The Caps look to even their playoff series, the Wizards have their coach, the Nats get 2 wins in a row [alert the Pope!], and some poor bastard actually seems to want to play for the Redskins. Does he know what he’s getting in to? But first, our top story.
TOP STORY
Our top story today is the Washington Capitals preparing to play game 4 of their first round playoff series against the New York Rangers. The Rangers won the first two games 4-3 and 1-0, but a change made before the second game, inserting rookie goalie Simeon Varlamov, has paid off for Washington. He was the key to Washington’s 4-0 demolition of the Rangers Monday night in the Garden. Caps players who had been under-performing, like Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Viktor Kozlov and Nicklas Backstrom, came alive to put points on the scoreboard. Caps fans now eagerly await Mike Green‘s better-late-than-never emergence in this series.
CAPITALS
1. Goalie
Simeon Varlamov has made 55 straight saves and 56 out of 57 over 2 playoff games.
Read it.
2. The Caps want their young goalie rested for tonight so he got yesterday’s practice off. Ovechkin also watched practice.
Read it.
3. ESPN looks at the decision to start Varlamov and goal and approves.
Read it.
4. The NY Times introduces Varlamov to New Yorkers.
Read it.
Simeon Varlamov is 20 years old, does not speak English and has played only eight games in the N.H.L. He is such an unknown quantity that even his coach does not seem to know much about him.
“Seven games — that’s how well I know him,” Washington Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau said Tuesday during practice at Madison Square Garden, missing Varlamov’s total by one.
“My level of communication with him is patting him on the back and saying ‘Good game’ or ‘Go get ‘em,’ ” he added.
5. Another NY paper, Newsday, examines how
Alex Ovechkin has been helping the Caps without scoring goals.
Read it.
6. ESPN analyzes about
Chris Drury‘s injury and whether or not
Sean Avery is now a menace to his own team.
Read/watch it.
7. NHL.com has no doubts: The Rangers need a smarter Sean Avery.
Read it.
“Me and Ovie were sitting at a basketball game and we said, ‘We have to do this if we win,’ ” Backstrom told me. “We watched basketball and they do like this, but it looks more fun when they do it.”
Backstrom said they usually do their leaping hip crash immediately after the game is over, before the other team has left the ice, so most fans don’t notice during road games. (Verizon fans, obviously, wouldn’t care.) But yesterday, the entire team mobbed Varlamov for quite a while, and the Rangers left the ice quickly, so everyone was staring at the two of them doing their thing. Hence the boos and the beer bottles. And why do it?
“We’ve been doing it the whole year, can’t stop now,” Backstrom said.
9. About all that dyed hair on the Caps? Yeah, it was Ovechkin’s idea.
Read it.
10. Varlamov is teaching Russian phrases to the Caps players who don’t speak the language. Aren’t too many of those anymore.
Read/watch it.
11. Watch Ovechkin on ESPN’s E-60 last night.
Watch it.
13. Finally, if you haven’t yet seen Ovechkin’s commercial for Eastern Motors, here it is.
NATIONALS
1. The Nats defeated the visiting Atlanta Braves 4-3 last night with help from a totally revamped bullpen. Closer Joel Hanrahan finished the game after starter Shairon Martis
gave the Braves an early 3-0 lead. The Nats came back, sparked by a gigantic 6th inning home run by slugger
Adam Dunn. The Nats improved their record to 3-10.
Read it.
REDSKINS
1. USC QB
Mark Sanchez enjoyed his pre-draft visit to Redskins Park. I wonder how much he’ll enjoy having no offensive line to protect him if he’s unlucky enough to be picked by the Redskins.
Read it.
WIZARDS
1. As
I wrote last night, reports are that the Wizards have their new head coach,
Flip Saunders. The deal should be announced today.
Read it.
Tags: Daily DC Pro Sports Report, Video, Washington Capitals, Washington Nationals, Washington Redskins, Washington Wizards
Loading ...
FanSided
NFLMocks.com
