Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Which team wants it more?

On Sunday, the New York Rangers wanted it a lot more than the Caps.  The Caps played a disorganized, sloppy, penalty filled game that ended in a 2-3 loss and handed the momentum back to the number eight seed.  This history is disturbingly familiar.  Obviously, even Jason Arnott didn't have magic words for this team, but, at least, he still appeared on the score sheet.

The Rangers spent their game harrassing Michal Neuvrirth.  I want to see the Caps pushing the Rangers out of Neuvy's crease.  I also want to see them crashing into Henrik Lundqvist's crease a lot more, even at the risk of penalties.  They've got to do that to get those garbage goals that win playoff games. Plus, they need to shove that pressure right back at the Rangers.  The Caps can't afford to get more penalties than the last game, but if they eliminate the stupid ones like delay of game, interference, hooking and holding it shouldn't be a problem crashing the crease.

I'm still amazed that Lundqvist got the number one star in that game because I'm not sure what he did to deserve it.  The Caps played 16 minutes of penalty killing so Lundqvist wasn't all that busy stopping 23 of the Caps 25 shots.  Neurvirth faced 35 shots. Since the New York media picked the stars for that game, I'm surprised Sean Avery, the drama queen, didn't get it for deciding to give his team and overworked defensive stars a little rest by breaking his stick prior to that one faceoff.

So Caps, it's up to you.  Either shine your golf clubs for your typical early exit or play like you want it by addressing the shortcomings Tarik so eloquently highlighted.

Let's go Caps!

Labels: , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home