Caps vs Bruins: a battle for the third and fourth seed in the playoffs
Today, August 9th, the Washington Capitals, are playing to figure out who their first round opponent will be. The winner will be the third seed, and loser, fourth seed. I’ll explain scenarios in a minute. First, I need to cover the abysmal play that Washington has had over the past three games.
Kuznetsov blew coverage twice against the Philadelphia Flyers, leading to him getting benched for the remainder of the game. This is alarming for many reasons. One, he’s a top line center, so his play should be exquisite and set the tone for the other players. Two, as some of the core players (Ovi, Backstrom, Holtby) get older and also come up on contracts, he would be looked at being a core piece for the future, and if he plays half heartedly, then he is working his way out of Washington.
To continue things that are abysmal, the Caps, are not disciplined at all. In the first, two periods, there were a total of seven penalties. That kind of undisciplined play is what you would expect from a high school jv hockey team, not pro’s.
Now for a bit of the positive. The Caps penalty kill did their job very well. The penalty kill was one of the few positives to take away so kudos to them for doing an amazing job. Secondly, Braden Holtby, was looking like the all star he was, earlier in the season. Holtby, looked like he was one of a couple people who were actually trying to be competitive in the game and that wanted to be there. The last bit, is Coach, Todd Reirden, made changes to the lines, after each period to try to find a winning formula, which shows that nothing is set in stone going into the final round robin game, and the best of seven series that starts next week.
Now, to explain why this game is important. If the Caps win, then they are the third seed and would play the New York Islanders. If the Caps lose, then they are the fourth seed and would play Carolina, in a rematch from last years Stanley Cup Playoffs. It comes off as a pick your poison scenario because both Carolina, and New York, look really good.
As of this morning, it is being reported that John Carlson, who hasn’t played the round robin games is out. Nicklas Backstrom is a game time decision. Lars Eller is back in Toronto, but in quarantine because he left to be with his family for the birth of his son. Lastly, Kuznetsov who was benched, will get to play today, so lets hope his play picks up.
The game is an early one at 12:00 Est and can be seen on NBC Sports Net. You can also listen on 106.7 fm.
