I need to apologize for not posting in forever. My schoolwork has been hitting me hard ever since I stepped foot back on campus in late January, and I was reminded of my lack of posting by my grandmother on Friday during the radio show (Dropping the Gloves, 5-6 PM on Fridays, WMUCSports.com). Instead of trying to recap all the games since I’ve last been on here, I just want to talk about some notes from the weekend and do a brief preview of tonight’s big match-up against Pittsburgh.
Yesterday’s “Hockey Day in America” was an awesome marketing idea by NBC. All four games that were broadcast on NBC were great match-ups. I ended up watching hockey from 12:30 until the end of the Heritage Classic on Versus (which I honestly thought to be the most uneventful of all five games). I am here, however, just to comment on the Caps v. Sabres game.
What a solid win. I was very impressed throughout by the Capitals, especially on the power play. The Caps created many chances on the man advantage and were not afraid to shoot the puck when necessary. They should have definitely scored on the 5-on-3, but since we came out of this game with the W, I’ll let it go for now.
I feel like I have to talk about Ryan Miller. He is far and away my favorite goalie in the league, and even though he is struggling just a bit this year, he was on his A-game yesterday. He absolutely stuffed Nick Backstrom on back to back power play opportunities. If anyone else was in net for Buffalo, we would have been talking about a blow out in upstate New York.
Tonight’s game against the Penguins is the final meeting between the rivals in the regular season. The Caps look to take the series 3-1 with a victory tonight, and this looks very possible. Both teams played yesterday on the road, so there is no excuse for either team being tired. The Penguins are without Geno Malkin and Sidney Crosby, who is still suffering from a minor headache, uh, I mean, concussion-like symptoms. The same men were out for Pittsburgh when the Capitals shutout the Pens 3-0 in Washington just a few weeks ago. If the Capitals can keep playing solid defense and convert on the power play, they will take the momentum and steal a victory from the Penguins and add another victorious chapter to this storied rivalry.
