Please dear God no one panic. I know how we are in DC; we all get over-excited and overly concerned. I would even bet there is some Caps fan out there wondering if we should fire Boudreau. Put yourself in the other guys' shoes. You are a Canadiens fan, you speak French, love high taxes, and have nothing to do but hockey. Your team squeaked into the playoffs. You have to feel good, your goalie looked good, your team played absolutely perfectly, and your boy Plekanec talked smack all week and came through in the clutch. You made one of the greatest players ever seem like he had the night off, holding him to zero shots. Now all you have to do is beat the best team in the league 3 out of the next six games by playing exactly the same.
Or perhaps you would feel better in those familiar Caps shoes. Nothing has changed between now and 7 o'clock tax day. You still just have to win 16 games to get what you want. I'll wear the Caps shoes. If I was a Habs fan I really would be ecstatic and enjoy it for tonight, because it is downhill from there. The Caps were sluggish and never really got in gear but it is correctable. All of the over-hyping of the goalies was just that, hype. Theodore had the best game on the team in a losing effort. Unfortunately, Halak had a great game as well. But, how many times do you think the Habs will win when they face 47 shots? I would say one in ten. How many times will OV not get a shot on net? Twice in the 83 he has played this year. The concern was Theodore and he is fine, the Caps don't have too many two goal games. The offense is the same one that has been around all year. The Habs were spectacular, give it to them.
OV is getting smothered, with occasional double teams, just as he has been since the Canadians did it in the Olympics. That means someone is open, get it to them. On the power play, stop focusing on getting it to Ovie at the point, plant Knuble in front of Halak, cycle and shoot. Have OV work on separation. Spacek and Hanirlik match up well against the Great 8, in the November meeting, the two of them combined for 11 blocked shots, 7 against OV. The Canadiens as a team had 29 blocked shots tonight, 9 by Gill. That is how they beat us, so work around it. The Caps need to stop taking dumb penalties, Green's delay of game and Backstrom's cross-check come to mind. The PP is the only way the Habs score. Green needs find the O and D balance again, instead of worrying himself out of position like he did tonight. Fleischmann is a good guy, but Morrison needs to center that 2cnd line. And the Caps need a forecheck beyond Steckel, who led the team in hits with 6.
We were worried about Theodore, he is fine. No one should be worried about the offense, it is not going to disappear for long. We dominated the game except for a few five minute lapses that the Habs sprang on. Its one game, the top seeds lost 5 of 7 so far. Would you rather be the less talented team that barely eked out a win playing perfectly and still need to win 3 against the best team in the league to move on? Or would you rather be the best offensive team in 15 years with a hot goalie who just needs four to move? I think the answer is obvious. And if you really feel down in the dumps remember this; at least you are not a Sharks fan.
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