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Habs @ Washington: GAME 2


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The caps don't have momentum...they have worry that a 8th seed is making them go to overtime twice in a sereis that was supposed to be over in 3 games.

Wishful thinking. They outscored us 5-1 in what, 22 minutes? I call that momentum.

At no point in this series, ever, until the final buzzer sounds, will they again doubt that they can crush us if they can just fire on all cylanders. The Caps we saw in most of the first two games were a team with doubt. 'Things aren't clicking...what's going on?' Now they know, nothing was going on. They just had to slip into full gear.

That is a huge advantage we've ceded to them tonight. The only way to get it back is for stellar goaltending to rob them time and again.

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No question about the last bit, but my operative assumption is that the key to the series was to stagger the Caps so hard early that they couldn't really get back up. We almost did it; but they're up and waaay out of their corner now. Looked at on paper, we've done great. Psychologically, though, I really believe it's the next thing to over. These guys have the wind in their sails now. With that much size and skill, that's big, big trouble.

We can take the wind back out in front of the home crowd in the 1st period on Monday night though.

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We can take the wind back out in front of the home crowd in the 1st period on Monday night though.

We can win Game Three riding the tsunami of fan emotion. What we will never do again is instil doubt or panic in the Capitals. That psychological part of the battle is lost. And it's a huge part IMHO.

Edited by The Chicoutimi Cucumber
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We can win Game Three riding the tsunami of fan emotion. What we will never do again is instil doubt or panic in the Capitals. That psychological part of the battle is lost. And it's a huge part IMHO.

I don't know...did you think they would be this fragile in the first two games? To realize that they have to have insane play from their forwards cause neither of their goalies have been very good..their D is going to back off more cause they cannot trust their goaltending? I don't see how they can come away from their first two games happy. I think they are fragile indeed, remember they have no Gomez, Gionta, Moen, Gill, stanely cup champs besides Knuable...who won it when he was a rookie. They will wilt under the fans in Montreal.

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No question about the last bit, but my operative assumption is that the key to the series was to stagger the Caps so hard early that they couldn't really get back up. We almost did it; but they're up and waaay out of their corner now. Looked at on paper, we've done great. Psychologically, though, I really believe it's the next thing to over. These guys have the wind in their sails now. With that much size and skill, that's big, big trouble.

10 boring, defensive opening minutes in Game 3 and the momentum is gone.

A silent Montreal crowd might be more effective than a booming Montreal crowd for the opening minutes of the next game.

The key to winning the series is to not get owned in our own end. Washington's D is mediocre and their goaltending is worse than that. We can handle that no problem. What we'll need to handle is Washington's attack. On that front, we can count on better goaltending than we got tonight. Washington won't score 6 goals on us nightly. The Habs just need to not collapse when the other team scores.

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Well, I hope you guys are right. But I just don't see it, myself.

It's less momentum than self-belief. The Caps are NOT going to be alarmed that their G is dubious and their D questionable. They've known that all season. Their answer is just to score more. It works, and now it has been demonstrated to work against us. They're resting easy right about now.

Edited by The Chicoutimi Cucumber
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Statistically the Habs have a decent chance with the home crowd.

Realistically it will take a monster performance by Halak/Price.

Frustrate them like we did in game 1 and this series could very well be ours

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Well, I hope you guys are right. But I just don't see it, myself.

What are you expecting? The 5-1 25-minute stretch fitted to a 60 minute game? That was an anomaly do to a combination of bad reffing, bad goaltending, and generally bad hockey-playing. Over the first two games, there have been more minutes of the Capitals's attack being stifled than there were minutes of Montreal getting dominated.

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CC what I'm seeing is a Washington team...that hasn't played with being expected to win something, heading into the loudest or one of the loudest, most storied cities in the NHL.

Where as the Habs...have this to back up on, a hair from being up 2-0 on the team with the most points this year, when NO ONE gave them a shot, they should be feeling good.

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The no-call on the high stick on Markov would have had the Habs on the powerplay.

That call was not exactly Gretzky on Gilmour.

It was in the corner and on the live feed you can't even tell it is a high stick. I still haven't seen

a definitive look to show the high stick outside of McGuire saying it was so.

So I am not going to use that as an excuse until I see a definitive shot of it.

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That call was not exactly Gretzky on Gilmour.

It was in the corner and on the live feed you can't even tell it is a high stick. I still haven't seen

a definitive look to show the high stick outside of McGuire saying it was so.

So I am not going to use that as an excuse until I see a definitive shot of it.

There's 2 refs on the ice for a reason...but just because there wasn't a good camera angle doesn't mean you can say it does exist. If Pierre Mcguire saw it from between the benches, you have to think a ref could see it.

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What I saw was a Washington team who is flawed and who thought they were going to win in 3 games.

They didn't push back until their back was against the wall down 4-1, then they kicked it into high gear.

I still think the Habs can win, but they will need dominant goaltending and continued timely scoring.

I don't think they have received the dominant goaltending yet, but the timely scoring has been there.

There's 2 refs on the ice for a reason...but just because there wasn't a good camera angle doesn't mean you can say it does exist. If Pierre Mcguire saw it from between the benches, you have to think a ref could see it.

And you can't say it does exist.

All I said is until I see a definitive view of it, all I have to go from is McGuire's word and that isn't good enough for me.

Simple as that. Koivu almost lost an eye right in front of the ref, it happens.

Edited by Wamsley01
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What I saw was a Washington team who is flawed and who thought they were going to win in 3 games.

They didn't push back until their back was against the wall down 4-1, then they kicked it into high gear.

