For more on DC United's loss to Chicago Fire check out our coverage on OffWing Photo.

Use of our pics are free to independent bloggers who credit the photographer and link back to OffWing Photo.

:: Comments left behind ::

As Don Cherry announced the finalists for the Jack Adams trophy, the video board had three Family Feud-style sections that revealed the nominees. And sandwiched right between Mike Babcock and Guy Charbonneau was Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau.

While both Charbonneau's and Babcock's teams finished with the best records in their respective conferences, and both advanced past the first round of the playoffs, Boudreau can still be considered the top coach in the league.

While Babcock and Charbonneau have had full seasons with star-studded teams, Boudreau took a team of mostly average guys that was 6-14-1 and finished off 37-17-7, including winning their last 7 games to reach the playoffs. Over a full season that would have come out to 108 points for the season. That would have been better than Montreal and only second to Detroit.

The question comes down to "How do you define the best coach?" Is it a coach that keeps a great team running smoothly all season and into the playoffs? Is it a coach that returns a storied franchise to greatness? Or is it a career minor-leaguer that stepped up and turned around the fortunes of a promising team.

I'm just glad I'm not on the voting list. No man is a bad candidate, so it will be exciting to see who comes home with the hardware.

:: Comments left behind ::

I may be regarded as a homer (I am a Penguin fan), but what about Michele Therien? He lost the best player (arguably) in the league for almost half of the season. He lost his #1 goaltender for about the same amount of time and his #1 defensive defensive player (Mark Eaton) for almost the entire campaign and still finished as the #2 seed in the east.

Nothing says bad night like watching the Caps' Game 7 heartbreaker, then going back to my room to write a paper due the next day. I think I'm still recovering. Also, it was a tough loss to swallow, but I would expect more out of Caps fans. I happened to watch the game at the Green Turtle with some friends who are Flyers fans, and twice on the way home Caps fans tried to physically fight them. I'm not grouping everyone in there, but in general it doesn't reflect well. As much as it stinks, you've got to have some class.

Now to wrap the season up On Frozen Blog has the top ten storylines of the season for the Caps. While it might usually be tough to come up with ten notable things, this season was a gold mine for headlines for the Caps. Between Ovie's dominance, McPhee's trade-deadline day pickups, new coach Bruce Boudreau, and the drastic improvement of the team, there was no shortage of things to talk about.

Also, their first round bounce won't be the last hockey played for 8 Caps this season. The World Championships are coming up, and several Caps will be participating. Says Tarik at the Caps Insider;

Mike Green (Canada), Cristobal Huet (France), Tomas Fleischmann (Czech Republic), Nicklas Backstrom (Sweden), Alex Ovechkin, Sergei Fedorov, Alexander Semin and Semen Varlamov (Russia) are all expected to play.

They are all standout talents that deserve to play on the international stage. An added bonus is that with 5 nations represented, there's a solid chance that at least one Cap comes back a champion.

A few blogs, like Japers' Rink and The Peerless Prognosticator are doing post-season breakdowns of all the players. I won't be following suit, as they will do a much better job than I, and I don't have the time at the moment. But right now the theme seems to be centers, so I will make note of it.

The Caps seem set with Backstrom and Nylander as their 1 and 2 centers, and Dave Steckel will be back, presumably with the 4th line. Corey has the offseason depth chart mapped out, and it shows Boyd Gordon and Brooks Laich also looking to center a line, while both are Restricted Free Agents. Add to that a few prospects hoping to make the jump, and the Caps are deep at the pivot spot. And I wouldn't mind seeing Sergei Fedorov sticking around, even in a minimal role. His addition late in the season greatly boosted the team's face-off wins and scoring chances.

Lastly, posts may be scarce the next few weeks. With final papers due and finals themselves this week and next I'll be quite busy. So here's looking back at a good season, looking at the rest of the playoffs, and looking forward to the mini-camps and training camps that will signal the start of next season.

:: Comments left behind ::

For more on the United's victory check out our coverage on OffWing Photo.

:: Comments left behind ::

"THEY'RE GONNA DO ONE MORE!"

With everyone extolling the "score first" necessity of last night's game, I don't know if any of us saw the Caps coming back from a 2-0 hole. But watching the rest of the game unfold in a room with both Caps fans and Flyers fans was pure heaven. And how great was it to see Ovie silence the critics and bury a few to lock up the game. Yes their penalty kill was less than stellar to say the least, but for once we can just let that go and celebrate our boys coming back home to try and finish out the series.

