Game 6 Caps @ Canadiens 4-26-2010 Preview

Series A: Washington Capitals (57-30; 121 points; 1st Southeast Division, 1st Eastern Conference, 1st Overall) vs. Montreal Canadiens (41-46; 88 points; 4th Northeast Division, 8th Eastern Conference, 19th Overall):
Caps Playoff Game #6, Road Playoff Game #3, NHL Playoff Game #116

Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 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).


Tonight the Caps take their second crack at closing out their series with the Montreal Canadiens when they head back to Montreal for Game 6.  This is the ninth time in franchise history that the Caps have had the chance to win a series in 6 games and the Caps have accomplished the task 5 times in their previous 8 opportunities.  All-time the Caps are 10-9 in Game 6 with a 7-6 record on the road.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post.  Examiner.  Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com:  Preview, believers, house of horrors.  AP Wire.  Canadian Press:  relaxing, improving.  ESPN.com

Open Source Intelligence:


Canadiens.com.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

For some reason here recently the Caps seem to play better on the road in the playoffs than at home.  Maybe it is because the Phone Booth Crowd gets so wound up that the players get lost in it themselves.  Of course it would help if our opponents weren't allowed to send six skaters and a goaltender onto the ice for an extended period of time (Seriously, when is the NHL going to do something about its officiating crews?  The guys who work the playoffs are supposed to be the best of the bunch.) but that's too much to ask.  The Caps got caught a little flat footed on Friday night and we figure that won't happen again tonight because while the Caps didn't want to go back to Montreal, they certainly do want to go to a Game 7.  It would also help the Caps to score first tonight, Montreal really packed things in on Friday night after going up 2-0 and Halak plays much better with a lead than he does with a tie or trailing in the game.  Finally, while it would be nice to get the Power Play going tonight, we've already won 3 games in this series without it being much of a factor, we can probably get by without it being a factor tonight but the lineup changes from Bruce Boudreau will be crucial as typically new players in the Playoffs tend to inject more life into the lineup.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 4
Canadiens 2
Winner by Semin
(3-2 in the playoffs, 50-39 on the season with two perfect games)