Everything Else

The Figure Four: The Conference Final Preview

By 1452

We’re in the business end now. The part where all four teams can have legitimate fantasies about parades in a month’s time. They’re halfway there, much like Mark Lanegan, and now all they need to do is repeat what they’ve already done. Let’s run it through.

 

Nashville v. Anaheim (Game One Tonight)

I really have no idea what to make of the Ducks at all. They swept a team that had the next best blue line to Nashville’s in Calgary, though a lot of that was due to Calgary’s own idiocy. In the underlying numbers, the Flames pretty much kicked the Ducks from pillar to post but watched their goaltending and discipline fail them.

On the surface then, it really shouldn’t have been all that hard against the Oilers, who has no blue line to speak of and even that was decimated in the last two games with Sekera not playing either and Klefbom missing one. And yet that took to a Game 7, and really would have been over sooner had the Ducks not thrown the biggest hail mary we’ve seen in a long time and Talbot finally succumbing to the workload he’d been given all season. Oh, and a little goalie interference didn’t hurt either.

Everything Else

Capital Destruction

By 2754

I guess it says a lot about me that I’ve always enjoyed writing about the failures of teams more than the successes. Well, “enjoyed” isn’t the right word. But the writing is better. It’s a more interesting study. There’s more layers to it, and looking forward from rubble is more interesting than just gushing about triumph. That doesn’t mean I don’t want the triumph from time to time, because otherwise I’m going to set myself on fire on the Michigan Avenue Bridge. Whether it’s the Hawks or elsewhere though, there’s just more to talk about when things go wrong for a team.

All series, I had sat here and really wondered what the Capitals would conclude if they continued to dominate this series but lost anyway. Would the panic of yet another loss, the aging of Ovechkin, the impending cap situation, and whatever other factors cause them to act rashly this summer? Or would they hold the line? Now we’ll find out.
However, it didn’t quite go that way, did it?

Everything Else

Decision Day

By 1553

I’ve seen people in some circles complain that we had to wait nearly a full month into the Stanley Cup Playoffs to get a Game 7. None in the first round and all that. Me? I love it.

Game 7s should be the thing you never want to get to. The “Please Don’t Make Us Do This” level. The absolute last resort. The “We’ve tried everything else and now this is the only way we can reach a conclusion. This is our only path to catharsis.” They should only happen a couple times per spring, to keep them special.

Because if you get a spring full of them… most of them turn out to be pretty disappointing. Rarely do you get November 2nd in Cleveland (and I still would have happily taken an easy, 6-3 Cubs win and been just as happy thank you very much) or Seabrook’s shot tipping off Kronwall’s stick and over Jimmy Howard or… well, we won’t mention that other Game 7 at home.

Everything Else

Honey Don’t Stop Tryin’ And You’ll Get What You Deserve

By 1318

A mere five days ago, I wandered in from whatever haze I was in and wrote a post on just what would the Capitals, their fans, and the hockey world in general conclude if things didn’t break their way the next three games. Because for the most part, they had done everything right and simply were not getting rewarded for it. And the last time they went down this road, they needlessly blew it all up. This time, after last year’s loss, they stuck to the plan. Are they finally getting what they have earned?

Or this being the Caps, are they reserving the biggest stomach-punch for their fandom for Wednesday night? You never can tell with this bunch.

Everything Else

On The Verge Of History…Hilarious History, Glorious History

By 1262

People, do you realize what we’re on the verge of here? Do you understand? We’re all so swept up in watching the Capitals throw away yet another brilliant team and season that I don’t think the hockey world is paying enough attention to what could happen on the other coast. The Anaheim Ducks are just one more, 60-minute spit-up from blowing their fifth-straight 3-2 lead and losing a Game 7 at home.

FIVE! They’ve done this four times in a row! They’re halfway to their 5th! Do you understand the magnitude here?! On level of sports accomplishments, this is Kerry Wood’s 20 Ks, Jordan’s 55 in the Garden, that one game where Cutler was great behind no offensive line (I forget which one). This is going to be a Picasso, a Rembrandt, a Monet of playoff idiocy.

Everything Else

Friday Foofaraw – Fireside Chat

By 1238

All hail the new lord of Tomato Cans – Tanner Glass.

It only took 65 playoff games but he finally strung together ten solid minutes of playing time and contributed 2 assists – and all in one game! Therefore, all the empirical evidence on the wasted roster spots of 4th line fighters is rendered moot and we now live in a world where everyone needs a Tanner Glass type player on their roster if they want to win 7 to 8 games in the post-season (Though I suppose that’s a step up from the combined 3 wins the Hawks have had the past two playoffs).

If you have to say anything about this Rangers/Senators series when Erik Karlsson is not involved, it’s that it will be completely forgotten by the the time it’s over and no one will ever remember it happened. God bless the Senator fans for being smart enough to realize their team has 0 realistic Cup aspirations and still had plenty of open seats for a playoff game as recently as Game 2. Perhaps some Senators fans can speak at the upcoming Bulls re-education camp this summer to help instruct some of the yokels here.

–I do feel slightly bad for Caps fans. Unfortunately, the Caps seem to have entered that rarified air of Murphy’s law of playoff weirdness that transcends sports. The Cubs and Red Sox are the first two teams that come to mind as former members of this group that needed this type of moment before they could finally break through. I’m sure there are others that aren’t coming immediately to mind.

Basically, what it boils down to is that it’s going to take a moment (or a comeback) like this if they’re ever going to win it. It’s sort of what I was expecting going into this series. There was no way the Capitals were going to sweep through or dismiss the Penguins in 5 or 6. When teams have failed this many times before and against the same team each time, it almost always requires some sort of revived from the dead/miraculous comeback.

