Four Goals to Philly

The good news is if the Caps play like they did last night in game 7 they will probably win. The bad news is if Halak plays like he did in game 6 the Caps will definitely lose. The guy was great last night, you have to tip your hat to him, but the Caps helped him out more than a little. Someone needs to tell Semin not to aim for the H on Halak's jersey or go completely wide of the net. Fleischmann had four-fifths of the net wide open and put it in between the big C on #41's jersey. OV whiffed on a backhand attempt off a backhand on the breakaway. All a 5 on 3 resulted in was some boring passing and a deflated team. And Morrisonn just got robbed, it was a hell of a play, and Halak deserved his standing O. I'm not panicked or discouraged, but of course I am worried. Halak has had 90 saves in two games, but he also in net games 2 and 3 and was more than human. Even if we can get him to play in between those two extremes, the Caps should win at home.

This series could have been over if the Caps came to play in Game 1, instead they needed to adjust. Halak was good in game 5, but nowhere near as lights out as we was last night. If the Caps could have just gone 10% on the power play this series, it would be over. Instead we are one for thirty. If Semin could have showed up for any of these games or at least not hurt more than he has helped it could be over. Everyone is riding Green, but at least he is playing some defense. Fleischmann is all of a sudden completely worthless. And OV has not had one of his transcendent games that have spoiled DC in his career here since the Olympic break. If any one of these things had happened in game 1, 5, or 6, this series would be over. If one of them happens in game 7, we can still win. If Halak can not be Superman three games in a row, we wait for Philly to make it down 95. Don't panic, just worry.

But the time for excuses has come and gone. The Philly series two years ago was lost because the Caps had to win 10 of 11 just to be able to play them and were burned out. Pittsburgh had a top 5 team in the league last year, and the Caps were good enough to beat them but not the refs as well. (And just in case anyone thinks I am just a bitter Caps fan I am, and I won't forget that travesty. I won't forget game 1, Semin slashed by Orpik, pushes back, Semin goes to box. Game 2, Kunitz crosschecks Varly across the neck, no penalty. Game 3, Jurcina cross-checked into the net by Kunitz, called for delay of game instead of a cross-check, or the blatant interference of Boyd Gordon along the boards that allowed Malkin to corral the puck and score in overtime. I won't go past game 3, or Pittsburgh's more damning version of Spygate, or the fact that the Caps have been called for more or equal penalties in that series the last fifteen games. But if you flip a coin 15 times, the chances of it landing on heads every time is 1 in 32,000.) The point is the Caps got better, and are now good enough to take on the refs and the Pens at the same time. We may not have that chance now because they did not come to play in game 1 this year, game 5 was not all that much better, and game 6 Halak was hot, and our "young gun" sharpshooters didn't do a whole lot to cool him down. If one of these guys came alive last night, its a whole new game.

Its ok, because they still can. Four goals should finally put the Habs away. This should already have been wrapped up, but here we are. We won't have our best defensive defenseman now that Poti is out for a few weeks. Alzner is getting called up again, and I feel okay pairing him with Carlson, they did fine in Hershey together. The Habs aren't scared but are clearly frustrated as illustrated by their diving Crosby impressions that finally got called last night. Varly doesn't look invincible anymore, but neither of the Caps goalies looked that way coming in. (And I would go back to a fresh Theodore for Game 7.) Things don't look as rosy as they did games 1 or 5, but the Caps are still the better team and should win. No more exscuses. The "young guns" have the talent, they just need to translate it through effort to the scoreboard. This team is too good to let fatigue, refs, or hot goalies bring them down. Its their time to do great things, they just need to finally believe and finish what they have started.