Thursday Caps Clips: Panthers @ Caps Game Day

Winning the Stanley Cup is the ultimate goal. I dreamt about hoisting it as a kid, drew pictures of it, had posters of it on my wall. In my mind I’ve won it a million times, but have fallen short so far in my NHL career. So I continue to practice and play every day with that goal firmly entrenched in my mind. The dream of winning the Stanley Cup is the driving force behind all my efforts, day in and day out, and the pursuit is relentless.

his biography was very well written and interesting!

So true. BTW I’ve been listening to the Sports Junkies on WJFK, and Brooks Laich is pretty good and always gives interesting interviews as well.

Speaking of Laich, did we know he has a website?

…I didn’t know he knew how to use the internet.

Mentioned this last night in the OT, but if anyone’s interested his clothing line is sold locally at the collectables store at Dulles Town Center Mall in Sterling VA (aka, the boonies).

If it is any consolation…Stamkos seems to have fallen off his incredibly hot hot-streak.

/not any consolation.

That 11-game streak reminds me of the Caps’ 14-game streak last year, only shorter.

There were lots of questions last year about the Caps peaking too early during that 14 game winning streak. I don’t want to see the Caps winning so many games in a row like again this year just in case and I definitely don’t want them to win another President’s trophy. Let a different team carry that burden this year and if that team happens to be the Penguins then that’s even better in my mind. Of course with our luck, the team will start winning a bunch of games again and the Penguins will go on a losing streak and the Caps will end up with the candy dish again.

Watched a little of that game.

He is as hot as it gets, and so are the Pens.

The Flyers were similarly hot.

No big deal.

Be interested to read what Pens fans are saying about the won streak and Sid’s run and then compare to what they were saying during the Caps streak last year. Bet it’s pretty consistent.

Don’t worry. I think we all learned our lessons last couple of seasons when obsession about trophies and stats turned out to be meaningless. Been there done that. I think it’s time I take more interest in watching younger players develop and Ovie tap more glass :P

It will be that much more fun this season to watch the Penguins get high on their own ego and then crash when it matters

Boethius: It’s my belief that history is a wheel. “Inconsistency is my very essence” says the wheel “Rise up on my spokes if you like, but don’t complain when you are cast back down into the depths. Good times pass away, but then so do the bad. Mutability is our tragedy, but it is also our hope. The worst of times, like the best, are always passing away”.

Poti-Schultz was pretty good in the playoffs two years ago.

Hannan is also making an impression on Alzner:

It’s really important. A lot of us already just watching him out there he’s a great guy for me to watch because I try to play a very similar game to what he plays and that’s strong defensively and making smart, simple plays. If I could have a career like him then I’d be very pleased. He’s a good guy to have in the room too. He’s a veteran guy. He’s got a good voice. It’s one of those things that when he starts to talk everybody is going to listen because he’s had so much experience. I think we really needed that, it rounded out the d-core. We have a lot of guying that can really do a lot of things. We got Greenie playing solid offense, same with Carlson. Then we got Tom Poti who can do both of those things and then Scott Hannan is just that force that we needed to round out the d-core.

The Junkies were talking about the players going out. Mike said they used to go out a lot when they were younger, that they weren’t any different that other guys their age, but they have matured since then. He also said the team has some younger guys now that got out like his group used to and the older ones are trying to teach them about it not being a good idea.

Yup, they’ll all be tough. But if I had to pick one? Tonight’s. They have the hardest time with “bad” teams, and it’s purely a focus thing. If they can come out tonight, take over early and shut the Panthers down for the rest of the game I’ll start to feel better about their ability to focus when needed.

The downside to being tops in the league for so long now is that every game, every team you play brings it 100%. We get everyone’s best effort. All of our games are tough. There are no easy ones. Even the worst team in the league is still an NHL club, and can bring it.

Agreed. A better comparison I think is the Sharks. They’ll presumably have Thornton ($7), Heatley ($7.5), Marleau ($6.9), Pavelski ($4), Clowe ($3.6) and Setoguchi (currently at $1.8 but RFA and possibly looking at Fehr type money). Couture also is RFA in ‘12-’13 and could be a $2-3 type guy. The cost of their Ds and Gs also is pretty comparable. When I look at the Sharks roster and the Caps roster, my reaction is both teams have the talent such that they’re going to be good for several years, but absent someone young/cheap stepping up as you suggest, it will be very difficult to build what can be considered a Stanley Cup roster.

Pronger?

Oh, and shoot the hostage.

Mike Shanahan?

Mike Richards, right?

Bob Hope

Those are probably the only AHL teams whose games are televised in general – pretty sure CBC and/or TSN broadcasts them, and NHL Net just picks up the feed.