MK1

I didn't mean for it to come across as a flame to you specifically Colin. But a pro athlete, especially a goaltender in the NHL, needs to learn how to control his emotions and use them to his/his team's advantage, not the other way around. I just cannot see, after being lit up for 2g in under 1min, thus producing that reaction, how it can be interpretting as anything OTHER than a frustrated goalie letting his emotions get the best of him. The 2min unnecessary penalty that resulted with 8min left in a 2-goal game is the real problem, and it stemmed from his inability to control himself. That is what I have an issue with.

Considering the player he hit didnt even turn around to acknowledge it, I'd say it was pretty pointless and definitely a stupid play with 8min left only down 2 goals in the PLAYOFFS! And even if they did notice it, it equates to a pitcher getting pulled from a game and the entire other team's dugout watches him throw his glove and storm into the dressing room. Sure you can point out the obvious that he's showing emotion, but in a totally negative way (same as Price) because now that whole team knows they are completely inside your head. To think otherwise is naive.

+1000

I think the Caps are hoping Price gets the start in Game #5. Those childish antics show them they are completely inside his head now. Why tip your hand when you are frustrated and give the other team that much more of an edge, not to mention your team trying to get momentum back and you costing them 2min for a selfish dumb penalty. Sugar coat it all you want but I don't see any positive in his actions.

You are interpretting taking stupid penalties after the play is over with "playing with an adge". When the game is on he shows none of that emotion, it's the exact opposite actually. Those two displays last night were immature acts from a 22yr old, who BTW isn't a baby in the NHL anymore so the "he's young" excuse is starting to wear pretty thin imo. Start Jaro in Game 5, he got the team here he deserves to see it through.

Penalty #1 was for shooting the puck at the Caps along the boards after they scored .... they weren't even celebrating near the net for christ's sake ... you cannot act that way as a professional period. Penalty #2 was for trying to trip Backstrom while sitting on the bench after he scores the EN goal. Again ... so juvenile I don't know what to say. This kid just keeps losing his starting job, and even when he gets it back he finds new ways to embarass himself. He needs to take a long summer and figure out if he wants to be a pro goalie, because right now he is acting like a spoiled little brat.

Carey Price needs to grow the f*ck up, he is embarassing himself and this 100yr+ old franchise with his childish antics. He gets scored on and shoots the puck at the other team?!? And then tries to trip Backstrom from the bench for his 2nd unsportsmanlike penalty of the game? Pathetic. He is acting like the furthest thing from a professional and is showing why his team and most of it's fans threw their support behind Halak this year.

Somehow I don't think bringing up a rookie d-man for 1-game in the playoffs against the best offence the league has seen in the last decade is such a smart idea, even if he has already been annointed the next Ray Bourque by some on this board. This club isn't one player away from being a serious contender; play the hand you're dealt and fix the deficiencies in the off season.

It's too bad he has to start his first game at home. And I'm being serious, because a road start would've been way better for Carey to get into a rhythym. The pressure of the entire season is on his shoulders in front of 22,000 fans who boo'd him off the ice last year. Good luck kid.

Lapierre needs to sit in the pressbox he is completely useless out there, both on the scoresheet and off of it. OB needs back in, he can't do any worse than Hammer did last night. Halak got yanked but none of the goals were really his fault, it was JM's only move at the time I guess, although it didn't produce much effort from his bench. The team is small, and built to make the playoffs, not to go deep into the playoffs. Boston is roughing up the smaller, perimeter style Sabres, and not surprisingly the Caps are doing the same thing here. April/May hockey is a completely different animal, and until someone in the front office realizes that and builds this team to compete in the post season rather than just make it there, it won't matter how many points we get or how many division titles you win.

Halak should start tonights game. If he stumbles or looks weak, or if the Habs lose and he lets in a couple softies, I would then start Price in Game 4. Goalies are fragile, you can't pull them in and out of games like you are starting a lawnmower.

Did anyone else notice how frustrated the Caps were getting when they couldn't beat Halak in the 1st?!? It totally reminded me of the Olympic game between CAN/RUS where when the going got tough and the chips were down, the Russian team turned into a bunch of solo artists trying to do it all themselves. If the Habs can continue to blanket Ovie, and Halak plays great like he did last night, I will be the first to admit this could go longer than I'd originally thought. PS - ROFL @ Caps getting 47 shots on goal and the Gr8 one getting blanked....

Andrei has the work effort of Kovalev and a fraction of the natural talent. He clearly doesn't care, his numbers are PATHETIC, and the bigger the game is the more invisible he becomes. I cannot believe he survived the purge last year, but the faster he and his contract are out of town the better this team will be for it.

