Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers

Washington Capitals (48-23-11) vs. New York Rangers(44-33-5)

Players to Watch:

Alexander Ovechkin                                                                                                Marc Staal

Mike Green                                                                                                               Brandon Dubinsky

Michal Neuvirth                                                                                                       Henrik Lundqvist

Coming fresh off of a last second playoff birth, the Broadway Blueshirts have made a good case for meeting with the Stanley Cup this year.  In fact, New York leads Washington 3-1 in the 2010-2011 season.  But the Capitals are heading into the Stanley Cup playoffs with the best record in the East, and if Bruce Boudreau fails to make it out of the first round of the playoffs for the third time, his job could be in jeopardy.  Sure, the Caps have had great records with Boudreau at the helm, but they've been a team since 1974 and still don't have a cup.   Henrik Lundqvist is a 6-year veteran and is arguably the best netminder in the league.  Michal Neuvirth is a rookie that's never lost a playoff series in the AHL or the OHL. I'd pick the Capitals to win the whole thing this year, but then again, the last time Washington was in the Finals, there starting goalie had just turned 10.

Forget The Magic Bullet, Here's The Magic Puck

In last Tuesday's Kings/Flames game, Los Angeles goalie Jonathan Quick appeared to make an amazing save on a shot that went through his five-hole, put upon further review, it didn't seem that way.  The magic bullet puck goes right through the opening in between Quick's legs but curves left at the goal line and goes right out of the crease.  It could have been magic, but it probably has something to do with the fact that between two NBA teams, an NHL team, and being the major concert venue in L.A, the ice get's a little bit neglected.

Capitals Poised To Steal The Eastern Conference From Flyers

The first-place Philadelphia Flyers lost in a shootout to the second-place Washington Capitals last night.  Philly took a late in the 3rd in what appeared to be an early ending to the game, but Washington's Marcus Johansson knotted the game up with only 3:19 to go, and Alexander Semin won the game in the shootout.

Washington's Mike Knuble scores in the 1st period of play

But what happened?  Philadelphia's goaltending was practically non-existent for the first period, with Nicklas Backstrom's early goal appearing to have been scored by accident. In fact, Washington took only seven shots on goal in the first period, but scored two goals.  And with the third unanswered goal, Sergei Bobrovski's save percentage for the game was .667%.  His save percentage for the season is .914%.  Both of the Flyers goalies played terrible.  And by the way, Washington was without star winger Alexander Ovechkin for this game.

Philidelphia's Claude Giroux's attempt to tie after Alexander Semin's goal

With this win, Washington will clinch the Southeast Division, and if the Flyers lose Thursday night and the Caps win Friday night, there'll be a new leader in the Eastern Conference.

Alexander Semin's game-winning shootout goal for Washington

An aerial-view of the same goal

Mario Lemieux Needs To Put A Stop To Matt Cooke

As a Washington Capitals fan, I am ashamed to say that I ever cheered on a team with this goon on the roster.  Any player that has the balls to throw an elbow right in the referee's crease where he know's he's being watched has something wrong with him.  Mario Lemieux, owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, has recently taken a stand against headshots in the NHL.  But you can't blame him, his team's most expensive asset was taken out for the season from a cheap shot to the head.  However, if he wants anyone to take notice of his complaints, he'll need to scrap this punk from his roster.  Matt Cooke is everything wrong with hockey.

Headshots and Hockey: An Understood Risk

Injuries have been a problem for the NHL as long as the league has been around.  Anyone who watches NHL games regularly has seen something horrible happen on the ice.  In a game that has always resisted change, it's not easy to prevent horrible injuries.  Let's face it, the last time someone played without a helmet was only in 1997.

In January, the NHL brass gave us there new favorite buzz-word, "headshot."  Now, in March, you can't read a hockey website without hearing it. Late in the 2nd period of the Winter Classic, Pittsburgh's Sydney Crosby looked up ice just in time to say hello to Washington's David Steckel.  Did it look dirty? Sure.  Did Steckel do it on purpose? Possibly.  Is it something we've never seen before? No.  In fact, it looked pretty similar to Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke's season-ending hit on Boston's Marc Savard a year earlier.  Savard is still suffering from sever Post-Concussion Syndrome that has sidelined him for the rest of the 2010-2011 season.  Watch the video below:

Matt Cooke is the last of a dying breed, the hockey enforcer.  So what should the NHL do?  They should get rid of Matt Cooke.

Are Habs Fans Against Headshots or Just Chara?

Before tonights game between The Capitals and Les Habitants, Montreals fans are rallying outside of The Bell Centre against Headshots. But are they against cheap hits on Sydney Crosby or cheap hits on Max Pacioretty? Most likely it's the latter of the two.

And the folks over at have an interesting point about this protest. They bring up the question about how dedicated the fans are to the cause; Empty seats send a stronger message than angry fans entering the stadium and buying a few beers and enjoying a great match-up. And of course, Caps coach Bruce Boudreau had something to say, "I don't want to get into a controversy, but what if that was Hal Gill that hit David Krejci? I don't think there would be a protest going on here today."

But at least we can't say the Habs aren't people of action. When they're not protesting, they're calling the Mounties on Zdeno Chara.

Today in Hockey History: March 14th

• March 14, 1980 - At 28, Guy Lafleur becomes the youngest player in NHL History to score 400 goals.  This record was held until January 13, 1985 when Wayne Gretzky, 24 at the time, broke the record.
• March 14, 1991 - Eddie Belfour breaks Tony Espito's record for wins in a season.  At the end of the season, the record stood at 43 wins, and remains held by Belfour to this day.
• March 14, 1971 - Ken Dryden makes his NHL debut for the Montreal Canadiens, allowing only 1 goal in Montreal's 5 - 1 win in Pittsburgh.

For more daily NHL Trivia, visit http://www.hhof.com/html/hhset.shtml