theo is soft, the Habs will have a strong chance to pull off this unlikeliest of upsets. Advantage Theo, for the simple fact that he's been there, and he's done that.

The Caps' firepower is too much. Sure, the defense is shaky, but they can skate, which is all you need against this small Habs team. No one is really going to plant themselves in front of the Caps net, so the Caps won't have to worry about another 8 goal embarrassment in this series. I really like the depth forwards the Caps have (who would expect that Brendan Morrison and Scott Walker would be third liners being rotated in and out of the line up?). I like the goaltending situation. People gave up on Theodore because he hasn't played like Roy for his whole career, but he's damn good and he has proven it this year.

Slick skating, and high scoring is all the Caps will need against this similarly built Habs team. The Caps are just better overall, and easily win this matchup. My prediction: Caps in 4.

Awesome SPHL brawl

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/30/sphl-hockey-fight-lasts-s_n_518435.html

I have nothing to add as I've heard no news since, but this is a really cool video and a brief write up of the incident. Check it out.

Phoenix to Winnipeg?

One Great City! Eh?

The rumors get more interesting, when they come from local (for this story) sources.

*IF* this would happen, the NHL should do this smart. All jokes aside, I'm not ripping the NHL this time. I would move Winnipeg to the Northwest division with Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Minnesota - and moving Colorado to the Pacific with San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, and Dallas. Bluntly, it makes sense from a travel expense point of view for all affected teams, especially since the semi-recent increase in games played in division. It would foster more Canadian rivalries, hopefully spurring income for the four Canadian teams in the same division.

While on the topic, please move Atlanta to Hartford. Bring back the whale!