Game one: Thank you for the Heart Attack Hockey
Who knew?
Who knew that The Montreal Canadiens had it in them to deliver in game one. This was a game we needed to win, to at least get one in Washington. But this, it was one for the ages. For once this mediocre team was able to challenge the Goliath of all teams and knock them down, including the most exciting player in the league/jerkface in my eyes: Alex Ovechkin.
Game one: in search of a bar, the idea of Irish Embassy was in mind however from the rules given in the last blog, being there 90 minutes earlier in the downtown core would have made sense. The bar was packed with people who had larger incomes and drank less than me. So I opted for Madhatters, as ghetto as it may be, it was cheap, there was food and room to watch the game.
Luckily they had a series of contests where we can win beer related prizes along with winning free booze itself. Whoever’s name you pick from the pitcher that scores you get a free beer or shot. Unfortunately I drew Maxime Lapointe, like he’ll ever score a goal. Aw crap.
But getting back to the game, Washington were outshooting the Habs. It took until halfway into the game to actually get a shot on net, Washington was all over us. Well, you’re thinking that’s the end of us. Well, don’t forget: it’s playoff time.
What happened tonight was that Montreal decided to play like a team that was better than the #1 Washington Capitals. And boy, was it ever exciting.
The look on Alexander Ovechkin’s face on the bench was priceless as he couldn’t get a shot on net, Spacek was all over him, as well as Bergeron (the many times he knocked him down on his ass was classic). It was Canada/Russia all over as he was shut down, slowly turning into a choke artist come post season. Yep, you can win as many awards and scoring titles but when the chips are down, nada on the scoring sheet. MVP, yeah right.
Mike Green was supposed to be the defensive core, to challenge Markov. Instead he was nothing but choke, choke choke. The way Montreal handled the power play proved why Washington finished 25th in the league on the penalty kill.
It was serious heart attack hockey from the minute Cammalleri notched one and we saw that the remanants of Bob Gainey wheeling and dealing did pay off. The fact that he got guys like #13 and Scott Gomez would pay off come April. With the likes of Hal Gill and Travis Moen, there was a reason these guys won cups and are on this team. It was worth the steal of a deal Gainey got them for.
Meanwhile, the bar starts to fill, the beer gets cheaper and my friend just won more booze (he picked Gomez and is getting drunk on the cheap). For each period there was a pitcher to finish off, the minute Gomez tied it up: overtime pitcher.
Ow, this might start to hurt my poor liver.
Solid part on Halak, he doesn’t make me nervous the was Carey Price does. For one thing, he stays in the net. The other thing being that he’s cool as a cucumber when it comes to the pressure. He doesn’t have the legacy thing on his shoulders, to become the next one. He can actually be a solid goaltender without history between the pipes. No pressure=solid play.
It could mean he could be our number one guy or the best bait for the offseason. You make the call. Price will be the franchise, in the meantime he has to f**king grow up. Halak in the meantime can save our ass as far as we can go, until get gets the great deal in the offseason where he can truly be a #1 goalie without questions.
Once again my apologizes to the guy to the right of me, the one thing I forgot to mention in the list is that I’m quite the loud one so say goodbye to your left earlobe.
Eventhough Washington outshot the Habs by a margin of 10 shots, the #1 team were covered all over. We couldn’t grab Semin or Backstrom, but shutting the two time MVP was something a team like Pittsburgh or Chicago would do. Not someone who scraped into the playoffs nearly a week ago.
Back at the bar, we were waging who would get the overtime goal while the overtime beer arrived at the table. “I haven’t finished the 3rd period pitcher beer yet.” We all made our bets, I was thinking Gionta for the awesome acquisition hat trick. Or maybe Lapierre for the sake of winning free beer. With five minutes to spare, my friend, passed out from writing an all nighter essay, won beer for picking Plekanec for being the hero/trash talker against a ex teammate Jose Theodore.
The hearts of downtown skipped a beat, knowing that this series had taken a twist of fate. Can this be real, can we knock this team down? We shut Ovie down and know what Theodore is capable of doing. Can this be real?
Who knows, we have more beer and game two on Saturday
