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Pre-Game Talk: (3) Washington Capitals VS (6) New York Rangers (Schedule in Post #1)

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li97 said:
Oh I hope so too. Other wise I'm going to look like the biggest dumbass on this board. :laugh:
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I believe he will. Stepan is one player who really "get's it." His work ethic is unquestioned, his hockey IQ very high and for what he lacks in God given skill, he compensates for in other areas. He will become the future captain of this team, of that I have no doubt!
 
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I also tend to ignore the Caps fans.

However, we need to be realistic here about who has the better offense. Caps were 4th in league with 149 Goals for. We were 11th with 130, but at one point we were dead last in that category! We had some high scoring games towards the end of the season against non-playoff teams too.

We don't have an Ovechkin or Backstrom on our team.

At the same time, I do think we can beat the Caps. Unlike Pitt who can come at you with a Crosby line and then a Malkin line, the key to stopping the Caps is stopping Ovechkin! Ovechkin had 33 goals. Next after him? Brouwer of all people with 19...yet Brouwer has never scored more than 22 goals in a full NHL season! He only has 14 points in 57 playoff games, so I'm not concerned about him. Next after him? Ribeiro only had 13 goals.

So especially at home we have to get Girardi and McDonagh out there against whatever line Ovechkin is on! Make his life miserable! If we shut him down, and then get some scoring from each of our top 2 or 3 lines, we can definitely win this series! It may go 6 or 7 games again...it wont be easy.
 
Evgeny Oliker said:
I also tend to ignore the Caps fans.

However, we need to be realistic here about who has the better offense. Caps were 4th in league with 149 Goals for. We were 11th with 130, but at one point we were dead last in that category! We had some high scoring games towards the end of the season against non-playoff teams to.

We don't have an Ovechkin or Backstrom on our team.

At the same time, I do think we can beat the Caps. Unlike Pitt who can come at you with a Crosby line and then a Malkin line, the key to stopping the Caps is stopping Ovechkin! Ovechkin had 33 goals. Next after him? Brouwer of all people with 19...yet Brouwer has never scored more than 22 goals in a full NHL season! He only has 14 points in 57 playoff games, so I'm not concerned about him. Next after him? Ribeiro only had 13 goals.

So especially at home we have to get Girardi and McDonagh out there against whatever line Ovechkin is on! Make his life miserable! If we shut him down, and then get some scoring from each of our top 2 or 3 lines, we can definitely win this series! It may go 6 or 7 games again...it wont be easy.
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This is all true, but let's not forget the Rangers have the better defense and the caps don't have a Hank or a Staal/McDonagh IMO, let alone two players like that if Staal makes it back in time.

The caps were 4th in G/G and 18th in GA/G. Rangers were 15th in G/G and 4th in GA/G. Frankly, if I had to pick one, I'd rather go into the playoffs with an okay offense and a great defense than the other way around. Defense means more in the playoffs.
 
Evgeny Oliker said:
I also tend to ignore the Caps fans.

However, we need to be realistic here about who has the better offense. Caps were 4th in league with 149 Goals for. We were 11th with 130, but at one point we were dead last in that category! We had some high scoring games towards the end of the season against non-playoff teams too.

We don't have an Ovechkin or Backstrom on our team.

At the same time, I do think we can beat the Caps. Unlike Pitt who can come at you with a Crosby line and then a Malkin line, the key to stopping the Caps is stopping Ovechkin! Ovechkin had 33 goals. Next after him? Brouwer of all people with 19...yet Brouwer has never scored more than 22 goals in a full NHL season! He only has 14 points in 57 playoff games, so I'm not concerned about him. Next after him? Ribeiro only had 13 goals.

So especially at home we have to get Girardi and McDonagh out there against whatever line Ovechkin is on! Make his life miserable! If we shut him down, and then get some scoring from each of our top 2 or 3 lines, we can definitely win this series! It may go 6 or 7 games again...it wont be easy.
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But we do have a Derek Stepan :naughty::sarcasm:
 
LyNX27 said:
Looking at the Main thread in the "Stanley Cup Play-Offs" forum one would think the Rangers aren't even in this thing.
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Give the Craps the Cup now! I hope the team underestimates us as much as their fans are. It will be a very short series in that case.
 
Ugh, not these guys again...

The key to this series is Ovi. Shut him down, we shut them down, since without him, they are basically nothing. Good news is that we have the capability to shut him down with Girardi/McD/Staal(Assuming he's back). He also thrives on the PP, and since we have the fewest penalty minutes of any team in the league, that's a positive for us. Plus their PK is pretty bad, so hopefully it makes our PP look a bit less anemic. Plus, Ovi is going to have to get through Hank, which is not going to be easy for him. Holtby, while good, is beatable.
Basically, if we don't make stupid mistakes, we win the series IMHO.

