Caps Fans Invade Sports Illustrated

So I'm back after a nice little vacation in Montreal, which is a great city for those who have never been. The 14-hour train ride was a little long, but its definitely worth it.

As I try to catch up on almost a week of hockey, I stumbled upon this week's Sports Illustrated and the 'Letters to the Editor' segment. A few Capitals fans had some comments in response to Michael Farber's article "Stimulus Needed" regarding Sidney Crosby and the Penguins' attempt to make the playoffs:

Imagine my shock when I saw your declaration (Stimulus Needed, Feb. 23), in reference to Sidney Crosby, that "the Penguins have the best player in hockey." Had I missed the Washington Capitals' trading Alexander Ovechkin to the Penguins?

Steve Davidson, Washington, D.C.

And:

Crosby is not even the best player on his own team; Evgeni Malkin is.

Sam Rosen, Arlington, VA.

Great stuff guys. I didn't read Farber's article on Crosby and don't plan on reading any article that starts with: "The Penguins have the best player in hockey."

Pre-Game: Capitals @ Predators

And what's a Nashville preview without a Taylor Swift shout out?



Just give it a chance! It's not that bad.

Pre-Game: Capitals vs Penguins

Finally we can agree with a Rangers fan.

NOTE: I will be in the Montreal area until Wednesday.

Pre-Game: Capitals vs Maple Leafs

With the trade deadline come and gone, the Capitals still have the team intact and were one of the few teams deciding not to swap players. The same can not be said about the Maple Leafs. First, Toronto traded Nik Antropov to the Rangers for a 2nd round and conditional pick (2010). Then the Leafs traded center Dominic Moore to division foe Buffalo Sabres for another 2nd round pick. Finally, in a trade that took place at 4:18 (so much for the 3 pm deadline), Toronto received a 4th round pick, Andy Rogers, and former Capitals Jamie Heward and Olaf Kolzig (!!). They traded nothing Richard Petiot to the Tampa Lightning.

Even though Toronto is in 11th place, they sure aren't acting of it as of late. They haven't lost in regulation since February 17 the against the Sabres. Toronto's streak of three straight road victories come as the Caps have been stalling out at the Phone Booth.

Toronto's power play is basically dead last...this means no shorthanded breakaway goals with the extra man should be conceded tonight on home ice. The Antropov trade is good in the sense that we don't have to face him tonight, but now that he's on the Rangers, he poses more of a threat to the Caps in the playoffs.

That's all I've got from my end, my final midterm is tomorrow, then I'm off to Montreal for spring break...

"SS!" Update

Sorry I haven't been posting as much as I should have, midterms are this week and they're killing me. I'll have post game for tonight's game There will be no post game due to the deletion of NHL games on atdhe.net. Meanwhile you can check out my article about Nicklas Backstrom over at The Hockey Writers.