Your savory breakfast links:
- Previews of tonight’s Game 1 with the Rangers from Vogs, NHL.com (Lozo), RtR and CRtC, and be sure to check out our SB Nation partner Blueshirt Banter for more coverage from the other side of tonight’s match-up and throughout the series.
- Notes and assorted whatnot from yesterday’s practice:
- In general. [Caps365 (video), CI (Carrera), 106.7 The Fan (Kerstein), bridgetds (pics)]
- To the surprise of no one (with the possible exception of Semyon Varlamov‘s Russian agent), Michal Neuvirth was named Game 1 starter and is cool as a cucumber. [ESPN (Burnside), WaPo (Wang)]
- Mike Green says he’s playing. Bruce Boudreau says he’s a “game-time decision.” Bruce Boudreau is playing games. [CW (Whyno), DCEx (McNally), CI (Wang)]
- Bit of a surprising news reported by TSN’s Darren Dreger that Dennis Wideman wasn’t released from the hospital until Monday of this week. [CW (Whyno)]
- From Rangers practice, some bytes from John Tortorella. [Ranger Rants]
- A must-read on “the ‘E’ word” (and no, it’s not “Eminger“). [Dump ‘n Chase]
- Classic coming-of-age tale, these Caps. (We hope.) [WashTimes (Daly)]
- Jason Arnott is not just a man, he’s the man. [WaPo (Wise)]
- In case you hadn’t heard, the Caps play some defense nowadays and their captain’s cool with that. [NHL.com (Masisak), WaPo (Svrluga), AP, Globe and Mail (Duhatschek), NYT, The National]
- How to stop Alex Ovechkin. (What, no foreward by Joe Corvo?) [WSJ]
- What didn’t kill the Caps has made them stronger. (We hope, Part 2.) [NHL.com (Masisak)]
- The series could come down to how good Henrik Lundqvist is. [WaPo (El-Bashir), WSJ]
- Five Caps who are on the spot. [CSN Washington (O’Halloran), with a focus on two of them in the Calgary Sun and one singled out at PHT; five more names at DCEx]
- Series previews from those who know the Caps best. [Capitals (Vogel), WashTimes (Whyno), WaPo (Carrera)]
- The Rangers are young. [Ranger Rants]
- Alexander Semin… speaks?! [CW (Whyno)]
- A final round of predictions:
- Caps win. [Everybody who writes for NHL.com, Elliotte Friedman, SB Nation, 14 local media folks including yours truly, Puckhead]
- Caps in five. [Peerless, Empty Netters, Baltimore Sports Report]
- Caps in five-and-a-half. [RMNB, The Checking Line]
- Caps in six. [Puck Daddy, SB Nation DC, HotH, Hockey Independent (Scriven), Kurtenblog (hey, I’m allowed to average), StC, Ball Hogs Radio, Leader-Post, USA Today (Allen), OFB]
- Caps in seven. [ESPN (Hradek), AP (Podell)]
- Rangers in seven. [ESPN (La Greca), Puck Prospectus]
Interesting nuggets a-plenty from Vogs. [Dump ‘n Chase]
A look back at Caps/Rangers playoff history. [Blueshirt Banter]
- The Mike Wise Show was broadcasting out of Kettler and had the following interviews:
- John Carlson… [106.7 The Fan (audio)]
- … Matt Hendricks… [106.7 The Fan (audio)]
- … and Boudreau, who was actually asked about his job security. [D.C. Sports Bog, 106.7 The Fan (audio)]
- Elsewhere, Barry Melrose was on LaVar and Dukes and The Sports Fix…. [D.C. Sports Bog, 106.7 The Fan (audio), ESPN 980 (audio)]
Never tell me the odds. [D.C. Sports Bog]
More thoughts heading into Round 1 (yes, this link dump has a link dump in it). [Frankovic, SI (Hackel), Box Seats, NYT, 106.7 The Fan (Elfin), Caps Degenerate, Caps Degenerate, Chirps, Skate Skate SHOOT (video), KOL, RtR, Puck ‘N Hockey, Examiner (Hoffman), Capitals Outsider, CWGAP]
Weak, Boomer. Weak. [CBS New York]
That Mike Wise column linked above was just the ninth Caps article by a sports columnist that The Post has run since January 2. [D.C. Sports Bog]
Pension Plan Puppets decides whether or not to adopt the Caps. [PPP]
Handing out year-end Caps awards. [WashTimes (Whyno)]
Interesting interview with a Getty Images photog. [Puck Buddys]
A look back at a handful of (pretty successful) predictions. [RMNB]
The best of AO’s tweets. [ThePostGame]
I had no idea Sergey Kocharov was the next Brett Leonhardt. [Five For Howling]
Finally, on this date twenty years ago, Mike Ridley‘s game-winner finished off the Patrick Division Semifinals as the Caps took down the Rangers in six games. That’s gotta be a good omen, no?
