Sweet Jesus, why is Milan Jurcina in the NHL? At moments during the game I started wondering when the Leafs had traded Andy Wozniewski to the Capitals. His pass to Jim Dowd to help set up the third Flyers goal was a thing of beauty. Maybe someone should ask Jurcina and McCabe what it is about the Flyers that makes them want to pass them the puck and gift them goals. Not surprisingly, the Spectrum was rocking and the Orange Crush definitely got to the Capitals as the mistakes just piled up.
To top things off, Cristobal Huet was not good enough as he was caught going down early on a couple of goals and I don't know when this became the way to cover your five-hole but as he moved laterally on the penalty shot his stick was at his side pointing down the ice. Guess where the puck went.
As for the things that went wrong in game two that the Capitals had to improve, they were worse in game three which is not exactly a recipe for success. They only picked up eleven shots at even strength and their powerplay went 1-7. Yes, the penalty shot call was bogus but a two minute minor would have killed the game too so a chance at a save could have turned out to be a big save if Huet didn't think he had been transported back to last year's finale against the Leafs.
Among the actual Caps bloggers JP is running on fumes after the four month-long playoff push while Pucksandbooks makes a good comparison to last year's Penguins. Much like Gretzky mentioned in his autobiography (the one with him on the cover holding up the Cup) young teams have to learn to win. They need to see a more veteran team make the sacrifices willing to win. The Oilers saw that with the Islanders, the Penguins saw it with the senators, and the Capitals are seeing it with the Flyers. There is not one Capital playing as if he would be willing to sacrifice a testicle like Patrick Thoresen and that's been the difference.
Having said that, the series is far from over. Despite some tough periods the Capitals have been close in games and the Flyers don't look like they will ever stop taking stupid penalties so they will continue to get opportunities. However, everyone needs to take a look in the mirror and has to commit to doing what it takes. And Jurcina needs to go.
Around The NHL
- SLC is despondent and coming to grips with the fact that the senators do in fact suck. He's only six months late to that party.
Steve previews the Marlies series against the San Antonio Rampage. Take a look at what he has to say about the defence corps and remember that you are not in a parallel universe.
The Pensblog is ready for tonight. There are some amazing photoshops. My favourite is the Heatley Manoeuvre.
Dave Shoalts calms our fears about Burke returning to Vancouver and whips us into a frenzy about him coming to Toronto. It's basically a done deal right? That's how I read it. Welcome, Brian Burke.
Barry Melrose Rocks posts a picture that shows the sens how to amp up the crowd. How hard is it to just pick a colour and hand out jerseys and those annoying thunderstix? Why an overweight actor with lines taped inside of his shield? Again, you guys embarrassed Canada.
Finally, I tried finding video I could embed but of course the NHL's recap on YouTube doesn't have it, but did anyone else see Mike Komisarek's hit on Milan Lucic? TSN has it on their broadband recap. For a fan base that hates Darcy Tucker so much and brings up the clean hit on Peca at every opportunity I wonder what they will have to say about the hit. My guess: nothing at all. Not only was Komisarek's hit actually enormously dirty (low-bridge to the knees) but then the pansy assed defenceman continued his policy of not fighting after making questionable hits. Then again, who can blame him not wanting to fight a guy his own size after he tried to end his season. I think he might be my most hated Hab after Kovalev who continued to throw elbows in response to clean body checks. Sad that the Bruins lost but the Habs are going to get their lunch handed to them in the next round./
