It is not over yet, but it will be for one team tomorrow night (potentially Thursday morning if they go to multiple overtime sessions.) If you are a Caps fan then you are hoping that the better team wins. Habs fans, on the other hand are praying to the "hockey gods", and can you blame them the majority of those "gods" donned the bleu blanc et rouge at one point in time?
Five days ago the Caps had a 3-1 advantage in the series and were about to play the fifth, and hopefully final game of the series at home. Things did not materialize that way on Friday night, and Monday's game 6 match up did not yield the results the Caps wanted either. So now we wait anxiously for the last of the NHL quarterfinal series to end. It is important to note that at no point in the history of the NHL playoffs has an 8 seed rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat a 1 seed, hopefully that trend continues tonight.
There are many questions surrounding the Caps roster for tonight's match up with Montreal. Perhaps no bigger question than who will start in goal. Varlamov has been plagued by inconsistent play ever since being injured against Tampa Bay in early December. His performance in the playoffs has been decent, posting a 2.48 gaa and a save % of .912. There is little doubt that Bruce favors Varly and would much rather play him over Theo, but I think Theodore needs to be the Caps guy tonight. Theo has been as consistent and as a strong a goalie as there is in the NHL this year. He has not lost a game in regulation since the first week of January, granted an OT loss at this point of the year does the Caps no good. However, a close game does mean that the Caps explosive offense was given ample opportunity to win the game. Varly is capable of turning in an outstanding performance that requires very little offense to secure a victory, but he is also capable performing at a minor league level like he did like he did in game 7 of last years series with the Penguins. Theo's consistent play almost guarantees that it will be at the very least a close game, and if offense is your bread and butter why not put the outcome of the game in their hands?
Keys to the game for Washington.
It is simple, do not make Halak look like Patrick Roy. Much credit should be thrown in Halak's direction for his game 6 performance. However, a lot of his good fortune is a result of Washington's play in the offensive zone. Yes, he made some spectacular saves, but he was rarely screened, and the Caps struggled to crash the net. The most important players for Washington are Brooks Laich and Mike Knuble. Ovechkin, Semin, and Backstrom do not need to show up so long as these two guys do their job. We saw in last game that even the average Joe (Corvo) can fire ten shots on goal. The shots will come, but if Laich and Knuble can screen Halak and or, crash the net and put home a rebound or two, then the Caps will win. If not, then Jaro Halak may very well find himself facing off against the highest remaining seed in the East, The Pittsburgh Penguins.
Keys for Montreal
Good goaltending for one. Aside from that keep playing well in transition, the odd man rushes have proved costly for the Caps all series. The Caps can counter the odd man rushes one of two ways. The first option is that they can play fire wagon hockey and just outscore Montreal, similar to what the did in games 2 and 4. The second option is to stop carrying the puck deep into the offensive and getting caught in transition with 3 forwards below the face dots, and instead play dump and chase. Aside from their fourth line this team never plays dump and chase, so why would they ever start now?
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