Caps lead series 3-1

If the Caps didn't smell blood in the water before tonight's game, they certainly had to after a dominating third period performance. Semyon Varlamov virtually stood on his head while the Caps pumped shots on a frustrated Carey Price en route to a 6-3 victory and a 3-1 series lead. They now return to Washington for a Casket Match against the eight-seeded Canadiens, and certainly leave Montreal with far fewer questions than at their time of arrival.

Speaking of questions, how upset/confused/frustrated do the Habs brass have to be with their defensive lapses in the third period as well as their lack of class and maturity when things have gone awry? After successive games when their offensive stars have contributed bonehead plays, Canadiens' fans saw Carey Price chip in two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the third period. Price fired a shot toward the celebration scrum after Jason Chimera's goal (extending the lead to 4-2), and then took a blatant two-handed slash at Nick Backstrom's legs after the Swede dropped the final tally in an empty net. You have to believe that neither of these things have any place in hockey, no matter what team you're rooting for. Price was immature and classless tonight, and he deserves to be punished for it. However, if the Habs can't put up a fight on Friday, he'll have to hear about it all summer.

Overall, it wasn't a dominating performance from start to finish, but Caps' fans have to be thrilled with a 3-1 series lead and a chance to close the series at home. Here are a few more thoughts on the big win:

Image Courtesy of ESPN.com

5

1

After the first two games of this postseason, Capitals fans couldn't have felt very good about the way their top-seeded team had played. There were a lot of questions about goaltending, team defense, and the powerplay. After tonight's effort, those questions don't seem quite as pressing. The Caps came out firing on all cylinders after the first intermission and jumped out to a 4-0 lead en route to a 5-1 win. Semyon Varlamov was sparkling at times, as was the Caps' puck possession and discipline. Let's sit back and enjoy this one for tonight, because we all know it feels a hell of a lot better to be up 2-1 on the road than down 2-1. Here are a few more thoughts on the night:

5

6

Ok, so I'm going to be honest here. After Andrei Kostitsyn made the game 4-1 tonight, I went into a cursing rage and slammed my keys into the carpet. I then stormed out of my friends' apartment and stewed for a couple of minutes. However, as it's happened so many times this season, the Caps finally decided to take control and turn out the lights on the Habs.

The Caps still didn't play a particularly pretty game, but they managed to control a lot of the little things in order to eek out the win. Again they dominated in hits, takeaways, shots and faceoffs. Alex Ovechkin led the charge with eight hits and recorded a shot in his first shift. He responded extremely well to the incessant criticism after game one with a four-point performance and a clutch come-from-behind goal. But none of that was as impressive as his Swedish linemate.

Nick Backstrom almost single-handedly won this thing for the home team. He was extremely effective around the net, and his final shot was an absolute beauty. I stand by my prediction that Nicky might end up going down as a bigger hero in Caps history that Ovi. His best pass on the night was the drop to John Carlson on the game-tying goal. Carlson definitely doesn't look like much of a rookie now, does he? I honestly think he's been the most confident defenseman on the team through two games. Three points and a plus-three in two career playoff games says so.

So now we move over the Bell Centre in Montreal for the next two games. Let's hope the Caps can rally behind this momentum and keep this series relatively short.

Let's GO CAPS!

Photo via Associated Press

Today I'll look at the individual performances of everyone who has been on the Nats' 25-man roster through 10 games. The Nats are 5-5 despite being outscored 66-45 (good for a 3-7 Pythagorean W-L record) and need to improve a lot to keep their record around the break-even mark.

Concern that turned into panic...panic that welled into tears...tears that fell and helped a group of students to grow an overwhelming sense of pride. These are the things that I remember when think back to April 16th, 2007. I was a junior at Virginia Tech, only a month removed from summer vacation and what would be my final tour as a student in beautiful Blacksburg, Virginia.

I had somewhat coasted through the better part of the first three years (after a rocky first semester) enjoying parties here and there, playing my fair share of video games and procrastinating on plenty of political science papers. College was something that I learned how to manage very well, but I had never taken enough time to sit back and really think about how much the experience had given me to that point. Like every other college guy, I was concerned about the next exam, whether or not I was going to see my long-distance girlfriend that weekend, or if mom was going to send along that check I needed to pay for my groceries. I never stopped to think about the great things I had learned in my classes, about how many wonderful friends I had made, or just how fondly I would look back on this sleepy town after my days at Tech were numbered.

Sometimes life gives you unavoidable reasons to stop and appreciate how truly blessed you are.

I woke up on Monday, April 16th at around 8:45. I had a 9:05 class in Squires, but I had slept in a little too late and asked a friend to take notes for me that day. That was Bud Robertson's Civil War and Reconstruction class...one of the best classes I've ever taken. I never should have skipped, but I did on that morning. I was pledging KKPsi at the time and had a bunch of things to do on campus, so I still decided that I would get dressed and ready to head over a little while later. Like every other day, I rolled out of bed and over to my desk to check my email. At that point I had been sent an e-mail informing students there was a shooting incident at West AJ. Needless to say, it was a pretty easy decision to crawl back into bed. However, my curiosity was peaked and I turned on the local news (which I NEVER did while I was an undergrad) only to find that they were filming from campus, and that a second wave of shooting had started. As soon as I realized what was going on, I felt sick to my stomach. I picked up the phone and managed to get hold of my mom and girlfriend to let them know I was safe. I wouldn't be able to dial out for the next four hours or so, so I was extremely fortunate to be able to reach them so they didn't worry.

