Running Stanley Cup Playoff Thread

Bruce Boudreau is sweating profusely. And not because of the miserable Florida Heat.

 

Public skate that, bitches.

 

Except for OV no one on the Caps seemed to give a shit in the third. Mike Green didn't see any ice time after the first minute and a half. Those guys don't have the cojones to come back from a 3-0 lead.

McPhee (assuming he's around) is gonna blow up this team. Bye bye to the two most useless players: Backstrom & Semin.

 

Backstrom's signed to a long-term contract. He's not going anywhere.

Semin, per usual, disappeared when it mattered. He only signed a one-year deal and will be easy to move.

Backstrom fractured his thumb late in the season and hasn't been the same on draws or with his wrist shot since.

Boudreau had his opportunity. He changed the system and touted his team's defense, and when it desperately needs to protect a lead late, it gives up two goals in 20 seconds. Outshot 13-1 in the third at one point. In-ex-fucking-cuseable.

That shit is on the coach. Insanity is trying the same thing over and over and over again and expecting different results. He got outcoached by a crafty vet last year, and Boucher has run circles around him in this series. You finish first in the conference in consecutive years, and you have to win more than one fucking playoff series against a shit-balls Rangers team.

You're right, JR. No chance of a miracle comeback. Lots of youth on this team, but I don't think Boudreau can take them any further.

 

I really just don't understand the Capitals at all. It seems like they have a lot of good players, it seems like they do a good job in the regular season, seems like they play well for stretches of the postseason but they have no balls, at all.

They have to be one of the most mentally weak teams in all of sports.

 

In the postseason, best goalie wins. Washington's biggest problem is their defense (which has too many offense-first guys ... although Carlson & Alzner are a couple of good building blocks) and their goaltending has always been a bit young and suspect. Neuvirth has been solid, but this is his first go-round in the postseason. Varlamov, Theodore ... it's always a new guy.

Washington is still very, very young (and very talented), and has one of the two best players in the NHL.

Last year was a strange year, in that a team with an untested goaltender faced a team that had a musical chairs game going on in net in the finals, but normally, the teams who are there are the teams who have it in the back end. But both of those teams had some pretty solid blueliners -- Philly's top four is as good as anybody's (especially Pronger) and Chicago, with Keith, Seabrook and Campbell, is pretty good in the back end.

The biggest reason Boston is up 2-0 on Philly is Tim Thomas (with a big helping of Zdeno Chara). The biggest reason Nashville is still playing hockey, much less coming home tied 1-1, is Pekka Rinne (and Shea Weber). I don't know if Boston will beat Philly, but I have a pretty good amount of confidence that Tim Thomas can outduel Boucher/Bobrovsky/Leighton to win at least two games in five, even if Philly is the better team (as it was for much of the third period and OT last night).

Tampa's a pretty talented offensive team, too -- St. Louis and Stamkos are one of the top 1-2 punches in the league, Malone can play a bit and Lecavelier can still bring it.

 

Capitals are a pretty boy team...at least that is the vibe I get every time I watch them. Ovechkin plays hard -- hits, shoots a lot, scores goals. But where is Green and Semin and Knuble and Backstrom, etc.?

I remember during an intermission of Game 2, HNIC's Kelly Hrudey showed clips of where the Capitals lost EVERY battle on the boards. It was horrible. The team doesn't do the little things to win and now they are paying for it.

 

If anybody is interested in watching grass grow they should check out the Canuck predator series. Christ!

 

Amen. I can't figure out why they seem to fold under pressure as much as they have been in the last few seasons.

 

Bruce Boudreau, please report to the owner's box.

And make sure you bring all of your playbooks, the keys to your company car and the keys to the practice facility.....

 

And Eric Duhatschek puts forth the argument why firing Boudreau would be dumb

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/globe-on-hockey/boudreau-shouldnt-take-the-fall-in-washington/article2009765/

The Capitals are not getting outcoached or even outplayed in this series. As steady as Neuvirth has been at times, they are getting out-goaltended by the 41-year-old greybeard Dwayne Roloson, in the same way they were out-goaltended last year by Montreal’s Jaroslav Halak. Why they would ever think about making the coach take the fall for that is beyond me.

I've been in the fire-Boudreau camp but I'm tending to degree with Duhatschek