Washington out! Where was Ovechkin in that series? 1 goal and 0 assist in 5 games, we might hear that he was injured after the Montreal series.
Prior to the start of the playoffs i told a buddy of mine that of all the playoffs teams out there that the team the Habs had the best chance of upsetting were the Washington Capitals. He called me crazy, that the Habs were too small for them, the Caps were too big, they had a great goalie, they had Tom Wilson, they had P-L Dubois, they had Ovie & won the East!
I replied that i was still picking the Caps to win but they were still the team that i felt the Habs could upset. I predicted Caps in 6. He said i was nuts & the Caps would easily sweep them! I told him that i considered the Caps to be somewhat of a fraud. Every player seemed to have had near-career seasons that would likely never be repeated. That the season they had was a fluke! I told him Ovie looked done at time due to his age. He barely moved anymore. But he could still shoot. Dylan Strome had a career season playing next to him. P-L Dubois was finally playing to expectations after been a bust everywhere he had previously played. He only showed up to play when put in a supporting role. Tom Wilson had a surprisingly good season but he was getting old & the type of game he plays is hard on an aging body especially in the playoffs. Sure Logan Thompson had a good season however he was an unproven goalie plus i considered Montembault to be as good if not better & Monty was picked to play for Team Canada while Thompson stayed home. I found the defence rather ordinary & unproven. I felt it was their weakest spot. As for Spencer Carbery he’s my choice to win the Jack Adams however he has no coaching experience in the playoffs. After the Caps eliminated the Habs i told my buddy that it wouldn’t surprise me if they lost to Carolina in 4 games! He said i was nuts & the series would go 6 or 7 games. I replied that they were lucky to neat Montreal! The Caps won in games! he replied. I reminded him that other than the last game every game the habs lost had been close games & two of Mtl’s losses were OT losses. Plus the habs were on the wrong end of extremely bad non-calls by the officials & this may have turned that series.
Three days ago he called me & told me i was correct about the Caps. They were frauds! I reminded him that they weren’t a bad team & belonged in the playoffs however Carolina was a well-balanced team made for the playoffs coached by one of the league’s best! My prediction that they could sweep the Caps was off by a game.
