Capitals were better last year and still lost the series. This year the Penguins have at least as good a team but finished behind the Capitals in the standings because the Capitals were pretty healthy while the Penguins had their key players miss a lot of time. PIT is 49-30, WAS is 53-26 Games missed Crosby 6 Malkin 17 (and counting) Sheary 20 Letang 38 (and counting) Daley 25 Hornqvist 11 Schultz 3 Guentzel a bunch after he was bumped up to Crosby's line and more
Every team has injuries, Rangers lost Buch, Zib, McD, Girardi, Klein, Hank, Nash, Fast for extended periods
Yep. I don't like injury excuses. Rangers-Caps last night felt close to a Preseason game , but a couple people showed up. Lundqvist was great, Holtby was great, and a couple nice goals including one from Kuznetsov. Caps lock up the 1 seed and the Rangers lock up a meeting with Montreal. The playoffs are near!
lol the usual response is "everyone has injuries, so that's not an excuse" I'd say it's a valid excuse when you're missing so many of your players for so long every other team's injury list pales in comparison
East has 2 series set in stone: Rangers-Canadiens and Blue Jackets-Penguins. The race for the 8 seed (Capitals Round 1 opponent) got interesting tonight. Ottawa has 96 points now. Boston has 95. They likely will play each other but it is not guaranteed yet. Both have clinched so that leaves just 1 spot left: Toronto has 93 points, 3 points ahead of the Islanders and Lightning with 2 games left. Toronto has 2 home games against Pittsburgh and Columbus to end the season. You would assume they can get 1 point in those 2 games, but nothing is a given. The Caps actually play Boston on Saturday. Not sure if they will be resting players though. Should be a fun weekend to settle all of the match-ups.
Caps to good for both, Ottawa is a team on the rise, Rangers vs Habs is a toss up, the way the Rangers have tanked lately Habs actually have the edge
and there's plenty of other teams in other years that were good enough to win but had injury problems. 5 of the 6 rangers top D-men needed surgery after elimination last year
several teams sat players today, including Nashville, which made no sense because they had a chance to improve their positioning instead, they scratched five players last minute, including Roman Josi, one of the top defensemen in the NHL they then blew a third period lead and lost
Today is the final day of the NHL season. Here is what is still left to be determined: If Columbus defeats Toronto in Regulation: -Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Washington Capitals -Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Pittsburgh Penguins -Boston Bruins vs. Ottawa Senators -New York Rangers vs. Montreal Canadiens If Toronto gets any point at all vs. Columbus today: -Boston Bruins vs. Washington Capitals -Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Pittsburgh Penguins -Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Ottawa Senators -New York Rangers vs. Montreal Canadiens You would assume Toronto can get a point tonight, but does Columbus really want to head into the playoffs on a 7 game losing streak? We will see. As for the West: If the Ducks beat the Kings or get 1 point, they win the Pacific, but if they lose and Edmonton wins, Edmonton wins the Pacific and host Calgary. Whoever ends up 2nd in the division will face the defending Western Conference Champion Sharks. Nashville vs. Chicago and Minnesota vs. St. Louis are already set in stone.
Tampa Bay wouldn't disagree. edmonton doing the same thing they were one of three teams with something to play for, yet they scratched a whole bunch of guys last minute they have several days off before the playoffs. This was necessary?
The Playoffs are Here! Okay guys, let's make our 1st Round Picks and Cup Picks East: Capitals over Maple Leafs in 5. Canadiens over Rangers in 7. Penguins over Blue Jackets in 5. Senators over Bruins in 6. West: Blackhawks over Predators in 5. Blues over Wild in 6. Ducks over Flames in 7. Oilers over Sharks in 7. 3 real toss up series for me I went with the home teams in Game 7. Stanley Cup: 1 seed vs 1 seed, Capitals over Blackhawks.
Only way Oilers could've moved up a spot was if ANA didn't get a single point in their last game. Which they did, and home ice was clinched for round 1 either way so I did not have a problem with it. And we still won. Picks: Washington def Toronto in 5 Ottawa def Boston in 7 NY Rangers def Montreal in 7 Penguins def Blue Jackets in 6 Chicago def. Nashville in 6 Wild def Blues in 6 Sharks def Oilers in 6 (hope I'm wrong ) Ducks def Flames in 7 Stanley Cup pick: Capitals def. Sharks in 6
Sharks were so much better. Great atmosphere, good to be back, but Sharks took the Oil to school tonight. We're on to Game 2. Sharks, Rangers, Bruins, Blues all win on the road today.