I managed to track down most of my friends via text or instant messenger, so I spent the rest of the day in bed, watching in horror as my classmates fled from second-story windows and others sat in lockdown next door. I lost my composure more than once when they continued to announce the rising number of casualties, but it was like a drug. I had to be connected to what was going on, even sitting in my Pheasant Run townhouse two miles away. It was absolutely draining to watch that coverage. I didn't even feel up to going to convocation the following day, so I sat in my room at watched it on television as I cried. In fact, it felt like I didn't turn the news off until NBC released Cho's images on Wednesday afternoon. I've never felt so disgusted in my life as I was when I shut the TV off that afternoon.

After everything was all said and done, none of my closest friends were injured or killed in the shootings, so I can consider myself to be somewhat fortunate. However, I had a direct link with two victims: Mary Read, who was in my section in band, and Ryan Clark, with whom I shared several mutual friends. I would later come to find out that at least ten of the victims were in my World Politics and Economy class, which was both shocking and saddening, considering how little I knew about them.

In the following week, classes were cancelled and we were given the option to take the rest of the semester off if necessary. Almost all of my friends decided to go home and spend time with loved ones, but I felt compelled to stay. Something was telling me that I needed to be in Blacksburg and that it would help me heal, and it did. That week was the quietest one I spent on campus. My girlfriend came down and visited from JMU and my best friend stayed in town as well. We relaxed and watched TV, went to the movies and took some nice walks around campus. The weather was beautiful and the air was refreshing. It was at this point when I realized just how wonderful it was to live in Blacksburg. As the media began to subside and the students filed back onto campus in the coming weeks, it was amazing to see just how happy everyone was to be on campus and to enjoy one another's company. It was amazing to walk around and see the outpouring of support and love from other universities and even arch-rivals in our time of need. I've never received so many phone calls and messages reminding me how happy people were that I was alive and well. It was pretty surreal.

More than anything, I think of one moment following the events of April 16th. The following evening, the students organized a candlelight vigil on the drillfield to honor our fallen classmates and colleagues. The crowd was much bigger than I had anticipated, taking up a third of the entire field. As people turned to light each other's candles, you could see the pain and anguish on some faces, and confusion paired with sadness on others. People sobbed and hugged as we all held up our candles to the dying daylight and the sound of taps. Then something incredible happened. Off on the side somewhere, a single voice rang out with "LET'S GO!"

The Pavlovian response for any student at Virginia Tech is to follow that up with a resounding "HOKIES!" Describing this response as resounding doesn't do it a bit of justice. The crowd responded with full emotion, louder than I think I've ever even heard on a game day in Lane Stadium. The chant was nothing short of goose bump-inducing. I cried out with everyone else, over-and-over for several minutes until the chant finally settled down. With each yell, it felt like a release and a blow back against the violence we had all witnessed the day before. Our collective will would not be broken by one man's senseless acts. We would respond with energy and rejuvenation in honor of those thirty-two people that had lost their lives. We felt that that's how they would have wanted us to react, so it was only proper.

Let's go Hokies indeed.

For those of us that were around during those tragic events, and for Hokies past, present and future, April 16th will always carry heavy meaning in our hearts. This day is a reminder that life is fragile and can be taken from us at a moment's notice. This day affords us the opportunity to reach out to our fellow Hokies, relatives and loved-ones just to tell them we love them and they matter to us. But more than that, it inspires us to do better...to be better people. It calls for us to live life to the fullest and honor those we lost on that day.

Today, I urge you all to acknowledge today in whatever way you see fit. Personally, I will take the opportunity to appreciate the good things I enjoy in life but often overlook: my wife, my dog, my job, my students, my friends and family. On that day, I was reminded that all things in life are precious and not to be taken for granted. If there is anything I ask of you, my fellow Hokies, it's to remember that as well.

Image Courtesy of ESPN.com

3

2
Habs lead series 1-0

Before I jump into this post, I'd like to apologize for my sporadic posting over the last week or so. Between grad school, work, and a new puppy, things have been quite hectic. Either way, it's playoff time and I'm here to stay...or I guess I never left. Whatever.

Considering today's date (April 16, 2010) is the third anniversary of a very tough day in my life, I'm actually off of work today and typing this from the comforts of a Blacksburg apartment. It made life easier to drive down last night, but considering my little brother doesn't have cable, I had to watch the game from a crowded (and extremely loud) B-Dubs. I'm not complaining, but keep in mind that I enjoyed watched the game sans commentary. That being said, I'm changing up the normal recap format, if only for today.

Last night was hopefully the first night of a long journey for the Caps this spring. Unfortunately, unlike most of us hoped, it didn't get off to an ideal start. If you had told me before last night that the Caps would lose, I would have told you that it was due to one of two possible reasons: either they came out flat or Jaro Halak went batsh*t crazy on them. Turns out the first one was horribly wrong and the second absolutely true. Honestly, I was ready to smash my beer bottle into the bar after Tomas Plekanec's overtime goal, but I thought about it, and this game doesn't have me all that worried.