I feel disgusting. Still, almost a day after the game ended. I went to game seven, I saw the sea of red that far eclipsed the number of Caps fans that showed up to game five and I saw us walk off with our heads down. Game seven was a game we should have won, we had so many chances in the third it seemed like we were bound to score eventually…but we didn’t. The game trickled away the same way the first Flyers goal trickled through Huet’s five hole.
The Capitals had the energy and the crowd on their side, but couldn’t seem to finish off the Flyers whose veteran players always seemed to be in the right position to block the Capitals’ shots. Of course the Capitals had their chances, but the allowance of the second Flyers goal was inexcusable and even after the Caps tied the game the second goal still felt like doomsday was coming. In game four of the series Alexander Semin served a two minute interference penalty to end regulation for skating into the goal. Semin was an offensive player who was obviously pushed into Biron, but I shrugged off the penalty call because we were away and sometimes home teams get the calls. Well, we were home and got screwed by an even more blatant interference penalty where Morrissonn was pushed into Huet before a goal got dumped into an empty net.
I’m not going to go and say the game was rigged, because the NHL was salivating at the revenue was going to come with the much-anticipated Caps-Penguins series. Sid the Kid (Healthy) vs. Ovechkin. I didn’t expect to beat the Penguins, but I, along with most hockey fans, was eager to see the young stars battle in a best-of-seven. The Flyers remind me of those teams that appeared after the lockout in Buffalo and Carolina. The teams were deep with veteran talent, but seemed more like they were surviving a bad league rather than winning the cup. Buffalo had Briere, Carolina had Staal, but honestly it felt awkward to watch an over-the-hill Rod Brind’Amour lift the cup over his head with a team that arguably could’ve gotten swept by Brind’Amour’s Flyers of the 90s. The 2008 Flyers have Briere and Richards to add some excitement, but they hardly seem like a cup-winning team.
Looking around the east, though, who looks like a cup-winner? Pittsburgh’s the best team talent-wise, but they still feel too young to take it, especially because I don’t trust Fleury. The Habs have their history and a ton of confident veterans, but obviously the rookie in net is still unproven. The Rangers are the type of team that can upset Pittsburgh, they have plenty of players who’ve been in the playoffs before and Lundquist can beat anybody. I expect it two of the east’s biggest markets, Montreal and New York, in the Eastern conference finals. At that point, Price will have some experience after knocking off the Flyers, and he should be ready to hold back the Rangers in six games.
The two teams that just got eliminated from the western conference, the Flames and Ducks, could have have easily run through the mostly unproven eastern conference. While the teams in the east are either young and talented or experienced and mediocre, the western teams have a good mix of talented players who know how to play the more methodical and strategic game that is playoff hockey. Detroit and Colorado play each other for about the thirtieth year in a row, and while Detroit has added some young talent seemingly every year, it appears that Colorado is still relying on Sakic and Forsberg to make their big plays. I expect this to be a great series just because of the teams involved, but this is the RedWings’ series to lose. I want to say San Jose will take care of Dallas early, but Marty Turco is due for a deep playoff run, so I’m picking Dallas to upset the second-best team in the league. Detroit will end up being too much for the Stars, taking the western finals in five, and setting up a dream finals of Detroit and Montreal. Not since the days of Howe and Richard have these two teams competed for dominancy of the league.
I want to say Detroit’s the better team, but with that series, just grab some popcorn and set the line to “pick’em.”
Oh yeah, and Flyers Suck
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