Wow, it's been 12 days since my last blog entry, lots going on at home and work, and with no Caps games to anchor me and my blog entries, the blogging side of life has been aimlessly moving around. This past week's hockey games have prompted me to muse on hockey again though. Last night's Wings-Hawks series closeout was a good game, eh? Though how Puckdaddy can list Christobel Huet at the number one star, I can't fathom. Yes he was solid, very solid in last night's game, but the game before that he was chased out of the net. True it wouldn't have mattered who was in the net given the way the Red Wings were playing, but please stopping 42 of 44 for a 0.954 save percentage is awesome, but to call the stop on Franzen in the final minute of the third as anything but a desperate, lucky save is, to me, a stretch. Yes I'm biased - I hold a grudge from last off-season - but I say if the Blackhawks didn't have Khabibuhlen in the net much of the season and most of the playoffs, they wouldn't have made it to the Conference finals. In any case, by taking the Blackhawks down in 5 games, the Red Wings proved they remain the team to beat in the West. To be sure the Blackhawks gamely made a series of it taking three of the five games to overtime, but in the end Detroit once again proved too much for a playoff opponent. With the Blackhawks young core remaining intact next season, you can be sure they'll be making another run next spring as well.
The Penguins-Hurricane's series you ask - well though it pains me, a Caps Fan, to say it - there sure seemed little doubt about that one, eh? The four game sweep by the Penguins clearly demonstrated, they remain an elite team and probably the elite team in the East. The Caps have something to shoot at next season and it's Pittsburgh. Further, only the first game in Pittsburgh was all that tight, ending with a 3-2 regulation win by Pittsburgh. The other three games saw the Penguins dispatch the Hurricanes by 3, 4, and 3 goal margins.
Now hockey fans can get ready for back to back games this weekend in Detroit before the Stanley Cup Finals move to Pittsburgh next week for games 4 and 5. Back to back games for the finals is drawing lots, and lots of criticism - count me among the fans who think this is a bad idea too. Who will win? The wily Red Wings from Motor City or those pesky flightless birds from Steeltown? Based on how they looked in their conference finals, i wouldn't bet against the Penguins. However, the Red Wings have a history of winning back to back Stanley Cups so i guess we'll have to let the teams play the games on the ice.
I'll resume my recap of the season relative to "Were They Worth It?" soon but work is getting in the way of blogging and that's not a bad thing in this economy, etc. I haven't blogged here about my thoughts on the Kozlov Russia signing or the talk about Federov though i have posted comments to some of the threads on Japer's Rink, etc. I'll just sum it up here re: Federov - I want him back and think for $2.5 or less and a one year deal, it's not much to debate, especially since Kozlov's return to Russia frees up $2.5 and we'd be trading Kozlov at 2.5 for Federov at 2.5 and freeing up $4M of salary cap space which assuming Morisson isn't resigned turns into $5.9M....for that GMGM could sign either an impact RW or a Superstopper DMan or perhaps both...
Well back to work... think 2009-2010 season - LETS GO CAPS!!!
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