Tonight's biggest challenge against the Capitals?

Getting Ovechkin's name right!!!!!!! I really hope that the Habs don't have to play the Caps too many more times because I'm going to go insane.... But on a different note that's more related to winning....

Pre-game rant

This is Halak's third time facing the Caps and I"m hoping that third time is the charm and they win. Obviously it takes something very special to blank the Ovechkin/Backstrom/Semin filled Caps and Steve Mason is just that good (I mean c'mon... SIX shutouts?) But I don't care if the Habs blank the Caps. They won't do it anyway. But I want a wiiiiin.

1. Obviously shutting down the offense is going to be key to winning tonight. No offense= no shots = no goals = no win, right? Right. I think the Habs were very close to winning or at least having a shot at grabbing a point in OT or shootouts last time, but a total lack of finish doomed them...
2. Which brings me to my second point. Remember people: YOU NEED TO PLAY SIXTY MINUTES!!!!!!!!!! Something which you didn't do against the Leafs.... it was still 59 minutes and thirty seconds. Yes, I'm still harping on that second goal....
3. Also, if the powerplay would be so kind as to work again tonight, we just may have a decent shot at winning. If I remember right, the Caps gave the Habbies something like eight powerplays last time which they completely failed to convert on. POWERPLAY NEEDS TO WORK.
4. Oh and definitely play a more disciplined game tonight than that mess against the Leafs. No giving the Alexes a chance to score on the powerplay.

Oh and don't forget:

1. Stay away from Semin as much as you possibly can. It's already painfully apparent that he won't have a career as a bongo player even if that's where he seems to be headed these days. There's no need to totally crush his not-so-secret ambitions.
   
2. And definitely stay away from the boards if you're anywhere near Ovechkin. Unless you want a concussion of course....Hey, maybe Sergei can get Ovechkin to knock out Grabovski for him? Actually I was more in favour of the idea of setting Jarkko Ruutu lose on him... but I digress....
   
3. And if it's Theodore in nets tonight... SCORE A PILE OF GOALS ON HIM! NO SHUTOUTS FOR THEODORE!

And you thought the Habs were creative losers, eh?

As a Penguins fan, I'm dying right now. Since the beginning of the new year the Penguins have been threatening to break out and soar to the top of their division where everyone thought that they would be long before now. I mean, after all a lot of the core members of last year's team are still around and they really do have some of the most talented players in the league on their team (comes from being horrid for a pile of years in a row which allowed them to grab a lot of good players in the drafts). Unfortunately, the Penguins have decided to do the exact opposite of what everyone expected of them. Yes, people, the Penguins have LOST AGAIN today! Looking at it just from this year - however short it may be so far - it's been awful. The Pens couldn't capitalize on a sub par offensive display by the Habbies (well, minus a very hot Andrei Kostitsyn who got himself a nice hat trick in that game*g*) and instead posted a sub par powerplay which did nothing at all to get the puck past a very good Price (sorry, Pens). They followed that up by getting rolled over by the Bruins in back to back games. They didn't show up against the Panthers at all. They did manage a win against the Thrashers, but um... it's the Thrashers, yes? And Kovalchuk was beating up on Malkin big time which was just plain sad. Somewhere in there the Pens also got blanked by the Rangers. Oh and the Pens were felled stupidly by the Predators who outshot them and crawled back into the game with FIVE unanswered goals.

And what happened today? THEY LOST AGAIN! To the injury plagued Avalanche... AvalancheS... the guys from Colorado. The good news - if there was any - was that we've finally got something from Crosby and Malkin who have been dead on the scoring department. The bad news is that the team didn't produce enough effort to keep them in the game. Getting one goal a period is okay only if the other team is scoring less. Sadly, the Avs got one goal in the first period, three in the second and one more in the third. Whahoo... so much for the Avs stinking big time without a pile of players.... Sabourin and Fleury have been taking turns getting the starting job and getting yanked half way through... this is getting really sad... I think the Pens should trade Staal for a defenseman who can actually do something. Staal's not doing a heck of a lot and I think it's partly because he hasn't had the opportunity to play with decent players enough.

Tennis Talk

MURRAY WON. It was 6-4, 6-2. Like you expected anything else once Rafa and Roger flamed out? At least Roddick almost hung in their for the first set. I actually liked how Roddick did at first but then... of course we all knew that Murray was just going to come up with some better shots than Roddick was and Murray was going to be able to move around the court better than Roddick too. Have no fear, we've only got.... Four or so months before Roland Garros rolls aroun and then someone we want to win will win for sure... maybe... hopefully? *wails* Boo.....