I don’t know about you, but I had a feeling the entire game that the Penguins were going to win tonight in Washington, which they did, taking a commanding 3-2 lead back to Pittsburgh where they’ll look to close out the series. I can envision my buddies, Bill McNeil and Ryan Higginbotham, rising out of their chairs and jumping around the room in celebration, as a Capitals defender’s diving attempt to block Evgeny Malkin’s pass to Sydney Crosby ended up in the back of the net, just several minutes after the first overtime session had begun. Even if the pass had not been mistakenly tipped past Varlamov, who had a horrible game, Crosby would have easily scored on an easy tip in, especially easy for a guy who seemingly has the best instincts in the game.
Regardless, the game just felt like a Pittsburgh victory, even when Ovechkin scored his second of the night to send it to extra time. The Capitals certainly had their moments, but as Crosby said the other day, the Penguins once again seemed to outchance Washington, and seemed to play with a higher level of intensity and effort. Not that Washington is lacking in intensity, but too many careless mistakes in the neutral zone and some fairly shoddy defensive play really doomed Bruce Boudreau’s boys tonight.
However, “oh baby”, what a game. Back and forth, end to end. So much speed, passing, great offensive play, so many hits, so many near misses. The only thing dissapointing about that hockey game was that it came to an end far to soon.
Chris Trembley on the Vancouver Canucks
On the premier episode of Haligonia Sports this friday, Halifax Mooseheads insider Chris Trembley once again reiterated his belief that the Vancouver Canucks will not make it to the Stanley Cup finals. Regarding thier effort in game 4, Trembley said ” They tried to play a tight defensive game and rely on Luongo, while only getting 15 shots on the Blackhawks net. It’s not good enough, you have to be better.” Regarding the Canucks in general, Trembley continues, ” They’re not multidimensional. They do not have an outstanding checking line, no outstanding special teams, they’re just not well balanced. You look at teams like Detroit, and they have allot of balance throughout the lineup.”
So obviously Chris doesn’t think the ‘Nucks have what it takes. Game 5 is just about to begin and Marc Crawford just said he thinks the Canucks are going to get an early goal. I agree with Trembley, I like the ‘Hawks to win tonight. Although my NHL prediction abilites are pretty poor (see “New Jersey Devils will come out of the east”, and “Bruins will sweep Carolina”.
