The battle of rhetoric has yet to yield any results. The Canadiens are putting it all on the Caps, and the Caps are telling the world that Montreal worries them, to take the edge off. This may be the only battle of this series the Canadiens clearly hold an edge in.
Fact: the pressure is not only on Washington; the expectations are that they will sweep the Habs, and anything less will be considered a hiccup, along what should be a short path to the Cup, thereafter.
Too much? I don’t think so. Even when you take into account the defensive and goaltending liabilities that marked this team’s season, all you’d have to do is read
Dave Stubbs’ article today, at Habsinsideout.com to know what the Canadiens are up against. And even at that, the statistics only reinforce what you already know about this powerhouse team that you’ve watched demolish their competition thus far.
Canadiens fans know their playoffs. They know that any team has a chance. Some are even willing to suggest their Habs can do the impossible; knock off Goliath in their own building and give them a run for their money in David’s house. Who am I to suggest it can’t happen…
But logic and reason dictate that the Capitals are more than just an offensive machine, with pistons steaming and nostrils flaring. They are a tight team, a team of friends, leaders, and weapons.
The names Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin and Green have fans ‘rocking the red’. But what does Mike Knuble add to the mix that was otherwise missing when the Capitals crumbled against the Pens in game 7 last year? Have you watched Brendan Morrison bring balance to this team, filling an off-season hole left by Sergei Federov with relative ease? Have you seen the support Brooks Laich and Tomas Fleischmann have offered, this season? Are you aware of the fact that Erik Fehr has the third best shot on this team? Did you know Jeff Shultz finished the season at +50? Adding Milan Jurcina, Scott Walker, Eric Belanger and Joe Corvo at the deadline was smart thinking by GM GM. This team has physicality in Jason Chimera, Matt Bradley, David Steckel and Boyd Gordon. And let’s not forget the contributions of Jose Theodore in a contract season, and Simeon Varlamov, and even Michal Neuvirth.
Note that there are few teams with as much cohesion with their bench boss, as the Capitals have with Bruce Boudreau. He allows them to put it all on the line at both ends of the ice. This team isn’t just a fearsome opponent for the Canadiens, but the hands-down favorite to make it and win the Stanley Cup—no matter what Vegas has to say about it. The Habs? Let’s just say they’re a long shot…
With that in mind, here are five things the Canadiens must do, in order to win a game or two, or possibly more in this series:
1. Forecheck. The Habs have zero chance of even taking a game unless they take advantage of their speed through the neutral zone. The Capitals are strong in every area, but they have some defensemen who aren’t tremendously fast. The speedy wingers of the Canadiens need to push the puck deep and retrieve it. The forecheck is also the key to drawing penalties, and there isn’t a hockey fan in the world that isn’t aware of the Canadiens prowess on the powerplay and their ineptitude at even strength.
2. Speaking of powerplays, the Habs have no choice but to score on them. And if just over 21% was good enough for second place in powerplay scoring this season, the Habs will need to be above that in this series to have any kind of success. Number 1 on the pp—Washington.
3. Which brings us to point number 3: The chances of the Canadiens taking less penalties/game than Washington are worse than the odds against the Canadiens winning this series. That means they’ll need to have the best penalty kill in the playoffs to win games against the Caps. It also means a bit more burning at the defensive end of the ice for Tomas Plekanec, Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta. Nevermind that Hal Gill and Josh Gorges should consider wearing a bit more armor if they plan on blocking Oveckin/Green/Semin one-timers. And if the Canadiens have a chance, you better believe those two players are leaving this series as banged up as they’ve ever been.
4. Two other players that have no choice but to play their very best: Jaroslav Spacek and Roman Hamrlik. It’ll be their duty (And I’m sure they’ll get some help from Travis Moen, Dominic Moore, Mathieu Darche and Tom Pyatt) to limit Ovechkin’s opportunities.
5. Gomez has to be the guy Canadiens fans marveled at in game 82 of the season. Gionta needs to score in pretty much every game. Mike Cammalleri has no choice. Tomas Plekanec needs to do what he did against Washington all season, and be a scoring/penalty killing machine. Andrei Markov needs to outdo Mike Green. Marc-Andre Bergeron needs to be a lethal powerplay threat. And most importantly, Halak and Price have to push each other to be the very best they can be.
With much more to discuss, I’ll get deeper into the matchup tomorrow…
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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