In the final week of regular season play, there are a number of intriguing storylines pending for Caps’ fans, both with the overall scoring race between Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin and in the mad scramble for postseason qualification and seedings in the East.
Here’s a storyline I particularly like: the Penguins haven’t qualified yet. (I know, it’s a formality, but it’s still fun to think about a miracle collapse by Mario’s men.)
In no particular order:
*I’m hard-pressed to identify an April day that delivered more devastating news in one-two punch fashion than did Monday to the Montreal Canadiens. All they lost for the rest of the way was two of their best and most important defensemen, Andrei Markov and Mathieu Schneider. Schneider had powered the Habs’ power play back to respectability since coming over in a trade with Atlanta. Markov was sitting second only to Mike Green in points scored by a defenseman.
Montreal received this devastating news while residing in 7th place in the East, just a point back of 6th-place Pittsburgh. They gamely took a 2-1 lead over Ottawa into Monday night’s third period, only to squander it and the opportunity to shoulder aside the Pens for the time being to claim the 6th slot, and perhaps cement a spot in the postseason. This morning they have but a 3-point cushion over the Rangers and Panthers, and looming ahead for them are three closing toughies this week: in Madison Square Garden tonight, at Boston Thursday, and then a finishing home date with Pittsburgh. It’s quite conceivable that Montreal won’t improve upon its 92 points for the balance of the week; almost certainly that won’t hold onto 8th let alone 7th in the East.
Things are suddenly so sour for the Habs that Caps’ fans should root for Montreal in broken French the remainder of the week. Montreal played the Caps tough this season, but Capitals’ fans should want the Habs to qualify and finish 7th in the East while the Caps hold onto second place. When you consider the Pennsylvania ghosts of playoff agonies past (Philly, Pittsburgh) as alternative possibilities, or the Rangers with difference-maker Lundqvist between the pipes, an impact-blueliner-depleted Montreal club with shaky Carey Price or Jaroslav Halak behind them offers the most appealing matchup for the Red Nation.
It’s been a campaign of remarkable turmoil in this the quasi-centennial season of pro hockey in Montreal. It may well end with the Habs on the outside looking in at the playoffs. Another riot on St. Catherine’s Street?
* Can three Southeast teams qualify for the playoffs? It’s never happened before, but even if it were to, it’d change little among most hockey folks and their perception about this red-headed stepchild of hockey divisions. As such, this really isn’t all that as a storyline, but there is novelty to it. To put an exclamation point on the durable drek that is the Southleast, the Caps this week embark on a tour of NASCAR country, and it carries all the must-watch aura of a Pauly Shore Filmfest. I’d be surprised to learn if even the host players’ wives tuned in to the games this week.
The next question would be: could the Panthers half fill their rink for a slate of first-round playoff games? And: should Caps’ fans root for the Rangers and Habs to make the postseason and leave the ‘Cats once again outdoor recreating in the early spring Florida sun, followed most assuredly by the roster blowup led by the Boumeester free agency departure, surely followed by a ‘For Sale’ sign for the franchise . . . followed by, God willing, division realignment?
In a word, yes.
* Call this a Schadenfreude Special in Spring: Pittsburgh vs. Philly in a round one, steel-cage death match. A rematch of last spring’s Eastern conference finals, needed this spring only insomuch as it would mean one of our most hated foes would be guaranteed early spring tee times. Hopefully, such a series would last seven games, and M*A*S*H units required to tend to both clubs throughout. If the series’ games were scheduled on nights opposite the Caps’, our families wouldn’t see us for 10 consecutive evenings this spring. But odds are we’d return to them quite happy.
*A Hart Heat-up. It’s spring, so that must mean that Evgeni Malkin is thinking about Russian ladies in new spring outfits while skating, and not showing up on any scoresheets. Mere weeks ago, he held a double-digit lead over Ovi in the points race. This morning, his lead is down to two. Ovi is surging, Malkin is seasonally fading (again). One standout performance by the Reigning Hart holder in this week’s final three games ought to lock up a repeat acceptance speech.
*Can the Caps win two of their final three games on this season-concluding road trip, and thereby achieve 50 wins in a season for only the third time in franchise history? Should the Caps win out, they’d establish a franchise record for wins in a season. They’d also secure the second seed in the East.
9 Comments
It’s so hard to figure out who to root for each night. It’s completely different if I figure the Caps win each game and finish in 2nd, or lose some and finish in 3rd.
What do you people have against the Panthers? This is the second time in recent memory you all have pushed for them to move and/or contract…
i personally am rooting against them because i think they would be a dangerous team for the capitals to meet in the playoffs. jay bouwmeester is NOT someone i want my team to face.
i’m loving this hockey resurgence not only in d.c., but in the area surrounding it as well
also, as a note, i go to school in fredericksburg, a good hour south of d.c., where hardly anyone watches hockey, and this morning i saw a girl carrying a Capitals messenger bag…at which point my heart did a happy dance
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to play them in the playoffs anymore than the next guy, but that doesn’t mean I want their franchise to move and/or cease to exist.
I want to see the Panthers make the playoffs, personally.
A lot of the reason why some want the southeast teams to move or contract is that they would like for Washington to rejoin the Atlantic Division (reunite the Patrick Division, basically).
As far as attendance, I thought I heard that the Panthers building was full (18,000 or so) for the Pens game on Sunday. I think they’d fill the arena for a playoff team. Atlanta did during their lone trip a couple years ago. I understand that the Southeast division is not quite the sexy/traditional matchups that everyone would want, but if 3 teams make it into the playoffs, c’mon, at least the hockey being played there is for real. At what point do we allow the ‘red-headed step-children’ to establish some present-day credibility through play on the ice. I mean 2 cup winners in the past 5 years from the southeast. No other division can boast that. So the talking heads in Canada and the mainstream hockey media don’t think of us like the Leafs or Habs. What can we do about that anyway? I see the only option to be winning them over with superior play on the ice. I think the Caps are primed and ready to do that for the next several years.
I could be wrong here, but I don’t see how a team in the southeast leaving could possibly result in us changing divisions. That would leave the division two teams down, and I think the only team that could feasibly be added (geographically anyway) would be Nashville.
If we want back into the Atlantic, we should be rooting for one of those teams to move.
But I think rooting for any city to lose a franchise is just cold. Whatever attendance may look like, there are always fans who would be heartbroken to see their team leave. We wouldn’t want the Caps moved, after all.
Never wish to play a weak team like Montreal, cause if you lose… Naw, its best to go after the top teams right away. Play Pittsburg and beat them, then play Philly, and finally have a go at Boston. Then finish off the playoffs against Detroit. Now that’s a good playoff run. Not Montreal (as much as I like le habs).
I was hoping for the great showdown between Philthy and Pitt in 4th and 5th in Playoff Round 1. And, likewise, hoping for a very hard fought 7 game series where the winner would have nothing left for Round 2. Except it probably won’t happen since Carolina’s been so hot as of late. They’ll get either 4th of 5th. Anyway, here’s hoping that Carolina will have a tough battle with Philthy or Pitt and the winner tanks up in Round 2.