Playoff Predictions

I wanted to put a quick post up to go on the record with my predictions for each playoff series. I wanted to have more time to discuss each series but I thought I should get something up quickly so here we go. I see the following teams advancing to the second round - Washington, Montreal, Pittsburgh and New York in the East and Detroit, San Jose, Dallas and Colorado in the West.

Do You Believe in Miracles?

With a 3-1 win over Florida last night, the Caps ended the second chapter of their fairy tale season. I can not help comparing this accomplishment to the improbable USA defeat of Russia in the 1980 Olympics and Al Michael's famous line of "Do you believe in miracles?". This team was left for dead in late November but started a long, stressful, pressure-packed climb with the hiring of Bruce Boudreau and a new, yet simple, aggressive approach to the game. It took several months and the last game of the regular season for the Caps to rise to the top of the Southeast Division and clinch the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The last two months have been unbelievable. Will Hollywood want to make this story into a movie? Frankly, I do not think you could make better entertainment than what this team provided in the stretch run. It's good to see a packed house at Verizon Center and that the television ratings have soared to record levels.

Chapter three of this story book season will began production on Thursday in a series against Ottawa or Philadelphia depending on the outcome of the Pittsburgh/Philadelphia game today. Jeff Schultz was hurt in yesterday's game against Florida and will put even more pressure on a young and inexperienced group of defensemen heading into the playoffs. There has been no "official" word on his injury. We will have to wait and see what moves the Caps make early next week.

For now, let's sit back and enjoy the euphoria for a few more days. Thank you for the unbelievable ride the last few months. Getting to the big dance is a wonderful accomplishment and will hopefully pay huge dividends for this young team in the seasons to come. A preview of the playoffs and each match up will be posted before the playoffs begin next week.

Destiny's Team?

The Panthers did hang on last night to beat the Hurricanes 4-3 putting the playoff fate of the Caps in their own hands. The Panthers never quit last night and literally survived an continuous onslaught from Carolina. Tomas Vokoun left after stopping 17 of 18 shots in the first period with back spasms. Craig Anderson stepped in and played a wonderful game for the next forty minutes. Anderson has played very well for Florida this year and if my memory is right had a nice stretch where he had two shutouts and held the opposing teams to a long scoreless streak. I would expect to see Anderson between the pipes tonight.

The Caps hold their own destiny in their hands tonight. They simply have to earn a point to lock down the third seed in the playoffs and the home ice advantage for at least the first round. If the Caps lose in regulation, they can start making tees times for tomorrow. It's that simple.

The Caps have the advantage of being at home to get the match ups they want and playing a team that should be dog tired after last night's game and travel. The Caps will need to come out strong and never let up. All of their games against the Panthers this year have been close contests and I expect tonight will be no different. The Panthers played extremely hard last night and should have some life left in their legs after their victory. Anderson did look exhausted at the end of the game. Perhaps he will not be as sharp early on.

It is hard to believe the Caps are in this position heading into tonight. They were the worst team (record wise) in the NHL at Thanksgiving and now stand on the verge of winning the Southeast Division title and the third seed in the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. Gabby Gabby, Hey!

Playoff Chase Part Trois

As I sit here and right, the three games with playoff implications for the Caps are all in progress. Philadelphia leads the Devils 1-0, Florida leads the Hurricanes 2-1 and Boston and Ottawa are scoreless. As of now the Caps sit in the eighth and final playoff spot after their 4-1 win over Tampa Bay last night.

The Caps best chance to make the playoffs going into tonight in my opinion hung in the balance of the Boston and Ottawa match up. Ottawa throttled the Maple Leafs last night to finally right what seemed to be a sinking ship. If I understand all the tiebreakers correctly, if the game ends in regulation and the Caps win tomorrow night, the Caps are in the playoffs. I'm conflicted a bit about who to root for but have settled on rooting for Ottawa.

I would like nothing more than to see Philadelphia be the odd team out of the playoffs but both of the teams left on their schedule, New Jersey and Pittsburgh, have nothing left to play for. While I doubt that either team with lie down, it is clear that the Flyers will be the more desperate team.

It would be nice to see the Panthers hang on (they now lead 3-2) and beat the Hurricanes tonight. If they do win, the Caps will get to face a team playing on back to back nights and potentially only need a single point to be in the playoffs.

Playoff Chase Part Deux

The Caps came up huge last night with a 4-1 win over Carolina to pull even in the standings with the Hurricanes. The Caps continued to help themselves and have the luxury of sitting back tonight and to watch three other games that probably will have some say in their playoff fate. The only negative from last night's game was the "upper body" injury to Shaone Morrisonn in the first period. I have not seen any specific update on his status but based on what I saw last night I would surmise that he has a separated shoulder.

