Round 2 - Washington Vs. Pittsburgh

There is no additional motivation with Gonchar's return, its a game... I think IF he comes back it will have little to no effect on the actual outcome of the game.

i think this is going to be another game the caps need the other guys to score not as much as ovie the trench guys need to have a big game if the caps are to win

The pressure has to be mounting in Pittsburgh right now...RDS' program "Sports 30" broadcast a series of interviews with the players tonight, including Marc Andre Fleury and Philippe Boucher, as well as Sergei Gonchar.

Gonchar stated he will play if at all possible.

Pierre "MONSTER" McGuire this morning on The Fan 590 hinted that Mike Green was "not right" and possibly injured, offering up an explanation for his sub-par play... who knows. I guess we'll only find out after the playoffs.

I read some speculation that it was a shoulder, but that wouldn't explain why he can't skate. Must be a groin or knee. He should have been sitting when they were up 2-0.

shabbs wrote:Pierre "MONSTER" McGuire this morning on The Fan 590 hinted that Mike Green was "not right" and possibly injured, offering up an explanation for his sub-par play... who knows. I guess we'll only find out after the playoffs.

He also talked about having breakfast with Mark Recchi.

i know they cracked down on streaming and all that, but is there anywhere to get this game online....??

Number Twenty Nine wrote:i know they cracked down on streaming and all that, but is there anywhere to get this game online....??

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/livevideo/?n=cbcsportsca_1&p=hockey_night_in_canada_on_cbc_stanley_cup_playoffs_4_pittsburgh_2_washington_streaming&dt=2009_05_13|18_50&s=http://authmfile.akamai.com.edgesuite.net/akamai.stream.auth/35018/wm/cbcwm.gen/v001/reflector:19690.js

www.cbc.ca/sports

my line in the hotel is too slow :-(

imagine this, I'm in Pittsburgh and the game isn't on TV

Pittsburgh 6, Washington 2

GAME SEVEN, STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS EAST FINALS
PENGUINS WIN SERIES 4-3

	1	2	3	T
PIT	2	3	1	6
WAS	0	1	1	2

Final

7:00 PM ET, May 13, 2009, Verizon Center, Washington, DC

Crosby elevates game to lift Pens as Caps disappear in lopsided Game 7

WASHINGTON -- So much for all of the hype about Sidney Crosby vs. Alex Ovechkin, Penguins vs. Capitals, Game 7. This second-round series ended with a thud, thanks to a perfect performance by Sid the Kid's Penguins -- and a lackluster one by the Capitals.

Crosby scored twice to take his NHL-leading playoff goal total to 12, and Pittsburgh chased rookie goalie Simeon Varlamov early in the second period while shutting down Ovechkin most of the night in a 6-2 victory over Washington on Wednesday.

Everyone chipped in for the Penguins, from the stars to the second thoughts, from regular-season scoring leader Evgeni Malkin's two assists, to fourth-line forward Craig Adam's first goal in 42 career postseason games. Second-year defenseman Kris Letang, 38-year-old Bill Guerin and Jordan Staal scored, too. Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves and didn't allow a goal until his team led 5-0.
Pittsburgh's 4-3 series victory after trailing 2-0 moves it closer to a second consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup finals, something the team last did in 1991 and 1992.

The Penguins will face the Boston Bruins or Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference finals. They play their second-round Game 7 at Boston on Thursday night.

For the Capitals, this setback extends some dispiriting trends. They are 2-6 in Game 7s, including 0-3 against the Penguins. And they have lost seven of eight playoff series against Pittsburgh -- including four times after Washington held a two-game lead.

The NHL boasted that it's the first time since 2001 three conference semifinals went the distance, and the league, its TV partners and fans had to be excited about the potential drama on tap Wednesday. In addition to all of the big names on the ice, there was this: Five of the series' first six games were decided by one goal -- and three went to overtime.

Nothing of the sort this time, in part because Pittsburgh scored goals 8 seconds apart in the first period. And just kept on scoring.

