If the Caps lose with this team in the first round against an 8th seed, someone should get fired.

I like Boudreau and he really turned this team around several seasons back, but it's starting to look like year after year in the playoffs the guy just can't get his team doing what they should be doing in the playoffs. For whatever reason, he can't seem to make the necessary adjustments to his system to counter whatever gets thrown at the team, he can't seem to motivate the players, and he regularly makes questionable bench decisions (Fleishmann again with the sweater over Walker (or anyone, for that matter)? Going 1/31 on the power play with the league's best regular season PP? Sorry, not cutting it.

When the Caps went up 3-1 in this series, I said to myself: there's no way this team doesn't play a game seven in this series - it's not even killer instinct, they just don't know how to win in fewer games because they can't play like a team. They talk the talk, but when the game comes, how many times do we see people go to the net on the power play? How many times do we see Montreal's netminder shaking his head because he couldn't see a shot to stop it?

It's past time for this team to step it up in the post season. The excuses from last season with injuries just aren't there. There's no reason for their confidence to be shaky. And this will mark the 4th playoff series in a row for the Caps to go to 7 games with the core of this team.

Now I'm not one of those angry "Fire McPhee" sort of people - I never have been. It's just practical - failures should have consequences and failures this massive should have massive consequences. I'm not happy with a regular season winner and a post-season dud every year and I don't think Ted should settle for it either. Players play the games and ultimately the players fail when the team loses, but something has to change and it doesn't seem like the coaching staff can make them change in an effective way right now - so I'm just putting it out there in advance - I think Bruce is on the block.

I'd like to see the "good" Caps show up an put this one away at home - not some softie-laden no show like the last time a series was on the line. Show us you can coach the best team in franchise history to play at their best level and at least make it to the second round. Coach like your job is just as much on the line as the team's season, because maybe it is.