Washington - The Battle for Russia

I just finished watching the Canes perform another incredible comeback to stun the Devils in NJ to win the series. And with the Capitals beating the Rangers tonight that leaves us with a second round match up against Ovie and his cronies.

Lets start off with a photoshop for your viewing pleasure.



While the Capitals won this years season series 3-1, the Penguins have won 6 of 7 previous playoff meetings with Washington. Does this really mean anything? Not really. Anything can happen. Which team decides to find a way to win will ultimately decide this battle.

I'm sure we're going to see some very intense hockey in the next few weeks. The Caps will not be an easy team to beat. They have fire power, they have size, they have depth. What they don't have is goaltending. And that may be where the Pens can exploit them.

Here's what others have been saying...

PensBurgh notes,

It's going to be a matter of who stays disciplined and doesn't take dumb penalties. Going in, the Caps have that edge since they were in the bottom ten in the league in penalty minutes. But that also means that they aren't likely to play the same physical style that gave the Pens some problems against the Flyers.

Brian Metzer from HockeyBuzz states,

This may not have all the Physicality of the Penguins/Flyers series, but there is a pretty healthy dislike between these two teams as well. That dislike, especially between some of the superstars skating for each side is going to be a dream come true for the networks and hockey fans alike.

and THE Pensblog (for now) says,

BRING IT.

CROSBY - OVECHKIN - MALKIN

The media can't get enough of this. If you googled these three names together before tonight you'd more than likely find 10,000 articles published on the drama surrounding them. Crosby and Ovechkin have a history of jobbing each other for the spotlight as well as their ongoing battle for the best NHL player. Malkin joined the conversation the past two years but has a deeper history with Ovie. The two played roomed with each other during the Olympics and have had a history of distasteful run-in's on the ice; that is until this past year's All-Star game where allegedly Ilya Kovalchuk dropped the Russian hammer on their constant fueds. We all know what happened next.

I'm hoping to have a more substantive write up of things to come, but after spending 12 hours in the car with my 3 kids, it'll have to wait.


Oh, and the Offish Pens site apparently thinks we play the Blues next.

Posted in: Captials,Penguins,playoffs 2009