Participating in his first Game 7 at any level, Crosby put the visitors ahead 1-0 with a power-play goal about 7 1/2 minutes in from his favorite spot on the ice: the net's doorstep. He added something of a finishing touch with another power-play goal in the third period, stealing the puck from his rival, Ovechkin, before beating Varlamov's replacement, Jose Theodore.

Pittsburgh was on the man-advantage there because Brooks Laich was called for a 4-minute high-sticking penalty after sending Crosby crumbling to the ice. Clearly, though, Crosby was well enough to make it 6-1.

Much earlier in the evening, back when the game was scoreless, a pass came his way from Sergei Gonchar. Crosby kicked the puck to himself with his right skate and then flipped it home with his stick. Gonchar was back in his usual role of running the point for Pittsburgh after missing most of Game 4 and all of Games 5 and 6 with a knee injury after a hit by Ovechkin.

Any Penguins fans celebrating Crosby's goal missed the second score. Right off the ensuing faceoff, the Capitals didn't appear to be paying much attention, and Pittsburgh wound up with an odd-man rush that ended in Adams' goal.

That two-goal lead amounted to a mammoth margin in this tight-as-could-be series: Entering Wednesday, the teams were tied or separated by one goal 92 percent of the time. Neither team had led by three goals in Games 1-6.

Yet this gap would grow. Crosby assisted on Guerin's goal only 28 seconds into the second period, and less than 2 minutes later, Letang put in Malkin's pass to make it 4-0. That was it for Varlamov, who took over for Theodore after the Capitals lost Game 1 of their first-round series against the New York Rangers.

Ovechkin scored late in the second period, his 11th goal of the postseason. That made the reigning MVP the first NHL player since 1995 to total 14 points in a single series.

That goal got the home fans excited, but Penguins coach Dan Bylsma lowered the temperature by calling a timeout. Bylsma seemingly has made all the right moves since he was promoted from Pittsburgh's top minor league affiliate to replace the fired Michel Therrien on Feb. 15. At the time, the Penguins were 10th in the conference -- not good enough to make the playoffs.

But Bylsma led Pittsburgh to an 18-3-4 record to qualify for the East's No. 4 seeding, then a first-round victory over the Flyers. And now -- with plenty of help from Crosby, Malkin and others -- the Penguins keep moving on.

Game notes
The most lopsided score in a Game 7 in NHL history is Detroit's 7-0 victory over Colorado in the 2002 Western Conference finals, according to STATS LLC. ... Capitals enforcer Donald Brashear was scratched for the second game in a row. He was suspended for the series' first five games. ... The Penguins are 4-0 on the road in Game 7s.

Allan Muir of Sports Illustrated caps off the Caps in his article this morning.

NO INTERPRETATION NEEDED

INSIDE THE NHL/ALLAN MUIR Thursday, May 14/SI.com

Earlier this season, Washington winger Alexander Semin raised eyebrows when he posed a question to a Russian reporter. What's so special about Sidney Crosby?

If Semin didn't have his answer earlier in the series, he sure does now.

Crosby scored twice to raise his NHL-leading playoff goal total to 12, helping lead his Penguins to a 6-2 thrashing of Semin's shell-shocked Capitals in the seventh game of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Crosby's three-point night was part of a nearly flawless effort by a Pittsburgh team that took no penalties and turned over the puck just four times. But their execution, combined with Washington's defensive indifference, didn't make for much of a contest.

A blowout from very early in the second, this was the one element of this otherwise thrilling series that didn't deliver on the hype. It was a flaccid dessert after a spectacular six-course meal, maybe the worst delivery-to-anticipation ratio since The Phantom Menace.

A laugher whose punch line was the desperation goaltending change that saw forgotten man Jose Theodore replace Simeon Varlamov early in the second period, and whose highlight for the dejected denizens of the Verizon Center was an errant pass that conked referee Dan O'Halloran upside the head.

But while it lacked in entertainment value, it was more than successful as a primer on the value of defensive zone dedication, and the dangers facing whichever team Pittsburgh meets in the Eastern Conference final.