Honestly, when this team completely mailed it in last season during one of the most pathetic stretch runs I've witnessed I was pissed off. They completely deserved the fate they received. But to do the exact same DAMN thing this year, with a completely different core of players, is flat-out astonishing. EVERY single one of those last 7-8 games of the season was for their playoff lives, and they not only failed the test they barely showed up. Not to mention the schedule they faced was nothing like what they will be seeing in the post-season. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. The last half dozen games of this season were the most important games this team played all season, and they were flat out brutal. I can only be optimistic for so long. This year I am hoping for a miracle; but if that doesn't happen, once again they completely deserve their fate. And now there is no one left to fire.

This series will be decided by one thing IMO ... the Caps are going to score at least 3 every single game, and that is being kind to their avg which is just shy of 4g/game. So can the Habs put 4-5 in the net 4/7 times to beat the Caps?!? That means AK/Gomez/Plex/Gio/Camms, ALL OF THEM, need to be flying high and putting the puck in the net regularly to have a chance at the upset. Defence is NOT a strength on this team, and it is not a horrible liability on the Caps either, since both are pretty much equal during the year in goals given up per game. The difference is WASH scored close to 100 more goals than the Habs. Theo was something ridiculous like 21-1-3 over his past 25 games, whereas Halak AND Price and the whole damn team fell on their collective faces and slid into the playoffs on their asses. If the season were 83 games long it wouldn't have mattered because NYR would've taken our spot anyways. So Plex running his mouth with his 0 playoff track record and flying in the face of all the recent stats makes him look ridiculous, NOT TO MENTION firing up the entire WASH dressing room at the same time. Great work. The Molsons are happy, they get 2 home games of sellout playoff revenue. But I'm afraid I see nothing to think the Caps this year aren't just the Bruins from last year, and mercifully this will end fast.

Either that, or Plex just decided to make the Caps angry and rile up their whole room. Hopefully he actually scores this series to back up his mouth.

This is going to be glorious ... having to watch blowhard Burke face the music and hand over the highest draft pick the Leafs have had in 20yrs to ANOTHER team !!!! Epic.

Jose Theodore: Season: Games 47 · W-L-OTL 30-7-7 · SO 1 · SV% .911 · GAA 2.81 And you want to play WASH why exactly?!? This will be short and painful, like ripping a band-aid off (see last year).

I agree that the habs will get into the playoffs, but only because ATL has such a brutal schedule and NYR usually find a way to shoot themselves in the foot down the stretch. But this may be the most uninspiring playoff race I have ever seen, barely worth celebrating if you ask me, since it has come down to who can lose just enough times to squeek in rather than who can earn their way in. Pretty sad. PS - the habs fans (if you call them that) booing Price last night was just pathetic, they don't even do that in TOR anymore now that MacCabe is gone, so congrats to that ....

They flocked here last summer because Bob paid them top dollar and they needed a place to play. You think scooping Gomez for 7.5M was a brilliant manouvre? Camms for 6M and Gio for 5M, those guys all are getting paid at the absolute peak of their brackets, and in some cases higher. Basically you are praising him for spending 100M of someone else's money and luring people by giving them exactly what they want .....

This is a HUGE two points tonight considering the next two are against Philly and Buffalo back to back. If they can come away with 4 points over that 3-game stretch it should make the final three against NYI CAR TOR a little more comfortable. If ...

I respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree. Kovalchuk's only goal is to get paid, and he and his agent have made that very clear from the onset that he is looking for league maximum and long-term. If he can't get locked up in NJ expect the KHL rumors to swirl heading into the summer.

Over the past couple of years Bob has systematically removed every player/coach/scout associated with the "old culture" of the team, and yet continues to produce the same results. Sooner or later the constant will be hard to ignore.

I clearly understand that you cannot just trade guys on a whim a la NHL 2010. However, for teams looking for a rental D-man with experience and have the room for him Hammer could be a fit, similar to Spacek I guess since both aren't part of the core of the Habs going forward. But Halak needs to be moved at his high watermark which is right now, before or at the deadline. Shortsighted trades will only hurt this team, and if BG is half as adept as most of the people in Habland believe he is he is well aware of the pitfalls of gambling future success for marginal short-term success. The Eastern conference is terrible this year, save for 3-4 teams who are head and shoulders above everyone else. What purpose does it serve making a futile push for round 1 when the only thing that would accomplish is Act 2 of "the most intelligent hockey fans" booing their 22yr old saviour goalie on home ice after getting swept again? Maybe we can break him for good this time?? This team needs to miss the playoffs, because they need to understand they aren't on the cusp quite yet. They are getting there, and with some smart decisions and 1-2 more years they could be something special, but to rush it is asinine.

If Bob gambles the future of the team for his own short-term personal gains he should be burned at the stake. This team is not "one move" from being a contender, and if he thinks they are then maybe he does need a new job. Hammer has to go, and Halak should be moved at his highest value which is right now. Those two savings alone can be used to sign Plex, or at least offer him something fair value, whether Plex chooses to take it or not is out of BGs control.