In what was the most raucous crowd at the Verizon Center that I have ever been a part of, The Washington Capitals were able to unleash the fury in a 3-2 come-from-behind win in yesterday's game one match-up against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Conference Semifinals. The Capitals (1-0) are playing like the team that stormed into the playoffs as the perennial favorite. That was before going down one game to three early in the first round series against the New York Rangers. They have completely turned their game around since then, winning their last four games (their first 4-game playoff win streak since 1991), and a lot of the credit has to go to the 21-year old rookie Simeon Varlamov. In what was another impressive outing, Voila-mov recorded 34 saves on 36 shots (94.4%) including an unbelievable stick-save in the second period that had the entire Verizon Center scratching their heads with a "what the hell just happened?" look on all of their faces. Hands down one of the best saves I've ever seen, and most likely the first of many that we are going to see from this kid. The Capitals need to lock this kid up for a long, long time. He is playing like a league veteran and he's only played 8 NHL games in his career. Are you kidding me?! Coming into yesterdays game Voila had the best save percentage in the NHL at 95.7%, he has already tied a Caps record with 2 shutouts in the first series, and he has shown no signs of slowing down yet. His decision making is unbelievable, his awareness of the puck in second to none and they way he throws his body around the net with reckless abandon to get just a glove or the edge of the stick on a potential shot is simply mind-blowing. I don't want to say it yet, but I'm going to anyway: Simeon Varlamov could be the best goalie in the NHL right now and he is the reason that we are still alive in this year's playoffs.
Varly wasn't the only one that contributed to the Capital's game one victory. As always, a lot of guys on this young team rose to occasion and proved to be difference makers in this incredibly hyped up series. Did game one live up to the hype? It's still early on in the series but I would say yes. You had goals by Ovechkin and Crosby and a game that was tied going into the 3rd period. The play in goal was exceptional by both teams as the also young Marc-Andriy Fleury had an impressive 23 saves on 26 shots and looked like a pro out on the ice. Alex Ovechkin's goal came on a 5-3 power play in the 1st period, giving the Caps their first lead of the game; they never trailed again. It was a brilliant act of passing as all of the "big 3" got a hand on it, Backstrom passing to Semin who faked a shot and no-looked it to Ovi, who easily put it in the net. Backstrom and Semin each finished with 2 assists and unheralded role players David Steckel, my boy, and Thomas Flieshmann scored a goal apiece. The Caps were out-shot by the Pens 36-26 but were able to quell a charging Penguins offense especially on power plays. The Caps have come into the series as the 2nd best team on Penalty Kill with an 87% kill rate. They lived up to that number and held the Pens to 0-6 on power plays yesterday. This is the kind of defensive playing that championship teams are made of. It was great to see a team that had been struggling defensively all season turn their game around and prove that they can hang tough when they need to. I cannot tell you how excited I am to see how the rest of this series plays out.
Right now I am also sitting through game 2 of Detroit vs. Anaheim and holy crap! Its in double OT! I've never seen a hockey game go into double OT in my life, this looks like its shaping up to be a great series. Both teams' goalies are playing fantastic hockey right now as neither team is able to get the puck in the net, despite numerous offensive charges. Scratch that, this game is now in triple OT....these teams are doing there best Celtics Bulls impression. I don't want to go too much into this game (Anaheim eventually won 4-3), but I hope you all watched it, I know I am grateful as this turned into a nice little surprise for Sunday (too bad I can't say the same for the dismal game 7 of the Hawks Heat series, which ended in yet another blowout...91-78 ATL. All games in this series were decided by 10 points or more).
Moving on, and boy do I need to as yesterday was one of the most memorable days in recent sports history. Not only did we get to see the most anticipated hockey match-up of the last decade, but we had a historic game 7 of possibly the best NBA series ever, the Kentucky Derby, and the Pacquiao-Hatton fight. So lets start with game 7 of the Celtics Bulls.
Although this game didn't live up to the hype that the series had created, it was still a very enjoyable game to watch. Honestly, how could this game possibly live up to the hype when 4 of the previous 6 games have gone into overtime, and two of those overtime games went into multiple overtimes? You would need a 4OT game with so many players fouling out that both teams were forced into suiting up towel boys to finish to even meet the expectations this game had. The Celtics used a 22-2 run to close out the second quarter and never trailed again, finishing off the pesky Bulls with ease in a 109-99 victory. Ray Allen and Paul Pierce had 20 point nights, Kendrick Perkins had a very respectable 14 points and 13 rebounds, while Rajon Rondo contributed with 11 assists. Again you had this team, young and old, come together and really play team basketball with everyone contributing: even the bench produced 30 points of their own. Chicago played as hard as they have been all series too. Catalyst Joakim Noah carried the team with 15 rebounds, while Kirk Heinrich added 16 bench points (14 in the 4th quarter), but it just wasn't enough to hold off the defending champs. That being said, I was glad to see Boston pull out the victory. I think they have the best chance of the remaining teams to give Cleveland a scare in the Conference Finals, however I don't think its going to happen. Cleveland just looks too dominant this year, but hey, crazier things have happened.