For the Caps, who blew a 2-0 series lead, the devil wasn't in the details, but in the commitment. You want a lesson in commitment? Watch Evgeni Malkin blocking a shot in the second period . . . while Pittsburgh was nursing a 4-0 lead.

That really said it all about his team's focus and the advantage it gave them over an opponent either unwilling or unable to match it. Because for all the shock and awe that their offense can muster, Washington's forwards continued to play as though skill alone would be enough to carry the day.

While Pittsburgh's forwards fully engaged in the battle, the Capitals kept looking for the easy way out . . . and they'll spend tomorrow cleaning out their lockers as a result.

There will be plenty of talk in the days ahead about injuries limiting some players, but the bottom line is that the Caps simply couldn't meet Pittsburgh's desire to compete. They had happy hands with the puck and were dysfunctional without it.

That's why the regretfully yappy Semin remained goal-less for the series. Why Viktor Kozlov and Sergei Fedorov and Nicklas Backstrom seemed content most shifts to scrounge for scraps on the perimeter. And why Mike Green is going to need one hell of an effort next spring to eliminate the odor of playoff bust that is going to stick with him all next season.

Even Alexander Ovechkin, who generated a couple of high-end scoring chances and did nothing to tarnish his reputation for thrills and chills, failed to match the intensity of Crosby and the rest of the Pens when forced to play without the puck

You watched their dubious effort and it's little wonder Varlamov melted down.

It's impossible to sugar coat his performance. He was bad. Varlamov may have been the main reason that Washington survived this long into the playoffs, but on a night when he needed to stand tall, his quick-drop style only made him smaller.
Varlamov was unlucky on Crosby's opening goal, a short-side tap-in on the power play at 12:36 of the first. But he was just plain out of position when fourth liner Craig Adams lit him up just eight seconds later, silencing the crowd and sucking the wind out of Washington's sails.

The game went off the rails early in the second when he was beaten on consecutive tests of his glove hand. Crosby set up Bill Guerin for a bomb just 28 seconds into the frame, and Kris Letang sent him to the bench with an identical blast just 1:44 later. These shots came from players under no pressure from the defense, but coming from long range, he had to come up with a save.

That's exactly what Marc-Andre Fleury did at the other end of the ice. He established Pittsburgh's mojo early, making a confident glove save on an Ovechkin breakaway less than three minutes in, then denying him again moments later when the knob of his stick fortuitously deflected a dangerously rising slapper.

Buoyed by those stops the Pens soon established their game, pressuring the biscuit in all three zones. Wasn't long before the Capitals started throwing away the puck . . . and the series.

Ovechkin, who'd matched Crosby through the first six games, finally got his moment late in the second, swiping the puck from Fleury behind the net before wheeling around and firing it into the empty cage.

But he returned the favor early in the third. Dangling carelessly at the Penguins blue line, Ovechkin had his pocket picked by Crosby who raced in alone before beating Theodore for Pittsburgh's final tally in the series.

It made for a fitting conclusion, a vivid reminder of Washington's recklessness and Pittsburgh's relentless puck pressure.

And it also served to answer Semin's question. You know, in case he was still wondering.

Considering this series was supposed to be the one to watch our GMHockey members haven't given it as much attention as other Playoff matchup threads. Interesting.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Considering this series was supposed to be the one to watch our GMHockey members haven't given it as much attention as other Playoff matchup threads. Interesting.

A lot of that depends on if a Game Day Thread was created or not... not every game has a GDT created, so discussion usually falls to the match-up thread.

Number Twenty Nine wrote:my line in the hotel is too slow :-(

imagine this, I'm in Pittsburgh and the game isn't on TV

That's so dumb.

shabbs wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Considering this series was supposed to be the one to watch our GMHockey members haven't given it as much attention as other Playoff matchup threads. Interesting.

A lot of that depends on if a Game Day Thread was created or not... not every game has a GDT created, so discussion usually falls to the match-up thread.

Maybe this series was hyped by the media, but our GMHockey members have their own ideas about what's worth their attention.

And good on them.