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Habs to play Washington


BCHabnut

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Halak will probably have to steal at least one game though.

This will be one of the first times he is put under this much pressure. Hopefully that Toronto game was not an indication of what will happen. He will have to be solid for us to have a chance in this series since Washington's speed will be very tough on our slow defenseman.

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I am so pumped...how can you not be optimistic! No pressure, firewagon hockey! For the naysayers there's the built in 1v8 excuse that "we shouldn't beat them anyway", so really everyone wins!

I bet if we start playing better Colin will come around..it'll be a disease..he won't be able to help him self!

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I am so pumped...how can you not be optimistic! No pressure, firewagon hockey! For the naysayers there's the built in 1v8 excuse that "we shouldn't beat them anyway", so really everyone wins!

I bet if we start playing better Colin will come around..it'll be a disease..he won't be able to help him self!

If we show effort (and I read about it here) then sure, I'll go turn on the games. That's what I wanna see, effort. Course, I also wanna really see firewagon (i.e. interesting and not trap) hockey, but that's not going to happen with Martin.

Holy crap, Kozey. When you read all my posts, you may fall over from shock. I'm agreeing with you a lot.

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In fairness to Halak, this guy has never played more than 40 games in one season in his entire career as a pro (which to me is the single biggest reason why it's lunacy to anoint him the Habs' long-term #1). Fatigue is probably the biggest factor in his post-Olympics skid. The break between now and the playoffs could help him out enormously.

Just thought of something else: we get to watch MARKOV and OVECHKIN go toe-to-toe in a playoff series. My friends, that alone will be worth the price of admission. :clap:

Edited by The Chicoutimi Cucumber
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We actually have a positive record this year against the Caps: 2-1-1

Fri, Nov 20 W 3 - 2

Sat, Nov 28 OTL 3 - 4

Tue, Jan 5 L 2 - 4

Wed, Feb 10 W 6 - 5

5 pts in 8 games. 14GF 15GA

Not to be nit-picky, but the caps also had a positive record against the habs this season. Our 6-5 win came in a shootout so the caps were 2-1-1 against us as well.

I prefer this matchup to one vs the devils. We are obviously the underdog this series, but I truly believe that we can pull it out. The caps are quite good on the road so home ice isn't as much of an advantage as it would have been against some other teams. That being said, if we pull out one of the first two games I like our chances.

Also I do believe that Jacques Martin won't play a passive system this series like some of you have suggested. If our last game in February was any indicator, we'll play quite an aggressive style. I'm sure he realizes that playing passive vs them is simply suicide. I don't know if others have noticed, but he actually does adjust his system according to the opposition needless to say.

Edited by xXx..CK..xXx
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Holy crap, Kozey. When you read all my posts, you may fall over from shock. I'm agreeing with you a lot.

Believe it or not, I dont keep tabs on who agrees or disagrees with me. I just know what I know and say what I think. I know I have a pretty decent rate of being proven right with time, so for people to start agreeing with me eventually is to be expected. :P

Anyways, wont this be the first time ever MTL and WSH face in the playoffs? Pretty weird considering the Caps have been around for almost 40 yrs.

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Here's hoping we see some dynamite hockey from the best player in the game.

I hope you are talking about the emergence of Halak or Price as a dominant game-stealer ^_^

However, I think you meant to say: " Here's hoping we see a new Ovechekin that makes us think he has been possesed by the playoff demons of Joe Thornton" .

:clap: :hlogo: :clap:

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Believe it or not, I dont keep tabs on who agrees or disagrees with me. I just know what I know and say what I think. I know I have a pretty decent rate of being proven right with time, so for people to start agreeing with me eventually is to be expected. :P

Anyways, wont this be the first time ever MTL and WSH face in the playoffs? Pretty weird considering the Caps have been around for almost 40 yrs.

Not really considering how bad they were in the 70s and that they played in the Patrick Division for 15 years and only a Conference final appearance would have gotten it done. That takes care of more than 21 of the 35 years they have been around. Add in the Habs missing in 99,00,01,03,07 and the Caps missing in 97,02,04,06 and you are down to 5 seasons in which they could have met.

So there has been only really 5 seasons where it realistically could have happened.

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In fairness to Halak, this guy has never played more than 40 games in one season in his entire career as a pro (which to me is the single biggest reason why it's lunacy to anoint him the Habs' long-term #1). Fatigue is probably the biggest factor in his post-Olympics skid. The break between now and the playoffs could help him out enormously.

Just thought of something else: we get to watch MARKOV and OVECHKIN go toe-to-toe in a playoff series. My friends, that alone will be worth the price of admission. :clap:

He looked frazzled over the last 2 games, from his look of disgust at his teammates in Carolina to his shaky play

last night. Things can unravel quickly for a goaltender, so it is comforting knowing that Price can step in if needed.

The thing I am interested in seeing is if he can raise the level of his game to dominate an elite team when they have

also raised the level of their play.

