1st Round Opponents

shabbs wrote:I give the Habs nothing. No respect, no love, no goals and no wins. Four straight shutouts by the Caps. Yep. You read it here first.

That would be so amusing. Almost like us vs the Pens 2 years ago though sadly.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

SensGirl11 wrote:That's one heck of a first round for Montreal. I wonder if they'll be able to stay in it at all...

I give them 1 game personally. Halak is good but not that good. This is a good first round opponent for the Caps. It'll help them realize they can't win playoff games 8 to 6.

Am I wrong, or did Halak beat Russia in the Olympics?

EDIT: Serious, non-A-holeish question BTW. I can't remember.

asq2 wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

SensGirl11 wrote:That's one heck of a first round for Montreal. I wonder if they'll be able to stay in it at all...

I give them 1 game personally. Halak is good but not that good. This is a good first round opponent for the Caps. It'll help them realize they can't win playoff games 8 to 6.

Am I wrong, or did Halak beat Russia in the Olympics?

EDIT: Serious, non-A-holeish question BTW. I can't remember.

I think he did. They might eek out 2 wins, that's all.

asq2 wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

SensGirl11 wrote:That's one heck of a first round for Montreal. I wonder if they'll be able to stay in it at all...

I give them 1 game personally. Halak is good but not that good. This is a good first round opponent for the Caps. It'll help them realize they can't win playoff games 8 to 6.

Am I wrong, or did Halak beat Russia in the Olympics?

EDIT: Serious, non-A-holeish question BTW. I can't remember.

Halak didn't do it by himself. I'd take Team Slovakia vs. the Caps to win 2 games though.

I don't like the Phoenix matchup for the Red Wings to be honest. I think they're in for it.

Similarly, I don't like the Bs as a matchup for the Sabres, but I still think the Sabres can out-bore the Bs.

The Devils get a free first round.

The Caps get a free first round.

The Sharks get a free first round.

The Pens draw the nightmare first round opponent, win or lose.

Chicago gets a tough opponent in Nashville, but they should be able to overcome.

Vancouver gets a pretty simple walk to round 2.

God, I love playoff time.

The Flyers are not a free walk to the 2nd round for the Devils. They owned them during the regular season.

Big Ev wrote:The Flyers are not a free walk to the 2nd round for the Devils. They owned them during the regular season.

With Boucher as their primary goaltender?

The Flyers do seem to have the Devils number this season. I think the Devils will still take it but probably in 6.

Oh man, I wish I was a betting man, I'd gladly take bets on the Flyers beating the Devils - as in, it's not happening!

I agree SpezD. I just think it takes more than 4 or 5 games is all.

The Flyers will probably be less of an underdog against the Devils than we are against the Penguins. I think the Devils win in 7.

Big Ev wrote:Montreal series goes 7. Caps can't seem to win or lose playoff series in else than 7 games these days,

Seriously, you think a team that qualified to the playoffs on a loser point is going to win 3 games against Washington?
DO I need to remind that the Stanley Cup champions needed 7 games to beat the Caps last year?

The only bottom 4 teams that will go into the 2nd round are Detroit and Ottawa, don't kid yourselves

marakh wrote:

Big Ev wrote:Montreal series goes 7. Caps can't seem to win or lose playoff series in else than 7 games these days,

Seriously, you think a team that qualified to the playoffs on a loser point is going to win 3 games against Washington?
DO I need to remind that the Stanley Cup champions needed 7 games to beat the Caps last year?

No, I don't think they can win 3 games against the Caps- I think they can win 4

Big Ev wrote:

marakh wrote:

Big Ev wrote:Montreal series goes 7. Caps can't seem to win or lose playoff series in else than 7 games these days,

Seriously, you think a team that qualified to the playoffs on a loser point is going to win 3 games against Washington?
DO I need to remind that the Stanley Cup champions needed 7 games to beat the Caps last year?

No, I don't think they can win 3 games against the Caps- I think they can win 4

....so u expect the sens to lose to the pens but the habs will take out washington?

I don't think Montreal is the better team, but I think Theodore is gonna have a very tough time dealing with the fans in the Bell Centre, and if the Habs just win Game 1 or 2 (they've beaten the Caps at the Verizon Center this season already), they would be confident going into their own rink. The Habs have better defense than the Caps and I think that right now Halak is a much better option than Theodore in nets.

I knew the Rangers would give the Caps a run for their money in Round 1 last year. I thought they would beat them, and they would have if they actuallly had scoring. The Habs are healthy right now and I think they have enough scoring to match with the Capitals.

As for Ottawa, I think it's gonna be a 6 or 7 game series, and Ottawa could definately win, but right now you have to think Pittsburgh should beat us. We have too much inexperience on our team (besides the core of Alfie, Fisher, Spezza, Phillips, etc.) to win. The Pens know how to grind out a team in the postseason, I don't think we're there just yet.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I agree SpezD. I just think it takes more than 4 or 5 games is all.

Oh, fair enough, I have the Devils to win in 6.