Both Poti and Green were slightly injured in last night's game, but, showing just how important tonight is, they are both playing. From Green;

"I wouldn't miss it for the world. They would have to cut off one of my legs."

And to get everyone in the mood, Japers' Rink goes over last night and tonight, and we are again treated to the video of Dale Hunter's overtime winner in Game 7 against, you guessed it, the Flyers.

:: Comments left behind ::

One game isn't really a big indicator of where this series will go, but the Game 5 effort put forth by the Caps certainly hints at what they are capable of.

Through the first 4 games the Caps were essentially dominated. They stole a win in Game 1, and tried to match the physicality of Philly the rest of the way, but they never really put together a complete game the way the Flyers did.

Saturday, however, saw a different Caps team. They stepped up their play physically and limited the Flyers' scoring chances. With the exception of Hatcher's goal late in the game, the Caps defense was pretty solid. Alexander Semin continued to step up his play, although it'd be nice if he tried something other than the toe-drag every once in a while. The Caps moved the puck well, and did a decent job of staying out of the box.

Now they just have to do the same thing in enemy territory. Game 5 had the Verizon crowd behind the Caps; Philly will be a different story. But as long as the Caps focus on their game they should be fine.

There are a few things the Caps need to keep in mind coming into tonight's game. Corey notes that;

One of the notes passed along by the Caps PR staff is teams that score first are 33-11 in these playoffs, with the team in this series a tidy 5-0. Guess that means the Caps should try to get on the board first tonight.

The Caps Nut believes that "The Flyers will be pumped up playing in front of their home crowd and should be open to counter attacks early on in the game." So the Caps need to take advantage of the Flyers' over-eagerness while preventing them from actually scoring. A tough job I know, but it's what has to be done.

Even the players know how important the start of the game will be, as Tarik has this from Matt Bradley:

"They are going to want to set the tone and get the crowd behind them. We know how they are going to come out, and they're going to come out strong. We have to meet their push. The first period, I think, is going to decide who comes out on top."

So everyone knows what needs to be done tonight. Now they just have to do it. And so for motivational purposes we look to the spectacular jobs of On Frozen Blog and The Peerless Prognosticator, who have dug up just what the doctor ordered to get the boys in red all worked up.

:: Comments left behind ::

Correction: Brooks Laich celebrates Alexander Semin's goal that gave the Caps a 3-1 lead over the Flyers in the 3rd period. Philadelphia answered back less than a minute later, but the Caps held on to the lead and won 3-2. The Flyers lead the series 3-2.

Photo by Kate McGovern

:: Comments left behind ::

I hate to criticize a beautiful photo, but the picture is actually of Brooks Laich celebrating Alexander Semin's goal.

Good catch; sorry about that. I was sort of rushing to get things online!

Photo by Kate McGovern.

:: Comments left behind ::

Photo by Kate McGovern

:: Comments left behind ::

Well last night certainly felt like a kick in the nuts. The Caps finally showed the grittiness and teamwork that they need to win this series, and they still couldn't come away with the win. They even dent Briere to the box 3 times. Huet played his best game of the series, making a pair of killer saves to keep the Caps going. (Video here, Check the times at 3:23 in and 4:45 in)

But in the end they couldn't put it away. The good news is is that the Caps have come back from down 1-3 to win before. Their opponent? The Flyers. It would be interesting to see if Dale Hunter makes a trip down to the Verizon for tomorrow night's game.

This is a series of conundrums. Ovie is relatively cold while Semin is giving back almost more than he's getting from the physical Flyers. The Philly powerplay isn't hurting the Caps as much as people thought, although it doesn't give the Caps the right to take multiple too many men penalties in one game. But the series is not revolving around the big factors people had predicted.

It all comes down to this: the Caps need to clear out the front of their net. Nearly every goal the Flyers have scored, including all 4 goals last night, have been from between the hash marks or closer. The Flyers are banging away right in front of the net, and chances are pretty good that you're going to bang a few in from that close. The Caps defense needs to step up and clear out that area. One good moment I saw last night was John Erskine pitchforking a Flyer out from in front of the net. You've got to get dirty, but that's how you prevent goals from in close.