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I hope you are talking about the emergence of Halak or Price as a dominant game-stealer ^_^

However, I think you meant to say: " Here's hoping we see a new Ovechekin that makes us think he has been possesed by the playoff demons of Joe Thornton" .

:clap: :hlogo: :clap:

What I'd really like is for Ovechkin to show why's he's the best player in the game, but for the Habs to come out and play hard every shift for every game and demonstrate that they really can when the stakes are high. I'd love to see Ovechkin dominate and Halak/Price be one step higher.

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The problem with Ovie is that we dont have anyone on the right side D who is remotely close to matching up with him. I mean, O'Byrne, Spacek, Gorges or MAB... Yikes. We'll need for our RWers to really help out and come down low in the defensive zone.

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I don't think we'll win the series, but I think it'll be fun to watch! Theodore should guarantee us at least 1 win.

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I would have preferred Buffalo, because if Miller isn't stellar, that team is toast. The Caps can kill us even if Theo has an off game. I think people will be surprised to know just how well Theo has played the last little while.

I shudder to see us try to sit on a one goal lead for the entire 3rd period against the caps.

In any case, this team better shape up because they way they have played down the stretch is an embarrassment for a team in the playoffs. They needed help just to squeak in for 8th. Unfortunately, I predicted Caps in 5.

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I'll take the fanatic side of the coin Habs in 6. All games are over combined 5 goals a game, everyone is excited (even Colin!), and Brobin starts to believe (a little!).

Haha...would love for Ovie to get rocked early in the series and disappear like he's prone to do!

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I must admit that I do believe we have a better chance of beating the Caps instead of the Devils, but our chances are very slim!

If we can win 2 games in this series, i'll be happy!

The one advantage we have over the Caps is our goaltending. There's no doubt that our goalies are better than the Theo/Varlamov duo!...and we all know that goaltending is the name of the game in the playoffs!

Edited by Habsfan
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T

I'm going to make a point of appreciating the sheer hockey spectacle these two clubs are liable to put on.

And it'll be fun to see Theo, who I always liked :hlogo:

The rational mind says Washington in 5. Maybe 6. But the Habs will acquit themselves impressively within that context. :hlogo:

Let's enjoy the end of year hockey spectacle indeed!! :)

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We're sure to get a good deal of spotlight facing Ovie.

I'm really curious to see how we'll play. Either we're a carbon-copy of what we were in the regular season and never get emotional enough to get the extra boost needed to win the series; or we actually finally play as good as we are on paper and give the Caps a run for their money.

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Haha...would love for Ovie to get rocked early in the series and disappear like he's prone to do!

Who can rock Ovie?

Spacek? Like he rocked Booth?

Because I'm rather scared Ovie goes all rocket-propelled-bulldozer-with-a-cannon-on-top on us.

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I expect a lot of Spacek and Hamrlik vs Ovechkin in this series...they have done a pretty decent job containing him before! lets hope they can continue to do so in the post-season. Our lack of scoring 5 on 5 is what concerns me the most...I find the Canadiens are way too reliant on the powerplay...lets hope the top 2 lines can get the offensive wheel turning (because 3 or 2 goals is not enough to beat washington in a 7 game series)...if it is, then I guess its up to the Habs to prove me wrong!

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Yes! We get TSN in the first round! Pierre McGuire and his man crushes may be annoying, but TSN is definitely the lesser of two evils.

They're not showing the Leafs? HAHAHAHHWWEWEWDHHHHRFUR LE}DJEWOWEUJHYU!!! :rolleyes:

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I expect a lot of Spacek and Hamrlik vs Ovechkin in this series...they have done a pretty decent job containing him before! lets hope they can continue to do so in the post-season. Our lack of scoring 5 on 5 is what concerns me the most...I find the Canadiens are way too reliant on the powerplay...lets hope the top 2 lines can get the offensive wheel turning (because 3 or 2 goals is not enough to beat washington in a 7 game series)...if it is, then I guess its up to the Habs to prove me wrong!

Problem is Spaceman and Hammer have old legs now. If they screw up positionnaly, they have a hard time recovering. If they get burned too much early in the series, it'll be up to Gorges & Gill to counter Ovie... or MAB and Markov.

Allow me to not be extremely confident, even though our D's have improved alot over the course of the season thanks to Perry Pearn. The forwards will need to help more than they used to this season.

Though it should be a pretty spectacular series if Martin let's the boys skates.

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Anyways, wont this be the first time ever MTL and WSH face in the playoffs? Pretty weird considering the Caps have been around for almost 40 yrs.

Yep. Atlanta, Ottawa, Florida and Washington are the teams we've never faced in playoffs.

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They may have lost to Jersey, but it would have gone down to the wire every single night.

This will be a much more entertaining series and I GUARANTEE by the end of the series the majority of people on this board will hate Ovechkin.

Already done ;)

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