As a fan of DC area sports, I am well aware of and dismally jaded by the perpetual futility that the professional and college teams have offered in my lifetime. It is with a very paranoid heart that I congratulate the Washington Capitals in their Round 1 victory over the New York Rangers,
in five games. This is huge, because historically no team has ever won the cup when besting a team in seven games, which has been the Caps MO within Boudreau's tenure, including last year's early exit after clinching the President's Trophy in late November.
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| The Golden Globe of hockey. |
Washington looked spectacular tonight. They were a very poised, intense, and tenacious squad that played fairly mistake-free hockey. Ovechkin is approaching his true form, gaining an assist and (game-winning) goal. Mike Green showed his heroics, notching the first goal off the first power play, before sacrificing his temporal lobe. Semin is taking a break from taking a break in the post-season and scored one of the prettiest goals of this year's first round (notably his 3rd, in the 3rd period, with almost 3:33 left to go). Finally, for all but 30 seconds in this game, Michal Neuvirth finally became a real goalie , going 26 for 27.
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| Neuvirth also received a conscience, but it was crushed by Sean Avery |
Overall, I'm impressed with how this series turned out. This year's regular season series left a lot to be desired with a 17-6 series goal differential. Neuvirth has the consistency and poise of Amy Winehouse, but he's hot now, so cool. And Gabby's coaching ability still worries me, but I guess the potential loss of your Ameritel endorsement is enough to light a fire under your butt. I still wish the hockey gods would have allowed the 8-seed to go to the Carolina Hurricanes, but, alas, this was not in the cards.
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| Gary Bettman discusses branding strategies. |
I'm not sure how to feel about round two yet, since the Caps can face everybody that's not Boston or Philadelphia. My personal preference would be for the Caps to avoid facing Ryan Miller, having just faced the living brick wall (and future superhero in Stan Lee's
NHL Guardians) that is Henrik Lundqvist. This would make me a semi-Flyers fan pro tempore, which is as dirty as accepting a date from Snooki just to avoid getting your balls kicked by Jane Lynch.
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| Sophie's choice was easier. |
Best of luck to you in the second round, Washington. On the downside, your golf game might take a hit. On the upside, thousands of fans won't kill you.
Notes: Johansson, Sturm, and Hannan each contributed an assist and the team's automechanic had two helpers.