As I sit here writing this, Eric Staal just scored for Carolina on the opening shift of the game against Tampa Bay. This is obviously one of the three games tonight of concern for the Caps as Carolina owns the tiebreaker. If both team win out, Carolina with get the nod over the Caps. Let's hope Tampa can weather the storm, settle in and somehow keep Carolina from getting two points tonight.

One of the other games is the match up between Boston and New Jersey. New Jersey has scored first on a goal from former Cap Dainius Zubrus. Let's hope the Devils will put the Bruins away in regulation tonight as the Caps remain one point behind the Bruins.

The third game to keep an eye on tonight is the Philadelphia/Pittsburgh game. As much as I hate it, I will be cheering for Penguins tonight. Perhaps Sergei Gonchar, another former Cap, can provide some much needed help.

This stretch run has almost been as much fun as the playoffs. I'm enjoying the ride and hope to enjoy another ride next week with the Caps. As I'm finishing this post, Tampa Bay just scored on the power play to tie the game in Carolina. Go Bolts!

Playoff Chase

Shortly, the Caps will be taking the ice to play the Panthers in yet another critical game in the playoff chase. However, it's hard not to feel that the playoffs are slowly and painfully slipping away from the Caps. Boston shut out Ottawa 4-0 earlier today to pull four points ahead of the Caps with four games remaining. Boston starts a three game road trip tomorrow in Buffalo and follows with games in New Jersey and Ottawa before concluding the season at home against Buffalo. In an earlier post, I suggested that the Caps would need to reach the 92 point mark to reach the playoffs. It seems they will need to get to 94 points to have a chance. To get to 94 points the Caps need to win out. After tonight's game the Caps finish the season at home with games against Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida.

Carolina is also four points ahead of the Caps and plays on the road tonight against Tampa Bay after crushing Atlanta 7-1 last night. After tonight's game, the Carolina faces the Caps on the road and then finishes the season at home against Tampa Bay and Florida. With the way Carolina is playing, especially Eric Staal and Cam Ward, I would be surprised if they lost more than one game of the four games remaining. I think it's fair to hand the Division banner to Carolina at this point.

The Caps best chance may be catching the Flyers as they are only three points ahead of the Caps. The Flyers also have four games remaining with the next two on the road against the Islanders and Pittsburgh before finishing the season at home against the Devils and Penguins. As much as it will bother me, I will have to root for the Penguins for a little help. The Islanders seem to have already packed it in, so I do not expect any help tonight.

I really hope that the game in which the Caps basically self imploded (they did have some help from some awful officiating) at the end of the third period against the Bruins a few weeks ago does not end up being the difference between the team playing hockey or golf in early April. Of course one game does not make the critical difference in a season long journey but that one result is simply hard to swallow.

For any fans of the Caps out there, let's root for Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Buffalo, Ottawa, the Islanders and whomever the Hurricanes are facing. The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster ride but let's hope when the ride comes to a stop we will get to go on the next ride that is the playoffs.

Capitals/Sabres Matchup

After a very disappointing loss to the Maple Leafs, he Caps bounced back with a trouncing of the Boston Bruins on Monday night. The team was sloppy in the neutral zone and got sub par goaltending out of Olie Kolzig during the loss to Toronto. The only positive from the Toronto game was that Alexander Ovechkin broke out of his scoring slump.

The Caps scored early and often against the Bruins and simply dominated the game. It was a great response to the poor outing against Toronto. Cristobal Huet was back in the net but did not return for the third period due to back spasms. Huet made some nice saves but really did not have to do too much. It was just one of those nights were everything went in the favor of the Caps. Ovechkin scored three goals in the first period to top the 50 goal mark again. It was nice to see since the Bruins had beat the Caps in every prior meeting this season.

I almost hate the way the Caps won because it makes you wonder if the team will relax a bit and think that everything is back on track. There is simply no room for error at this point. Tonight, the Caps face another team in the Buffalo Sabres that has dominated them this season. Kolzig will start in net tonight as Huet is being held out as a precaution. This is yet another opportunity for Kolzig to shine and demonstrate that he still deserves the billing as a number one goalie in the NHL. Kolzig and the team did him no favors against Toronto.

Buffalo played a very physical game last night against Philadelphia and had to travel back to Buffalo after their game last night. The Caps need to try to take advantage of their fresh legs and jump on Buffalo early as well. With Carolina in action tonight against the fading Thrashers, it is important for the Caps to come away with two points tonight and exercise their demons against Buffalo.