It's gonna be a long week for Caps fans. To pass the time, you might want to jump over to On Frozen Blog and relive the final week of the Caps' regular season. According the the schedule, the Caps don't kick off until Friday night. On the plus side, Versus and NBC have tagged this as the series to watch in the East, so the first 6 games will be televised nationally on either Versus or NBC.
If anyone wants to think of the first round as a matchup that's been decades in the making, "But as I'm sure you've noticed, it has been 19 years since the Caps and Flyers met and 20 years since the Caps last eliminated Philadelphia from the playoffs."
CapsChick breaks down the offenses of both teams, and the conclusion is that, while distinct, they're pretty even. Philly comes in with their scoring spread among several players, which makes shutting down one or two guys less of a factor for Washington. It also means they don't have that one go-to guy in the clutch. The Caps offense is the opposite, revolving around Ovechkin and, to a lesser extent, Backstrom and Green. On paper if Philly shuts them down, the Caps will have trouble scoring. But we've seen this season that it's not that easy to shut down those guys. Bottom line, and I agree with Caps Chick, is that while both teams come into this series with different scoring makeups, they are pretty even.
And on defense, it sounds like both Schultz and Morrisonn might be playing in game 1 on Friday night. According to Tarik;
If one or both are unable to play, however, the Caps will have to make a recall, which would likely be Josef Boumedienne or maybe prospect Sami Lepisto. Just in case, it's possible one or both could be at practice tomorrow.
Finally, in anticipation of Rockin' the Red, or making it a Red Out, or whatever the Caps decide to call it for the playoffs, The Peerless takes a historical look at the color of blood and fire.
