Penguins-Capitals Review

Well, I was going to post something yesterday and throw out my prediction for Game Seven, but, as it turns out, it's for the best that I didn't do that. Here are the Cliff Notes:

1. I thought the game was going to be close.
2. I thought it was going to go into overtime.
3. I really had no idea who was going to win.
4. I thought Varlamov was going to be the difference (though in a way, I was right).

Therefore, we can come to only one conclusion: I'm an idiot. But, hey, I'll take a dribble cup if it's the Stanley Cup.

Also, it's for the best that I didn't post anything yesterday in that I would've blathered on and on and probably ended up with 5,000 words by the time I was finished. Now that I've had time to think about the game (and the series), I think I'll be able to trim that down to 3 or 4,000.

A few thoughts:

1. We had 42 shots in game six and 30 shots in game seven. The difference was that we snuck a couple past Varlamov and nothing snuck by Fleury. And then Mussolini -- or whatever Washington's coach is called -- panicked, switched goalies, and it was pretty much over at that point.
2. But this doesn't mean that I was able to relax with a four goal lead until the announcers started thanking the producers (about three minutes left).
3. Everyone was talking about how Washington's defense imploded, but, really, they played crappy all series. Varlamov was just always there to bail them out. He wasn't there to bail them out in game seven and then he really wasn't there after Mussolini took him out. I'm not saying that the Penguins are a bad team, because they're not. They're a tremendous offensive team, but you don't get that many shots on goal for a series -- and you don't outshoot someone as badly as we outshot the Capitals -- unless you're playing some downright horrible defense. It finally caught up to them. So, yeah. Great timing on that.
4. I don't like him, but, if I'm starting a team right now and I have my pick of any player in the NHL, I'm taking Alex Ovechkin over Sidney Crosby. I just think it's easier to build a team around Ovechkin because he's more vocal and shoots more. And he's got a crazy-good shot. And he is ridiculously talented. And, hey, if I also have the second pick overall and have my pick of anyone in the NHL, I'll take Sid second. If I ran the Penguins, could only pick one player, and had the current roster in place with the exception of Sid, then I'd take Sid. He's a great fit for the Penguins, but Ovechkin is a better fit for the Capitals. Listen, Crosby just has a lot more talent around him. And he makes all those guys better. Ovechkin wouldn't elevate the play of everyone around him like Crosby does, but they'd certainly score a bunch of goals with everyone else knocking rebounds on the shots that Ovechkin misses. With the respective rosters the way they are, I wouldn't trade Crosby for Ovechkin head-up, either. But... okay, I'll say it: I think Alex Ovechkin -- though a supreme douchebag -- is the best player in hockey.

Finally, I have to say that hockey picked the right time to have an awesome playoffs. The basketball playoffs, while slightly compelling, already played their best series (Celtics-Bulls will be damn near impossible to top) and the drama will be gone until the Lakers play the Cavaliers and even then that might not be all that great of a series.

Baseball's not in full swing yet and there's the specter of Manny and A-Rod hanging over the season thus far. And, of course, no football to steal our attention.

So, dropped right into this dead zone in cool sports to watch, you have three of the biggest stars playing against each other in a back-and-forth series that got pushed to seven games and featured stars duelling it out, great individual efforts, insanely good goaltending, and yet lots of scroring. You have Giant Killer Anaheim looking to (please, please, please!) eliminate the Detroit Periods in seven, and so many seven game series that they need to show two game sevens in one night.

People are starting to pay attention. People who think icing is just something that's on cupcakes are starting to tune in. And the Sid-Geno-Ovechkin storyline and all the compelling things that happened in this series played no small part in that rise in interest.

So, in a way, the Capitals, the NHL, and the Penguins were all winners.

But in another, more accurate way, the Penguins were the winners.