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George Prax 2010-05-14 16:04

What do to about the Oil Crisis...

George Prax 2010-05-04 14:44

Hockey Independent owns NBChttp://deadspin.com/5530840/nbc-falls-for-silly-nhl-pizza-party-hoax

I'm honestly laughing my ass off. This is one of the other sites I post my stuff on, and NBC actually fell for a blog clearly marked as satire. Total ownage.

www.hockeyindependent.com

Cinerichabs88 2010-05-03 14:36

Pens Are Weeping!!!After CryBaby Crosby broke his stick on Jaroslav Halak's goal post (he thought more deserved a penalty for interference), the pens newest CryBaby, Matt Cookie (given by Mike Boone on habsinsideout) is stating that Subban is purposly cutting tendons:

"Penguins' hit man Matt Cookie is saying his foot was nearly cut by P.K. Subban's skate in Game 2 and links the incident to Jordan Staal's cut in Game 1.

"It’s the second time (it’s happened),” Cooke told the Beaver County Times. "I know it’s not a penalty when skates collide but for that to happen in back-to-back games by the same guy is suspicious."

(habsinsideout)

now is this funny or what, the big bad Cookie is afraid of Subban. personally i think he's trying anything to through the habs off there game, there really a bunch of babies on pitsburg.

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skh 2011-06-26 16:38

George Prax 2010-04-30 09:37

Playoff Scoring RaceSo after one round + a game, Joe Pavelski leads the goal scoring race with 7 goals (2nd in points with 11). Dan Boyle and Ryan Clowe are among the leaders in assists (7 each), and the ''big 3'' in San Jose are nowhere to be found. Anyone else see this coming?

Crosby with 14 points (5 goals 9 assists) is not surprising, and I think he's going to win the race at the end of the playoffs (the Sedins will pick it up and give him a run for his money).

Who do you think will win the scoring race?

SloweVechkin 2010-04-29 11:29

Congrats to the HabsAlthough the end result was frustrating and terribly disappointing, the whole process of being involved in covering this series and meeting a lot of great new hockey "friends" has been a good one for me. I'd like to wish the Habs (and all those here who cover/support them) congratulations on a series well-played. Here's hoping that you somehow can muster the energy to knock off the hated Pens. If nothing else, maybe you will begin to understand why we have such a distaste for them and their fans down here in this part of the world. With not much else to say, I finally had to resort to some Roethlisberger smack talk this morning.

Anyway, while I still have a huge problem with the third-period disallowed goal (I mean the hockey world was clamoring for the Caps to get traffic in front of the net and when they finally do the goal is taken away), the Caps never should have let the series get to the point that one call could determine the outcome. And I'm not posting this to whine or point a finger or create an argument. Most of you probably think it was the right call and most of us think it was a joke. At the end of the day if the Caps had scored two more power play goals to "raise" their percentage closer to 10% on the series, they probably would have won the series in five or six games. So, shame on them. While I don't think the "better team" won, I do believe the more deserving team did.

And, as much as some of you wanted to crucify your coach early in the series, I think he badly outcoached Bruce Boudreau, who came off as arrogant and unwilling to adapt. As I told Prax in an email, I've worked with coaches as a PR/media relations person for a long time, and all I ask of them is to be the same person - treat me the same way - win or lose. That's my advice to them with the media, too. Bruce was a great guy to deal with all year long and after his playoff wins, but after the losses he snapped at the media. Players are trained from the time they are five years old to look to their coaches for a sense of calm and comfort during adversity, and Boudreau's actions indicated that he was very uptight - and his team played that way. He also showed an inability or unwillingness to either ask his team to adjust or to get them to buy in. I don't by any means think he should be fired as some jackasses down here are saying, but I think this loss falls on him as much - or more - than the players, who I thought gave an honest, albeit not always intelligent, effort.

Okay. Enough for now. Just wanted to say thanks for making me feel welcome and appreciated here and in the live blogs. Good luck to the Habs, and it's nothing personal anything that was said or discussed in the heat of battle. I guess this is my version of the ceremonial handshake.

Thanks guys,

Scott

skh 2011-06-26 16:38

Glen Miller 2010-04-26 21:17

My websiteHey guys. Some of you may now recognize me as the Rangers blogger on the site. George has been nice enough to allow me to pimp my own website out here in the forums. If you are intereste in all sports (Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey, MMA, etc.) then I ask that you come by www.sdsportsnet.com and take a look. Say hello, comment on some of the posts. I'll be looking out for my fellow TCL'ers.

Thanks,
Glen Miller

SloweVechkin 2010-04-26 09:47

Caps Blog - Huge Bame TonightHey everyone. Sorry for the lack of blogging over the weekend. Had to coach three baseball games and get my son to two hockey tryouts. The good news is that he looked better than Mike Green and Alexander Semin and is available to play in Montreal tonight. The bad news: No time to write. But I've had a lot of time to think about tonight's huge Game 6 at the Bell Centre and will have a post up later today - six keys for the Capitals:

1) Get at least one goal on the power play
2) Play from in front - in more ways than one
3) Keep it simple
4) "Secondary superstars" must show up
5) Make a physical statement
6) Win the key faceoffs

Details to follow shortly...

skh 2011-06-26 16:38

SloweVechkin 2010-04-18 10:00

Love the fan responseI find it interesting now that the Caps and Ovechkin are supposedly getting the preferred treatment from the NHL when historically original 6 teams have benefitted from that type of treatment. Don't you think financially it's just as good for Montreal - maybe better - to face Pittsburgh than the Caps. An entire nation would be riveted to that match-up, whereas no matter who you put on TV here in the U.S. maybe 2 percent of the population will care at all.

