Can the Caps pull out a win at home on Friday to stave off elimination?
-Alaina Scarano-Isbouts
Tonight I learned that I could hold my breath for two minutes — the entire time I stood up in front of my television gripping a throw pillow against my chest. This was also the amount of time the Rangers held off the Capitals in the most intense game finish of the series. I think the rest of the world who was watching game 4 of the Rangers – Capitals series was doing the same thing.
Alexander Ovechkin made it clear that he would stop at nothing to win – and Sean Avery made it clear that he would stop at nothing. Ovechkin had the sole goal for the Caps but 11 other shots on goal; Henrik Lundqvist is without a doubt the only reason that this was the Caps’ famed forward’s only goal this series. Lundqvist stopped an astonishing 38 shots on goal and had huge contributions from his defenseman and forwards as well on the D side. Brandon Dubinsky, playing like a veteran despite being in his 2nd year, was all over the ice all night long. Dubinsky notched nearly 16 minutes of ice time and assisted on the first goal scored for NY.
The thing that isn’t making too much sense to me is that Dubinsky, who made huge contributions to NY’s win tonight, only played three more minutes of ice time than Sean Avery.
While everyone is well acquainted with Sean Avery, Avery took tonight to get acquainted with Milan Jurcina’s nose and introduced his stick to Brian Pothier’s face. Avery “accidentally” punched Jurcina in the face in a frantic rush to NY’s net with 10 minutes to go in the 3rd and NY only up one goal. At first it seemed that Jurcina was just drawing the penalty, hunched over on the ice with his hands covering his face. Avery certainly thought so – and skated by to talk some smack to Jurcina. And when Jurcina moved his head to look up at Avery, the blood on the ice became visible. When the penalty was called, Avery whined about it as usual – but it was only a minor. He should have thanked his lucky stars it wasn’t a double minor, as it should have been.
But, for reasons I don’t understand, he was allowed back on to the ice for another shift towards the end of the game. Avery managed to draw a penalty on Alexander Semin for tripping… and what does the Fantastic Mr. Avery do? Smacks Pothier in the face with a high stick, again feigning “accident! accident!” If NY is going to finish off Washington, which still isn’t a given, they need Avery to either play smarter — or not play at all. I guess we’ll see what Tortorella decides to do. I’m hoping he’s a healthy scratch on Friday for NY’s sake. Clearly, Avery is unable to control himself. And while emotion is good on the ice he is doing way more harm than good to the rest of his team that actually really wants to win this series.
Of course, the game wasn’t all Avery (just the last 10 minutes). Ovechkin made play after play after play for the puck, and Lundqvist robbed him repeatedly. Also playing well for the Rangers was Semin, who played as Ovie’s linemate for a few shifts. Once again, playing fantastically for Washington was the rookie netminder Simeon Varlamov (who I learned today speaks about 5 words of English and relies on teammates for translations); while he made some fantastic saves he only faced 19 shots. NY is going to have to kick up those shots a notch on Friday.
I think Washington will take game 5 at home – but the whole battle is going to be between Lundqvist and Ovechkin. So far, Lundqvist is winning… but if he falters even one game it’s going to be over for NY. Ovechkin isn’t going to give up anytime soon and especially not now that he finally got a goal past “The King,” as he’s called in NY. Game 5 is in Washington at 5pm Mountain and game 6 is back in NY at 11am Mountain.
Also around the league tonight, Montreal had the most disappointing ending to a centennial season in the history of centennial seasons (tongue twister, anyone?). While I may have finally managed to pick the right team to win the series, I had Boston in 6 but Montreal couldn’t even pull out one win to complete the sweep. Bummer for the Canadiens. Pittsburgh and Detroit both have the chance to win their series tomorrow night. I’ll see you all again tomorrow hockey fans!