I still think the Habs can win, but they will need dominant goaltending and continued timely scoring.

I don't think they have received the dominant goaltending yet, but the timely scoring has been there.

I agree to that...we have a split, with before this series people said would only happen with great goaltending, the caps...scored lots of goals and only have one win...they have no other gear is how I see it.

What I saw was a Washington team who is flawed and who thought they were going to win in 3 games.

They didn't push back until their back was against the wall down 4-1, then they kicked it into high gear.

I still think the Habs can win, but they will need dominant goaltending and continued timely scoring.

I don't think they have received the dominant goaltending yet, but the timely scoring has been there.

And you can't say it does exist.

All I said is until I see a definitive view of it, all I have to go from is McGuire's word and that isn't good enough for me.

Simple as that.

There's evidence that it does exist, Pierre Mcguires call, the fact Markov was yelling at the ref? This is really a matter of symantics.

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I agree to that...we have a split, with before this series people said would only happen with great goaltending, the caps...scored lots of goals and only have one win...they have no other gear is how I see it.

There's evidence that it does exist, Pierre Mcguires call, the fact Markov was yelling at the ref? This is really a matter of symantics.

And I will not complain about it until I see that it happened.

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What are you expecting? The 5-1 25-minute stretch fitted to a 60 minute game? That was an anomaly do to a combination of bad reffing, bad goaltending, and generally bad hockey-playing. Over the first two games, there have been more minutes of the Capitals's attack being stifled than there were minutes of Montreal getting dominated.

Well, expect the reffing to continue. That was not 'aberrant' playoff reffing. That's standard crap. I've always hated it, but its par for the course: playoff reffing is laissez-faire and therefore favours thuggery. It works massively against a team like ours because of our small forwards. (It won't be long before Markov is injured, either, if this keeps up. mark my words!).

Anyway, no, I don't think it'll be 150-5 for the Caps from here on out. I just see the Caps' superior size and talent overwhelming us over time, analogous to the way they overwhelmed us in the final 25 minutes tonight, but in a longer drawn-out, agonizing fashion.

It's like after the first period of Game One. 'Rationally,' if you're a Caps fan, you look at that and go, 'well, great, the Capitals are clearly outclassing them and it's only a matter of time until they win.' But the reality is that's not how hockey works; how it works is, if you dominate for 20 minutes and fail to pile on a lead, you usually end up losing.

Same thing here. Rationally, sure, the first two games make the argument that the Habs have a solid chance of beating these guys. The reality is that if you have a chance to kill a grizzly bear and miss, he's probably gonna maul you, and you both know it.

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I can't wait for the Guy Boucher era to begin, but I don't get the anti JM tonight as well.

going with the 3rd line after a long review of the 4th goal. At that point they should have kept pressing with the Gomez or Pleks line, but as usual decided to go in shutdown mode. darche on the PP. not berating on the refs like any other coach would have done.

Even before the game had started - he should have known the caps were going to go hard to the net - hell i did! Why the heck wouldn't you play O'Byrne who is the only big physical dman you have??? Just bcoz you won the last game with this lineup, doesnt mean you don't anticiapte what the opposition will do and make changes. This is EXACTLY why the penguin lost to the leafs all those years.

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We can win Game Three riding the tsunami of fan emotion. What we will never do again is instil doubt or panic in the Capitals. That psychological part of the battle is lost. And it's a huge part IMHO.

I don't see how the psychological battle is lost. Do you really think the Caps feel that good about their current situation? If we take game 3 with solid D and some timely scoring, don't you think the Caps are going to be just a little frustrated that this pesky eighth seed won't go away?

I'm sure the Habs are a little down right now but like I said before, this team is mentally tough. We fought through a multitude of injuries this season and we can fight through a blown lead in the 3rd.

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going with the 3rd line after a long review of the 4th goal. At that point they should have kept pressing with the Gomez or Pleks line, but as usual decided to go in shutdown mode. darche on the PP. not berating on the refs like any other coach would have done.

Even before the game had started - he should have known the caps were going to go hard to the net - hell i did! Why the heck wouldn't you play O'Byrne who is the only big physical dman you have??? Just bcoz you won the last game with this lineup, doesnt mean you don't anticiapte what the opposition will do and make changes. This is EXACTLY why the penguin lost to the leafs all those years.

To be fair, you've been banging away at Martin all season. We were up 4-1, and certainly weren't missing O'Byrne. Darche was an odd choice, yes. Tonight's game had alot to do with the superior talent level of the caps.

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the Habs still have to feel good about themselves

They won game 1, lost a game they should have won; the Caps barely escaped a 0-2 hole

Washington is not leaving Montreal in 1 piece; if the Verizon Center can influence the refs, imagine what Habs fan can do

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going with the 3rd line after a long review of the 4th goal. At that point they should have kept pressing with the Gomez or Pleks line, but as usual decided to go in shutdown mode. darche on the PP. not berating on the refs like any other coach would have done.

Even before the game had started - he should have known the caps were going to go hard to the net - hell i did! Why the heck wouldn't you play O'Byrne who is the only big physical dman you have??? Just bcoz you won the last game with this lineup, doesnt mean you don't anticiapte what the opposition will do and make changes. This is EXACTLY why the penguin lost to the leafs all those years.

The third line had been very effective all night. Probably the 4th goal came after the other two lines had been on. I don't agree with that criticism.

The O'Bryne absence occured to me early in the game, too. But JM is hardly the only coach who favours veterans for crucial playoff games.

Honestly, if people didn't already have it for JM, I don't think they'd be attacking him for this loss.

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