Thursday, April 17, 2008

Game 4 Open Thread

"The media is wrong if they think we're satisfied, and the media is wrong when they think the series is over." - Bruce Boudreau

UPDATE: In case you missed it, Flyer fans have taken to telling their mothers what to do. Classy.

57 comments:

LJN said...

Tonight will be crazy......get your popcorn ready!

Anonymous said...

I had Sean Connery give Brucie some advice over at my game day thread ;)

The series is definitely not over but a lot has to change.

There needs to be an Amber Alert out for Kozlov.

Hopefully these line changes aren't shuffling the chairs on the Titanic.

Also, can someone please kill the next Flyer to run Huet.

imbroglioh said...

kozlov looked a helluva lot better than ovechkin with the puck last game. it's backstrom we need to worry about the most, he's looked like a beaten man at this point. i think the pp change will be a big difference, hopefully bruce sticks with it, but there's no guarantee we'll get another 7 pp's. go caps.

http://imbroglioh.blogspot.com/2008/04/stubborn-or-patient.html

Anonymous said...

Boy, kinda makes you want to take all the kids to the game.

Sonia said...

ah, the family game. reminds me of the "steven takes it in the ass, doo dah, doo dah" chant that the guy sitting behind me at the rangers game yesterday started. bring the kids!

Anonymous said...

JP - FYI - I think the link was broken.

The video I saw was of a trash conveyor belt from some sort of waste facility.

JP said...

+1

Dan, Jr. said...

They will find they're way and get it done. Never Surrender!

http://juniors-eyes.blogspot.com/2008/04/never-surrenderi-saidnever-surrender.html

JP said...

Final(ish) tally on the Huet/Kolzig poll:

Olie 241 (58%)
Cris 177 (42%)

JP said...

I absolutely love Semin's game tonight.

Salmon said...

Flyers damn lucky to come out of that period tied.

That's the second period of the series in which the Caps dominated. Lack of urgency from the Flyers added up to turnovers galore.

Abhinav said...

I love how we're actually standing up for ourselves tonight.

And nice no call on the cut to Brads. Yeah, that wasn't obvious at all.

(Great backcheck by Danielle there).

NS said...

EMIE LIVES!!!!

Abhinav said...

What the FUCK! That's two blood drawing high sticks!

JP said...

The officiating - and not just one way - has left something to be desired.

Abhinav said...

I really wish I could listen to Locker and Joe B right now. The guys on Versus have no idea what they're talking about.

Opening comment from them:
"And the puck drops. Neither team has any lineup changes today."

Yeah, spot on, fellas.

Anonymous said...

Too many men. WTFFFFFFFFF!!!!!

How can a team get one of these every game? What the F$#Q@# is going on on that bench?

I can't take this.

Anonymous said...

Has Cristobal left anyone still unconvinced?

Anonymous said...

I also love how patient Fedorov just was. On that rebound with Huet any other player would have just panicked. However, instead of just hastily throwing it into danger, Feds just held on to it in front of the net and slowly moved it behind.

JP said...

Worst. Call. Ever.

Anonymous said...

First of all, this game should be over, but we can't seem to master the art of a line change. Second time tonight.

Second - these officials are absolute HORSES!@#$!!

Abhinav said...

I'm really not one to complain about officiating, but tonight......

We're owed 10 minutes of penalties right now. At least.

Anonymous said...

I sure hope the Caps are learning from their mistakes.

And someone needs to ask the IRS to check that the refs have paid all of their gambling taxes ...

Anonymous said...

Yea... that wasn't a goalie interference penalty.

(Understatement of the year)

Anonymous said...

It's Mike Green Time.

Anonymous said...

Brashear is a pimp.

JP said...

AO has 1 SOG and 10 hits through 1OT.

NS said...

i will have developed an ulcer by the end of this game. FUCK.

JP said...

One of Huet's two big saves.

Abhinav said...

God damn it.

Whiter Mage said...

All you could hear from that arena at the end of that game was the slurp slurp slurp of cocksucking on some ref from Martin Biron.

Anonymous said...

Series over. Winner: Referees.

I'm so disgusted I can't even think of words right now. Fuck this sport.

