Just like the Penguins did the night before, the Washington capitals failed to close out their series against Montreal and the Canadiens forced a game 6. Despite clearly being a stronger team at almost every position, the Caps have slept through different portions of this series and right now have nothing assured. While I still feel it is almost a sure thing the Caps will move on in their quest to hoist Lords Stanley's Cup for the first time in franchise history, this has proven to be an eye opening experience.
Washington relied all night long on Ovechkin so much so that he was on the ice almost as much time as Mike Green who consistently logs the most minutes. Ovechkin scored the only goal and unlike in game 1 when he put up a goose egg with 0 shots on net, The Great One tallied 6 total shots with most leading to scoring chances. The only other Cap who appeared to do well on the box score was Alexander Semin who led the team with 9 total shots. That stat is misleading since most of his shots were not quality and he just continuously fired the puck with no clear aim or game plan. While that can be a way to win in the playoffs, the much more talented Capitals were out worked and out hustled in a game what could have sent them to round 2. Varlamov played relatively well in net and was a bright spot for the Caps. After losing the keys to the Cadillac early this season, he has picked up right where he left off last post season. Last year Varlamov dominated and as a rookie made the subject of Patrick Roy's strong play between the pipes in 1986 for Montreal leading them to a Stanley Cup title a subject once again.
Varlamov has made it known that he is the future of the Caps franchise and never again should they consider Jose Theodore in a playoff series no matter how wins he stumbles into during the regular season. Yes, Theodore is one of only two goalies in the history of the league to earn the Hart Trophy (Regular season MVP) and Vezina Trophy (Best goalie) in the same season joining Dominik Hasek but ever since that year he has done nothing but disappoint. Anyone who watched his lack luster performance as the Avalanche net minder against Detroit two years when he allowed four goals a game, would understand his lack of worth to a playoff team.
To move away from Theo, the Caps now face the possibility of facing a very rested and red hot Flyers team in the second round should they finally close out Montreal. I do not believe Philly has enough fire power to hang with the Caps and despite playing surprisingly well to this point I also don't think Brian Boucher has what it takes to fully steal a series on his own. However, they can rest their old legs and they have a guy named Chris Pronger who can get in the head of any top line player and steal a series on his own. He will clearly attempt to do this to AO and shutting down Ovechkin could possibly be enough to take out the President's Trophy winning Capitals.
Flyers goalie Brian Boucher, had the benefit of only facing about 25 shots per game on an average and a Devils team that did not ever seem interested in the series so much so they appeared to be scared of the black disk known as a hockey puck. Kovy, all of a sudden did not seem to fit in with the rest of the Devils and looked like he was attempting to skate through a wall of defense every time he touched the puck. This made Boucher's job very easy something it wont be against basically any other Eastern Conference opponent. The Caps will with out question shoot the puck.
The only problem is Washington is just making it harder on themselves by letting the franchise with 24 Stanley Cups to their credit hang around. The failure to close it out when they had the chance shows a lack of killer instinct that most true champions have display often through out a playoff run. If Montreal with no real number one goalie, a lack of a true scoring threat, and a injury plagued team can take this to 6 and maybe 7 games then what could a hot Philly team do?
When the Cavaliers rely on Lebron to bail them out they eventually lose in the end, the same can happen with the Caps and Ovechkin. History is also not on the Caps side from the jump, not only did a deeper Capitals team fail to reach the finals last season, but the franchise has only appeared in the cup finals one time, 1998 when the mighty Red Wings broke out the brooms. These facts along with winning the dreaded and cursed President's Trophy, Washington needs to do more to show me as well as the rest of hockey nation that they can be elite and that they have that championship gene that as of now appears to be missing.
The Pens may have made the same mistake by failing to eliminate Ottawa but there will be no panic in Pittsburgh. The Pens have all the experience and reached the finals the past two seasons so they wont worry and know what it takes to make a cup run. The Caps do not and at this rate they may never know if they do not get their act together and do it in a hurry.
The Caps and Habs now move back to Montreal for game 6 and if Montreal can play as well at home as they do on the road Washington could be forced to plan a game 7.
Going to game 7....not good.
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