:: Comments left behind ::

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

More photos to come plus be sure to check out this and other pictures from tonight's game on our flickr page and also our Photoshelter account

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

:: Comments left behind ::

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

More photos to come plus be sure to check out this and other pictures from tonight's game on our flickr page and also our Photoshelter account

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

Photo by Ellen Blanchard

:: Comments left behind ::

Where did the Washington Capitals go? It couldn't have been them that I saw last night. It had to be some sort of hockey team impostors.

For starters, the Caps are just too soft with their passes. If they feather one more D-to-D pass that gets picked off for a goal, I don't know what I'll do. Maybe file a complaint for fraud, because a real hockey team doesn't do that a half dozen times per playoff games. I'd take a crappy dump along the boards and a turnover near their blueline to a cross-ice turnover on our blueline.

I want to dress for the Caps Thursday night. I don't really want to play, I just want to start throwing punches at Biron. If the Flyers run Huet again, I want to see someone, anyone really, on the Caps at the least fight that person, and at the most run Biron in retaliation. And for that matter, do you start Kolzig in Game 4? Huet doesn't exactly have the best save percentage in the playoffs, and Lord knows Olie won't take any of the crap Huet has the past 2 games. It's a tough call, but I imagine one game for Olie would be worth it.

And you have to feel bad for the penalty kill. Against one of the top powerplays in the league the PK has been outstanding, but it has not been matched by the Powerplay. The PP has failed to do much of anything, and it's coming back to bite them in the keister. They move the puck well, but how about we cut the passing chain a few times and rip some shots. Can't score if you don't shot. And I've said it before; I'll take 3-4 decent shots over 1 great shot any day.

The Caps have today to work things out before they hit enemy ice again tomorrow night. Coach Boudreau has his work cut out for him, but hopefully he can patch things up and get his team competing again.

:: Comments left behind ::

After three years in which his team failed to make the postseason twice, Canucks GM Dave Nonis has been let go. From chairman Francesco Aquilini;

"We want to thank Dave for the many contributions he has made helping to build our organization during his tenure. However, I think this important change in leadership is critical to the future of the team and the direction we need to take. It's not acceptable to our fans or to us as owners that our team isn't in the playoffs."

To be fair it's tough to repeat a 105-point performance when your defense misses 174-man games to injury. I also agree with Nonis' explanation as to why he made only a minor move at the trade deadline.

"If there is a deal that makes sense for our hockey team and will make us better, regardless of who it is, we would do it," Nonis told reporters in February. "But if it's a deal that would decimate our reserve list, take all of our top prospects and require players off our team along with those picks and prospects, I think it's highly unlikely we would do that for any rental player."

The Canucks have an aging set of leaders. Captain Markus Naslund is 34, alternate captain Trevor Linden is 38, and alternate captain Brendan Morrison is 32. All are set to be unrestricted free agents next season. They also have looming resignings to take care of, namely the Sedin twins and Mattias Ohlund after next season. So while it may have hurt for the Canucks to miss the playoffs this year, it makes sense for the Canucks to hold onto their young picks in order to keep building the team.

Dave Nonis had no choice but to take the heat, but he didn't do as bad a job as they are making it seem like he has.

:: Comments left behind ::

Well yesterday was certainly a disappointment. The Caps couldn't put together much of anything, and they were lucky to just lose 2-0. They tried to do too much on the powerplay, and it ended up costing them. The Caps could barely make tape to tape passes, and instead of trying to improve that they all tried to go through every Flyer by themselves. We all know Mike Green can do work on offense, but let's be real, he's not going to finesse his way through 2 guys and score. Let's just hope he realizes that and doesn't try to do it again Tuesday.

On the plus side Huet was strong in net, allowing only 2 goals on 41 shots. The first was a breakaway that was the fault of the D, and the second was poor backchecking and a bad chip shot rebound by Philly that went over Huet. Also, the penalty kill kept that scary Flyers powerplay off the board, going 5-for-5 on the kill.

The most interesting part of the game, and On Frozen Blog apparently caught on to this too, was when Pierre McGuire mentioned that the arena was nearly half full of Caps fans. This led to quite a bit of confusion as I read blogs from the game about how guys had never seen so few away fans at such a big game at the Verizon. OFB has a nice little vision test to help NBC's man between the glass tell the difference between red and orange. It seems simple enough, but something tells me Pierre would have some trouble with it.

The Caps head to Philly tomorrow for a 7 pm start. Hopefully they can address the problems we saw yesterday, and come out stronger and grittier in the City of Brotherly Love.

:: Comments left behind ::