Anonymous said...

I think Mike Green's been the primary Capital responsible for about half the Flyers goals in this series.

JP said...

I think Mike Green's been the primary Capital responsible for about half the Flyers goals in this series.

... and more than half the Caps goals.

But where the hell was he on that game-winner, or, more accurately, why the hell was he where he was?

Anonymous said...

Apparently, Ovechkin has some plans with russian national team/his girlfriend. He can't even score on an open net. Caps are done. Ovie better start earning his $10M/year. Hope is still alive. Jurcina needs to go, as far as possible. He is a liability. Not an asset. Officiating sucked, Huet was awesome! Everyone except Ovechkin showed their will to win. I'm hoping for Pittsburgh scenario from last year, so better luck next year...

Sonia said...

everything sucks.

Anonymous said...

Huet was brilliant tonight. The Caps had their chances in the first overtime.

Their backs are now against the wall; what now?

@hazardous: I have two words to describe the questionable officiating in this series: Earl Hebner.

Anonymous said...

we were lucky to even get in to the playoffs. Now the inexperience is showing and we are going to lose in 5. I hope Danny B breaks his leg going to the bathroom to take a piss

Anonymous said...

I guess they can't play in any other fashion, besides having their backs against the wall. I agree on Jurcina. He sucked in regular season, he sucks even worse now. We've been there before, here we are again. Gotta win 3 straight. They've done it before, might as well do again. Flyers are very average team. Biron is not that good, just drive the net and it's done.

Anonymous said...

I think Mike Green's been the primary Capital responsible for about half the Flyers goals in this series.

... and more than half the Caps goals.

But where the hell was he on that game-winner, or, more accurately, why the hell was he where he was?


Touche', JP

GSOAT said...

1. The Caps never (except for one season) win these games (I am a Caps fan who suffered- like you- through the 3-games-to-1 choke jobs with Pittsburgh- especially that a$$hole Nedved's 4OT game winner- I drank 12 beers and dipped a whole tin of Skoal that night). When I see "OT" on the scoreboard I get the shakes... from experience.
2. Referees were awful tonight. I know that it sounds lame to say that after a loss, but it was disgusting. Two high sticking (with blood) no-calls, Kozlov gets called on that bull$shit interference call and the Flyers player gets a pass when he rams Huet? It was so bad that it actually seemed like a fix was in. There, I said it.
3. Ovie has done waaaaaaay too much this year (and the previous two) to get slammed in this forum for not scoring enough in the last 4 games. Wake up and appreciate what you have, and understand that these guys are young, and Ovie is a target. He isn't choking- he's just being defended really, really well. And each game- for better or for worse- of this postseason is going to make him stronger and smarter. Stop bashing the best thing that has happened to Washington hockey in... well, ever. He is still the man, and 4 games is not a large enough sample size to allow any of us to pass judgment on his character and guts. Moreover, if you ask me, he's been tough as nails through this whole series, and in case you haven't noticed, scoring goals has not been our problem this postseason.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I agree, Ovie did put Caps in the playoffs. But, if I'm not mistaken, Flyers are the team who has most goals scored against in the East as far as playoffs concerned. Why can't they (Caps) do it? Defense is horrible. Put Lepisto instead of Jurcina, or someone. They showed character tonight (something that was missing for last 2 games). Little more luck, better officials, they can win 3 straight.

GSOAT said...

3 goals should have been enough to win this playoff game (in regulation), but the refs (and the Caps' awful line changes) did us in. I'm not sophisticated enough to figure out which defenseman was most responsible for tonight's loss, but you've got to dance with the one[s] who brung you. Let's ride this season out like good fans and give the Caps a great home ice advantage on Saturday, win or lose. They deserve our support.

Anonymous said...

Just shut up and stop complaining about the refs. Then the Flyers will beat you again Saturday and all you fairweather caps fans can go do something else. Even Brashear called you fans fairweather, during the season you only filled half the arena each nite, now its playoffs its full, and the arena even starts ur "let's go caps" chants.

Anonymous said...

@ Tool. I mean Eric.

The horn comes from a season ticket holder. He's been present for the past however many years.

I'll now assist you in pulling your head out of your ass.

