Day 1 of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs: A Recap

Let's get right to it so I don't leave you hanging in suspense...

The winners of Game 1 of Round 1 are...

the St. Louis Blues!!! 

the Tampa Bay Lightning!!!

and...

The Pittsburgh Penguins!!!

Can I change my predictions on at least one of the series? 

No, alright, I'll have to live with that the Blues beat the Blackhawks. I'm no glad I didn't pick Blackhawks in four. 

For the Detroit-Tampa series: HOW MANY PENALTIES CAN YOU GET IN ONE GAME?!?!

For the Pittsburgh-NYR series: Funny how things go in the playoffs. We were worried about the Penguins goaltending, but guess who had the edge in net this game? Yup, Penguins.

For the Chicago-St.Louis series: All I have to say is this. It's not a Blackhawks Game 1 without OT. Just saying. Its been that way for 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and now 2016.

Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Capitals-Oilers Preview

The Capitals had two losses last weekend that put an end to their "we-are-a-team-who-plays-so-well-we-only-get-wins-or-OT-losses-no-regulation-losses" stretch that has been going on since December, while the Oilers had just ended their longest road losing streak in team history.
Now the two teams meet, with Washington (24-13-8) looking to have their longest home win streak since 2011, and the Oilers (11-26-9) looking for another road victory.
The Capitals are fighting with the Rangers for the third seat in the Metropolitan Division, and the Rangers have been burnin' hot this season. The Capitals must win over Edmonton to compete with the Rangers. "It's imperative that we get Tuesday's game," coach Barry Trotz said. "We have to be hungry. We have to get that game. To me, it's almost like a must-win game."
The Oilers, on the other hand, just ended a fourteen-game road skid with an overtime goal by Nail Yakupov. "It's always great to get two points before facing a pretty good team, Washington," said Yakupov. "A couple of days of rest and we've got to be ready for the next game."
After this game, no more games until after the All-Star break.
I just checked, and right now it is 3-1 Capitals at the end of the first period.

Capitals Fall to Rangers 4-2

Bam. Just like that, the Caps' 20-day point streak is over. They fell to division rivals New York Rangers 4-2 (even though they had unfair referees who didn't call the obvious offside in the third goal against the Rangers, and gave the Caps two horrible penalties), Rick Nash put the puck past Holtby in the first period, and in a second-period powerplay, Martin St. Louis made it 2-0 New York. Rick Nash scored again in the third period, but then Evgeny Kuznetsov made a 2-goal deficit become a 1-goal deficit with an amazing goal in the beginning of the third period that was so subtle almost nobody noticed it. Like, wow...

Obviously, Kuzya was in beast mode today (so was Eric Fehr), and they both had one of the best games of their careers. Then Rick Nash scored on an obvious offside, which the evil ref didn't count, and put the Rangers up 3-1. Ovechkin scored one of his Ovi goals right after that, and it seemed that the Capitals might be able to catch up and make it into overtime at least.

But, no, the ref chose today to be unfair, and gave Nicklas Backstrom a double minor penalty for high-sticking, and Jason Chimera a minor penalty for who-knows-what, making it 5-on-3 for the Rangers, who ended up scoring their fourth goal of the game. Ugh. The factors were obviously against the Caps, who decided to come back too late.

Next game is against the Penguins this Saturday.

Let's go, Caps!

Capitals Beat Senators 2-1

The Washington Capitals beat the Ottawa Senators 2-1, with goals for the Capitals scored by Jay Beagle (ASST: Mike Green, Evgeny Kuznetsov)...

Capitals celebrate Jay Beagle's goal, assisted by

Mike Green and Evgeny Kuznetsov..

Evgeny Kuznetsov, the Capitals' star young center,

had an assist...

Their second goal was scored by Nicklas Backstrom, and assisted by Mike Green and Alex Ovechkin.

Braden Holtby had an extraordinary night, making inhuman saves.. really, I don't think the Capitals should trade Holtby anymore. 

One of HoltBEAST's insane saves...

Postnote: Capitals have a game against the New York Rangers tonight at 7 PM, and Traktor have a game against HC Lada Togliatti tomorrow morning at 5 AM EST (5 PM Russian time)...

Let's go Caps!

Let's go Traktor!