Official Series Discussion Thread: Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers

[RGM81]

What a terrible non-call by the refs there. Clearly a delay of game penalty.

[Kessel_fan_87]

I'm not sure why i picked the rags to win this series, nash and richards are no where to be found. Holtby is playing lights out though.

[metsmagic18]

It looks like the Rangers gave up on working for a Cup and tried to buy one. That may work in Baseball, but rarely in hockey.

Caps in 6

This is the most accurate description of the Rangers season I have ever heard. Seriously. Bravo.
If you listen to Tortorella, or watch the Rangers play you will see all of their flaws while on paper they look like a definite Cup contender. There's a reason EA Sports picked them to win the Cup in their simulation. EA Sports just sees players and stats, not momentum, lack of scoring on power plays, lack of respect towards the coach, and lack of desire to win.

[centrehice]

Nash and especially Richards are crapping the bed. Nothing from them. They look lost. Callahan cannot do everything by himself.

[Kessel_fan_87]

Both Nash and Richards were 2 out of my 3 first picks in all my drafts lol. They better wake up soon.

[spuds1961]

Not dead yet 2-1 series nice gut wrenching 4-3 win GO-RANGERS.

[raydot]

Capitals need to pick this up take game 4 and finish it at home! Ovie didn't get a points caps lost=)) actually it's been always like that if ovie can't get a point caps losing

[Kessel_fan_87]

Nash and Richards are really ticking me off. Wake up you two morons lol

[the_nange]

Biggest problem for Rangers: Nash, Richards, Callahan.

Nash - Obviously needs to score. He's had a few good chances but hasn't been able to finish. I give him credit for hitting the post a few times but he's also shot way wide a few times. He skated circles around defenders in the regular season, and I'm not sure where that went; perhaps the Caps are defending him well...

Richards - Same problem as Nash, except less of a threat with the puck. At least Nash can carry the puck and try to force a rush. Again, seems to share the (team) symptom of "shoot-wide-itis". Also, he's supposed to be a big PP guy...and the PP sucks. It's not the coaches issue when you can't hit the net from 10 feet away from it, and the puck bounces out of the zone off the boards.

Callahan - Say what you want about him ("he's the team's heart, he's such an energy guy" etc ) but you have to admit his level of play is not where it needs to be right now. His bad penalties (I think there were 2) last night in game 3 shows just that. Even if we just looked in the energy/toughness department, Mats Zucarrello has been more "phsyical" than he has been.

Overall, I wouldn't say the Rangers are dead (an OT 1-0 game and a 4-3 game shows how close these teams can be), but I have to admit that they are getting outplayed at many times. If they continue playing like they have been in the past 3 games, I expect Caps to finish in 5 or 6. Wednesday game will be big as if they lose and go down 3-1, I just can't see them recovering.

And "lack of respect towards the coach" ... uh, if that was true, Torts would be long gone since they would have never recovered past the mediocre-at-best start.

And I'm a Rangers fan, did I mention that? lol

[raydot]

caps let 2 weak goals in the third!! thats what killed them!! holtby shouldve had girardis shot for sure!!! and on the 4th goal wide open stepan and ovehckin already give up on the play before stepan even got there!! thats why caps lost bad play from ovechkin! they should play Mathieu and Ward as their top line 2nd straigh game they playing better than whole capitals team. And injury to Erat looks bad he was kep player on 2nd line with his cycles... looks bad for the Caps right now..