Rangers in 7, going to be close, but we'll pull it out in Washington with an OT win to send them packing once and for all.
 
Rangers in 4.

They outscore the Caps 25-7

All 25 Ranger goals will be from Stepan, exactly in this fashion:



All 7 Caps goals will be from Ovechkin, in this fashion

 
wait are the caps really that good or does the fact that the 3 worst teams in the conference are in their division help their stats a bit? no other team in their division even made the playoffs
 
This series looks like it will begin on Tuesday. The Knicks game 7 would be Sunday at MSG. So a Tues/Thurs in Washington would have game 3 at MSG on Saturday. Or can they do post season NHL/NBA double headers at MSG? I know they do during the regular season. Knicks/Celtics likely won't go 7, but I don't think they can make those kind of assumptions when preparing the NHL playoff schedule.
 
Ryan McDonut said:
wait are the caps really that good or does the fact that the 3 worst teams in the conference are in their division help their stats a bit? no other team in their division even made the playoffs
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They've been red hot, but the Rangers have been as well lately. This is gonna be a good series (albeit it maybe boring).
 
broadwayblue said:
This series looks like it will begin on Tuesday. The Knicks game 7 would be Sunday at MSG. So a Tues/Thurs in Washington would have game 3 at MSG on Saturday. Or can they do post season NHL/NBA double headers at MSG? I know they do during the regular season. Knicks/Celtics likely won't go 7, but I don't think they can make those kind of assumptions when preparing the NHL playoff schedule.
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It would have to be an afternoon game for it to be sunday, so I'd put money on it being saturday night.
 
Lundsanity30 said:
They've been red hot, but the Rangers have been as well lately. This is gonna be a good series (albeit it maybe boring).
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LOL..winning is not boring . I really hate the close games...but feel better when we win them . I really am excited to see Dorsett be a part of this team...he could be a great spark for us and hopefully agitate that rat Ribiero[sp?] into taking a few stupid PM's . We have missed a guy like that since Avery left .
 
Leetch66 said:
LOL..winning is not boring . I really hate the close games...but feel better when we win them . I really am excited to see Dorsett be a part of this team...he could be a great spark for us and hopefully agitate that rat Ribiero[sp?] into taking a few stupid PM's . We have missed a guy like that since Avery left .
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Excellent point. Ribeiro is really easy to get off his game. He'll take retaliation penalties.

Too bad our PP is ****. Although the Caps PK is bad as well.
 
fredrikstad said:
How long has it been since Dorsett played his last game?
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Can't say I know for sure. It was way before the trade if I remember correctly. However, from practice reports and all, he's been doing conditioning skates for a good long while now, so I don't really doubt his ability to jump back in to his role quickly once he's cleared.
 
Ryan McDonut said:
wait are the caps really that good or does the fact that the 3 worst teams in the conference are in their division help their stats a bit? no other team in their division even made the playoffs
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Good point, any decent team looks good when they get to beat up on the Canes and Panthers all the time. Rangers in 5 baby!
 
Rangers probably won't play Saturday night. CBC gets first dibs on Saturday night games and it feature an all-Canada matchup. NBC needs afternoon games for both days. I'm thinking Saturday afternoon and possibly Sunday (or Monday) night. Saturday afternoon would be early game to clear the way for the Kentuicky Derby.
 
bobbop said:
Rangers probably won't play Saturday night. CBC gets first dibs on Saturday night games and it will be an all-Canada matchup. I'm thinking Saturday afternoon and possibly Sunday (or Monday) night
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Agreed. It'll be NBC for game 3 Saturday afternoon
 
Ryan McDonut said:
wait are the caps really that good or does the fact that the 3 worst teams in the conference are in their division help their stats a bit? no other team in their division even made the playoffs
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After you said this I did a little research and noticed a few things.

1) Jets, Hurricanes, Panthers and Lightning are the 4 worst teams in terms of GA in the Eastern Conference. Jets - 12th, Lightning -13th, Hurricanes - 14th, and Panthers - 15th.

2) Capitals scored 73 goals in 18 Divisional Matchups. Average Goals per Game of 4.056
In 30 Non-Divisional Matchups Capitals scored 76 goals. Average Goals per game of 2.533.

The Capitals definitely have firepower, no denying that. However, clearly playing in the Southeast Division has padded that team's stats.

I think that offense might be a little overrated.
 
I almost forgot how annoying Capitals fans are. It's gonna be rough on here. Avoid the main board like it's radioactive :laugh:
 
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