Thursday, April 16, 2009

Fun...

Well, Game 1 was fun, wasn't it?

The Rangers didn't do much offensively but they did capitalize on their chances. At one point, early in the first, my roommate said, "What are the shots, 9-1?" I laughed at her. When they announced that the Rangers had finally gotten their 2nd shot on net at the 15-minute mark, I actually laughed out loud.

Listen, it was a good game. It was fun to watch, very entertaining, and had the desired outcome, atleast for me. But this is a series, not a one-and-done playoff. I don't want to sound too much liek John Tortorella (or Alex Ovechkin), but this is far from over. The Capitals will come out flying Saturday afternoon.

And we all know how the Rangers fare in afternoon games. If my calculations are correct, they were 2-8 in afternoon games and were shutout four times.

However, if the Rangers manage to stave off the Capitals attack again and win Game 2, that would be huge. Up 2-0 going into MSG is tough for any team to overcome. And the Capitals attack isn't too great, you know.

Seriously. Let me explain. They had 35 shots on goal, 13 from Ovechkin, and 22 from elsewhere. 22 shots in a game? That's Devils-territory. Stop Ovechkin, stop the Capitals. Oh, and don't take bad penalties especially in the offensive zone.

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My wish for this series is good officiating. I was very concernced that we would see biased referreeing based on the fact that the NHL wants the Capitals to do good, much like Pittsburgh got the benefit of 97% of all calls in the playoffs last year. But I guess as long as the Penguins are in, the league is happy, and the other serieses can be called evenly.

Tonight, there were some bad calls and non-calls, but they were pretty much even against both teams. I'm fine with awful officiating, as long as it's even.

* * *

Oh, and yes, Henrik Lundqvist was great today, even though he did give up 3 goals.

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