Game 1 Caps vs. Canadiens 4-15-2010 Preview

Series A: Washington Capitals (54-28; 121 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) vs. Montreal Canadiens (39-43; 88 points; 4th Northeast Division, 8th Eastern Conference, 19th Overall):
Caps Playoff Game #1, Home Playoff Game #1, NHL Playoff Game #111

Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. 7:07 pm. Washington TV: Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WJFK 106.7-FM. Montreal TV: None. Radio: CJAD 880-AM.  U.S. National TV: Versus.  Canadian National TV: TSN, RDS (French).  NHL Center Ice: None.

Tonight the Caps start their quest for the Stanley Cup when they host the Montreal Canadiens for the first time ever in a playoff series.  The Caps and Canadiens split the season series 2-2 against each other with each team picking up 5 points.  The Caps are 20-11 All-time in Game 1 with a 13-5 record on home ice.  Montreal comes into this game on a three game losing streak and losers of 7 of their last ten games.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post: game changing, in the crosshairs, not missing this one, looking ahead. Examiner: ready to go, get it done. Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com.  AP Wire: Preview, calm, cool, collected.  ESPN.com.


Open Source Intelligence:

Montreal Gazette: total effort, clean slate, moving around, not too shabby, going down swinging, it's an even numbered year.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

Well folks, a journey begins with the first step and tonight is exactly that.  If Bruce Boudreau is looking for extra motivation to get his team up for tonight, he needs to look no further than last night's scoreboard.  Say what you want but at least three heavily favored teams lost last night and the biggest shock of them all was San Jose falling to the Colorado Avalanche.  Many, ourselves included, thought that the Sharks would sweep that series.  The Caps don't want to put any unnecessary pressure on themselves and winning tonight would prevent that and go a long way to putting to rest the ghosts from last season.  A convincing win will start to break down the spirit of the Canadiens.  But getting the 1-0 lead in the series tonight is all that matters.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 3
Canadiens 1
Winner by Steckel
(47-37 on the regular season with two perfect games)