Anonymous said...

No profanity: Huet made some sick saves that Kolzig would only dream of, and Eminger had a good game on D.

My wife asked, "What does Semin actually DO?!" mere moments before his goal. She asked again mere moments after his goal. She was right both times.

Throughout this series, the Caps' forwards have had ample opportunity to score on Biron (more than your mom at a kegger), but have not been able to get it up (a la Philly fans like eric h.).

They showed more "desperation" (read: jump) tonight than in the previous 3 games, but it doesn't matter one bit at the end of the day.

Can they win on Saturday? I certainly hope so.

Anonymous said...

Eric H. said...

Just shut up and stop complaining about the refs.

Eric: Just shut up and go to your team's blogs, because no one here gives a shit what you have to say. If you honestly think the referees weren't pisspoor, then you don't know what hockey is. Oh, wait, that's exactly the case, because you're just a fucking idiot. Shut up already. I've had it with dumbass philly fans coming around looking to pick a fight. Fuck off, douchebag. Go enjoy your second round spanking, because your team's shit. Be grateful you got this far because your team apparently pays better odds.

Salmon said...

The refs were piss-poor once, on that BS goalie interference call on Kozlov. I have no idea how that happened. But that call should not be invoked as a reason that the Caps lost, because there was no goal on the power play.

The two high sticks people are referring to happened behind the play and were completely incidental tangles away from the action, so you can't blame the refs for missing them. It sucks that faces got cut up, but it was of no consequence to the play.

Also, I thought the officiating was terribly slanted toward the Caps in Game 2, so this balances things out.

As far as Flyers fans sticking to their own blogs, I for one have been hanging around here and at the Washington Post because every Flyers blog I've seen kinda blows.

And because it's far more fun to be rooting them on as a minority, like I will be in the booth on Saturday.

Anonymous said...

Everyone gets bad breaks guys, and the flyers just got theirs last night. The Caps got theirs when they won all those games to get into the playoffs.

The Great Grigsby said...

I love how the Flyers fans talk about bandwagoners. Exactly how full was your arena when Philly had the worst team in the NHL last year?

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) Nicholas: The Flyers played in front of 98.9% attendance LAST year!

Anonymous said...

I love how the Flyers fans talk about bandwagoners. Exactly how full was your arena when Philly had the worst team in the NHL last year?

Um, 7th in the NHL. Over 19,000 a game.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/attendance?year=2007

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) Oops sorry the source: http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/attendance?year=2007
2) While we are NOT Flyer fans by any means its not fair to try to compare both cities as far as hockey fan loyalty goes. Philly not only supports the Flyers win or lose, but they also support their AHL affiliate Phantoms with near 100% attendance. Like em or not, they are loyal.

Anonymous said...

The Caps have the Flyers right where they want them. Washington is getting back to playing like they did the last games of the season. This series goes back to Philly for Game 6 - guaranteed.

The Great Grigsby said...

Damnit...Guess I should've researched that before I asked the question eh? Haha

Anonymous said...

I can't believe some of the stuff I'm reading in here about Ovechkin. You guys are as bad as Eagles fans that blame everything on McNabb. He's your best player and the Caps wouldn't have sniffed the playoffs without him.

He's clearly been frustrated, but that dive in game 3 was just terrible. (That's what the whole "F*ck Ovechkin" chant was about")

As for the officiating, it's pretty much sucked equally, to the point that it hasn't affected the outcome of any game. Even the missed high-sticks offset in game 4.

Anonymous said...

Hey all. Flyers fan here...

Playoff hockey gets quicker for sure and Ovie is probably spending too much time on the ice. Why does Brashear always look like the next Gretzky when he's on the ice? He's clearly the most rested. I think AO would be much more dangerous if he got more time off the ice.

Anyway, as for the refs...it was certainly not a banner game for them. The goalie interference was bogus. Probably should have technically been a no-call, although the punishment for turning the puck over like that is usually a penalty. But after 24 years without a title in any sport, I'm past the "feeling-bad-about-missed-calls" for the other team stage.

The series ain't over of course, but I think you find that sometimes playoff experience is good, win or lose. The Caps will be better next season.