After what seems like an eternity for Caps fans, their first round series against Philly gets underway tonight. Over the past week we've broken down goaltending, defense, and offense, and the results fail to clear up anything. Both teams play different styles of hockey, but neither really has the advantage in the series. Some pundits have called for the Caps to win the series in 6 or 7 games, while others think Philly will take it.
If anything this will be an exciting series. Both teams do have explosive offenses and quality netminders, which will lead to heaps of scoring chances, and some spectacular saves I'm sure. When asked about the Flyers trying to knock Ovechkin off his game, Boudreau noted that;
"We've seen what happens when he gets into it and plays physical. It doesn't hurt him as much it might hurt other players. Montreal played physical [against him] and he scored four goals. Guys are going to come at him, but I don't want to stop Alex in any way. That's the way he plays."
On an interesting note, Mike Green went down to DC101 radio studios to get a playoff mohawk. I'm not quite sure that will catch on, but there is one other fashion style that the Caps will get to see for the first time in a while: the playoff beard. While some, like Ovechkin, sport the scraggly look normally, it will be fun to see some of the other guys putting a little scruff on.
For some pre-game inspiration, we've got several ideas.
From On Frozen Blog, a montage of the season set to a great song.
A pair of Caps promo videos, with some great tracks (here and here)
And finally, we'll leave you with a simple question from Japers':
"Are you Red-y?"
I know I am...