Last year the Penguins received a power play advantage of nearly 3 to 1 in their six-game series vs. the Capitals, and all the Crosby/Pens supporters said the officiating was not one-sided and to basically shut up, so ... you can read between the lines on this one.

Montreal's tying goal in Game 1 came after Ovechkin was crosschecked to the ice in front of the net 40 feet from the puck. If they get away with that, then Halak is going to have to deal with some people in his face. Maybe the Hab's densemen shouldn't pin players into their goalie after they set up in front. Maybe Halak should stop the type of wide-open, clear-viewed shots that Theodore got yanked for letting in...either way, the first thing you have to do is look in the mirror and realize that your team allowed the comeback to happen.

For the game the Caps ATTEMPTED 85 shots to Montreal's 42. Another thing to consider is that the Canadiens are creating traffic in their own end by sagging and collapsing to the middle with 4-5 players at time. That puts 8-10 bodies in the line of fire. Not easy for any goaltender to deal with. If you sit back and let your goalie get bombarded by the top offensive team in the league, at some point something is going to give.

And, for the record, the Caps did not receive a power play until the 39-minute mark of the game. Gill's play was a tough call on him, but had no bearing on the outcome. However, the rule is, if a player makes a self-dump and tries to go around you, you can shield him, but not pin him. By letter of the law that's a penalty these days, but still a tough third-period call. There was a similar play by the Canadiens early that was way more blatant and went uncalled.

I can list calls that weren't made for either side. That's hockey. The refs stink. They stink at the mite level, the junior level, in college and the pros. That's a fact. It's reality, not an excuse. We've had to deal with it for years, and it really sucks when you feel like your team was on the short end.

"If you want bread you go to the bakery. If you want money you go to the bank. If you want goals you go to the net." - Brooks Laich

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skh 2011-06-26 16:38

SloweVechkin 2010-03-28 12:12

Caps - Flames Live UpdatesFollow me on Twitter @APISports today starting at 3 p.m. Eastern for "mostly unbiased" Caps - Flames live updates!

SloweVechkin 2010-03-28 12:09

Caps vs. Flames NotesThe Caps face a stiff challenge today from a Calgary Flames squad that is desperate for points and is superior to the recent "desperate" Eastern Conference foes the team has faced.

Washington enters the game today with a league-best and team-record 109 points and having secured at least one point in 26 of its last 29 contests. A victory by the Caps today would lock up the Eastern Conference regular-season title, the first in franchise history, and would tie the team record for wins in a season (50) that was set last year. The Capitals also are seven points in front of San Jose in the race for the President's Trophy. Washington has eight games left, while the Sharks have seven remaining contests.

Calgary owns the 14th-best overall record in the NHL, but in the stronger Western Conference their 83 points leave them on the outside looking in, six points behind Colorado with seven games to play. So, to say that this is a must-win for the Flames would be an understatement. Calgary, which has lost two straight and is 5-5 in its last 10, is better on the road than at home with a solid 18-13-6 road mark.

The Caps will be without fourth-liner Boyd Gordon, who is in Hershey rehabbing a back injury that has nagged him all season, and 24-goal scorer Brooks Laich, who was hit in the face with a John Carlson slaphshot that hit the crossbar in practice earlier this week. He has missed the last two games after playing in more than 250 straight contests. Wednesday's victory against Pittsburgh marked the first time in head coach Bruce Boudreau's NHL career that Laich was not in the lineup. Scott Walker skated in practice yesterday and could be available today for Washington. Shaone Morrisonn, who sat out Thursday's shootout loss to Carolina, is questionable after earning the team hardhat with a club-best nine hits vs. the Pens.

Eight of the Caps' last 15 games and six of their past nine have gone into overtime as the team seems to be readying itself for playoff-style hockey. The Flames defeated the Caps, 2-1, in Calgary in the only meeting last year despite an 8-minute power play for Washington in the contest. The Caps have won five straight games vs. the Flames at Verizon Center.

Washington is on pace to score more goals than any team since the 1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins and have scored 289 goals on the season, 45 ahead of the next-closest team (Vancouver), and their plus-80 goal differential is 28 better than Chicago. The Caps not only lead the league in overall goals, but also first-period, second-period and third-period goals and they have the best come-from-behind record in hockey. Still, in an indication of their recent commitment to defense, Washington has allowed three or fewer goals in seven of its last eight and eight of its last 10 outings. Caps' goalie Jose Theodore has not lost a regulation decision in 19 contests (17-0-2) and has a 2.42 GAA and .927 save percentage in that span. He has won seven straight, posting a 1.95 GAA and .937 percentage in those contests.

Calgary, on the other hand has scored just 189 goals, but their 190 goals allowed is the third-best number in the Western Conference and seventh-best overall. With their desperation and defensive style, today's matchup at 3 p.m. in D.C. should prove to be a playoff-style game.

Today's contest matches the top NHL overall and home power play (Washington, 25.5 percent) against the no. 11 overall penalty kill (Calgary, 83.2). The Caps have struggled a bit overall on the power play (25th, 79.1 percent), but have been solid at home (10th, 84.8 percent) and have shown tremendous improvement and greater commitment in the last seven games. Calgary's power play is 25th in the league overall (16.4 percent) and 15th on the road (16.8 percent).

Notable Numbers: The Caps are 38-2-3 when scoring three or more goals.

Captain's Choice: Since naming Alex Ovechkin captain, Washington is 25-3-5 and has gone from five points down in the race for the Eastern Conference regular-season crown to 16 poins in front.

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