What more can be said about this series? It was nothing shy of incredible, I turned off game 6 feeling as though I had witnessed the greatest act of basketball in my short lifetime. Three Overtimes, Ray Allen playing like he was still in his early 20s, Big Baby Davis somehow hitting mid-range Js, 19 assists to 0 turnovers for Rajon Rondo. And what about Joakim Noah's game saving dunk that cause Paul Pierce to foul out and gave the Bulls the lead for good. Not to mention Derrick Rose's perfect block on Rajon Rondo to prevent any comeback for the Celtics. Yes folks, this series may very well go down as the greatest ever played, people will be talking about it for the next 40 years, so please be thankful that you were around to witness it.
In what was a Monumental Upset, the 135th Kentucky Derby provided more than enough excitement in 2 minutes to justify the 3 hours of pregame. The winning Horse, Mine That Bird, came into the race ranked 17 out of the 19 horses (It would have been 20 horses if I Want Revenge weren't scratched hours before the race) and sitting at 53-1 odds to win the damn thing, pulled the unthinkable. This horse, at one point in dead last and trailing for the first 1/2 mile of this 1 1/4 mile race, turned on the jets and weaved through the slew of horses in front of him to spring so far ahead of the fiel
d that he ended up winning by almost 7 lengths. That's the longest margin of victory at the Kentucky Derby in over 60 years! This is going to go down as one of the most historic upsets in derby history. In fact, paying $103.20 to win, Mine That Bird produced the second highest payoff in Derby history, second only to Doneral, the horse the shocked the world in the 1913 Derby, however there were only six horses racing in that years' derby. So yeah, it was the biggest payout in almost 100 years, which is just silly. How did this happen? It's hard to say, sometimes things just fall into place, but there is no doubt the track condition as a result of an all day rain had to play a significant role. He was also under the control of an experienced jockey in Calvin Borel. He is no stranger to Kentucky Derby glory, having rode Street Sense to victory in the 2006 classic by hugging the rail in much the same manner. Needless to say, this was as big a moment as any for Borel, and will go down as one of the most remembered Kentucky Derbies to date. Now I can't wait for Preakness...In other news, what was hyped as the biggest fight of the year, definitely fell short, or rather Ricky Hatton fell short. Like, leaps and bounds short of what everyone was expecting. ALL HAIL Manny Pacquiao
!! Pacquiao (49-3-2) beat the living daylights out of his opponent, the Englishman Ricky Hatton, winning by knockout in a mere 2 rounds and claiming the Junior Welterweight Title. Yeah, Hatton was on the ropes in round 1, getting knocked down twice and failing to even land a good punch on the too fast too furious Pacquiao. The wily Philippino now has won Championships in 6 different weight classes, four of those coming in his last four tries. In this bout, Pacquiao landed almost as many punches as Hatton attempted (73 landed by Pacquiao to 78 attempted by Hatton) connecting on 57.4% of his punches including the devastating left hook that just about knocked Hatton unconscious. After pounding Hatton with a barrage of right hooks all fight, Pacquiao finally got him to bite and took full advantage with the final left hook blow. Hatton was actually taken to the hospital for precautionary purposes after the "fight." So is Manny Pacquiao the best active boxer right now? All statistics point to yes. Pound for Pound, this guy is the best there is and hopefully we will get to see a showdown in the fall against Floyd Mayweather (fingers crossed!!) in what no doubt will be a fight for the ages.Finally, the Orioles (9-16) are falling faster than Alicia Sacramone in Beijing (too soon?). After dropping their last 6 games and failing to win a series in four straight tries, the O's find themselves in a very familiar position: Last Place in the AL East. This has been their Home base for the last 11 years, so its no surprise to see them back to old habits. The reason? Very simply, the pitching. The Orioles are last in the majors in runs against having given up 161 runs so far this season. They are playing (please watch this clip, you are in for such a treat!) worse than UVA football does year in and year out and I am already sick of it. Please, Angelos, address the pitching situation for everyone's sake. If you can drop multiple millions on hitters, why can't you land a consistent pitcher? It doesn't make any sense. It's really a shame because I am a die hard O's fan and watch this happen year in and year out and nothing ever changes. They always start off promising at the beginning, VERY Beginning, of the season, like April, and fall off the map by June. Ugh. The only bright spot- Nick Markakis is coming off of a 16 game hitting streak, but big surprise...that was broken yesterday against the Blue Jays. The rest of the team's hitting has pretty much fallen off as of late. In fact, the back end of the lineup (Itzuris, Zaun and Pie) are hitting a dismal .189, 26 points lower than ANY team in the majors. Yes, that's including National League teams where pitchers hit...I know these guys weren't recruited for their offense, but come on, you are playing in the majors and there are pitchers who are hitting better...disgraceful. I guess the season is far from over, but these guys need to get their act together before its too late. Wieters can't get up here soon enough!
That's it, expect frequent posts again and be sure to watch game 2 of the Caps-Pens series tomorrow night (7:00 EST) as well as second round NBA playoff match-ups.
*some statistics courtesy of espn.com
Until next time...
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