So here they are. Down 3-1 and everyone ready to dance over their grave. If they can see past the smog of death, they’ll notice their only very difficult task will be winning one more game in Pittsburgh. If they keep playing as they are, they’re going to win (at least) one of those games in Washington quite easily. Pittsburgh would be foolish to play Crosby in anything but a Game 7 at this point. Winning the next three games shouldn’t be as monumental of a task as it probably feels to them right now.

Of course, it’s easier to say this as an outsider and not covered in the stench of previous playoff failures.

–In the West, Anaheim may have broken Cam Talbot in Game 4. With a 2-0 lead at home and facing a Ducks team that loves to fall on their face, the Oilers had their chance to put them away. That didn’t happen. Instead, the series heads back to Anaheim with the Ducks regaining home ice and the feeling that they’ve finally solved Talbot and therefore are never out of any game for the remainder of this series.

Naturally, this is the time to remind everyone that if a series was best-of-5, the Ducks would be a 7-time Cup winner already. No team loves to win 3 games and then forget how to play hockey more than this outfit. So while I’m inclined to believe Anaheim is going to push through; I will certainly not be surprised if Lucy pulls the football out from underneath them. Again.

–In one of the rare predictions we nailed in our playoff preview podcast, the winner of the Blues/Wild series appears to, indeed, be a speed bump for the winner of the Preds/Hawks series. Mike Yeo and the Blues just can’t help themselves and are more worried about what the Predators are saying to the officials between plays than how to actually slow down their attack. So the Blues will do what they do best – go away. Never change.

Should be a couple of fun ones tonight regardless who you’re rooting for.

 

Everything Else

Now The Capitals Are Fascinating

By 1536

Sometimes I think there’s this assumption about how you build a championship NHL team, or in any sport really. That you bottom out, collect your draft picks, hit on most of them, bring them through together, add the veterans at the right time and then you win. But that doesn’t really factor in for so many things that are out of your control. Because you can do all those things, and there just might be someone better or farther along their curve when you’re ready. And then when they’re done, one who is behind you on the curve is ready to come to the fore.

The Capitals have gone through this cycle twice. They had one of the NHL’s best teams in 2009 and 2010. They had blended Ovechkin with Backstrom, Semin, Green, Laich, Fehr, Fleischmann, and a few others. They amassed what now looks to be a silly 121 points. But one year, they ran into Crosby and the Penguins in 2009 when they were a post-Therrien firing buzzsaw. They lost in seven games. Not all that far away. The next year they got goalie’d by Jaro Halak. Really, these are two things out of their control. And they lost both series on something of a knife edge.

Everything Else

So Predictable It Almost Isn’t Funny Anymore… Almost

By 1450

Here in Chicago, we usually don’t get much of a spring. Even with the temperate/weak-ass winter we had this time around, the April-May stretch bounces between glimpses of actual summer and then visions of November. Usually in this place it’s just cool and gray until somewhere around Memorial Day, and then the next day is gorgeous and it’s summer/construction. We don’t slowly ramp up to summer. It just arrives like Monty Python’s foot.

So rites of spring, we don’t really recognize them. We see leaves on trees but are suspicious. Our allergies kick up at various times, so it’s not much of an indicator either. We have to make up our own. The ivy showing up on the outfield wall at Wrigley. Streetfests and outdoor music festivals start releasing their schedules and tickets go on sale. Sadly, shootings go up, if it’s even possible at this point.

And oh yeah, the St. Louis Blues reveal that nothing has changed, and they’re still a collection of dumbasses trying to play a game the sport has long ago left behind.

Everything Else

The NHL Needs To Decide What It Wants To Be

By 1586

I suppose one of the main drawing points to another Penguins-Capitals series was that it was always likely to generate controversy, given how often these two teams have met, how hyped it’s been, and how the fanbases feel about each other. Make no mistake, a lot of the furor over Niskanen-Crosby: In Your House is one set of fans/media reacting to the other and then ratcheting up over reactions to that.

This isn’t just about this particular incident, and we’ll get to the others. As far as this one, I’m just not buying Eddie Plugs’s or any Caps fan/coach’s excuse on it, and it isn’t just about this one in particular. Yes, things happen fast on the ice. Why we love it. But the reason those dudes are out there and we’re sitting here is because they have the reaction time to deal with how fast things happen out there.

Sure, it happens too fast for Niskanen to plan it all and consider the consequences and the particular angle he’d like to take to Crosby’s face. But don’t tell me after watching him follow-through on it he didn’t see a window to Crosby’s head and take it. I just don’t buy anything else. And Niskanen’s previous behavior in this series does him no favors either.

Everything Else

Looks Like Fun: Weekend Wrap

By 1296

You can see just how weird hockey is with the two narratives going around right now. Let’s follow them.

This weekend, one team came out of the gate roaring in a playoff game. They first 16 shots at the opposing goalie, and only give up five. But the opposing goalie has an answer for everything, and then their own goalie suddenly forgets how his limbs work for just one period. Suddenly, they’re in crisis.

Another team comes out roaring, also at home. They outshoot their opponent 29-14 in the first 40 minutes of their game. And while the opposing goalie was good, they found a way to get one goal in their period of pure dominance, and that’s the difference.

And coming out of those games, the Capitals are doing it all again and are an utter mess, whereas the Predators are sitting in the proverbial catbird seat. And really, the only difference between the two was that Cody McLeod was able to corral a puck in the air and a bounce off the outside of the net, and the Capitals got no such bounce.