The Quest Continues

It's that time again everyone. The Bruins are back in the playoffs, sitting in second place in the Eastern Conference.

The Bruins are set to take on the Washington Capitals in the first round this year, mainly because Ottawa looked at how the Bruins have been playing and pissed their collective pants, thus losing easily in their final game of importance. The Capitals are a scary team on paper, something most Bruins fans very conveniently forget. With a Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, and Nicklas Backstrom up front, the Capitals offense is elite at full force. But, that all really depends on whether Semin and Ovechkin feel like showing up. Other guys such as Brooks Laich are overlooked by Boston fans. Laich plays a very Bergeron like game, with the exception that he scores a lot more than Bergeron does. With offensive weapons like these, the Caps can beat any team they want.

But, Washington is well known around the hockey world as Choke City. Usually finishing as the top seed in the East, the Capitals make it to the first or second round and then choke and lose to a team they have absolutely no business losing to (see: 2009-2010 when the Habs gave them a swift ass kicking). This is something that can not be overlooked either, and will always be taken into consideration when the Caps make the playoffs.

One issue surrounding this series is the whole Tim Thomas vs Obama situation. As you all should remember, when the Bruins made the trip to visit the President and be honored for their Stanley Cup victory, Timmy decided to play hookey and stay back at the hotel and not attend the ceremony. An explanation was later given (on Facebook of course), which stated that Thomas disagreed with the way Obama is running the country and that ultimately led to his decision to skip the ceremony. Boston's own Thomas Jefferson (get it? Tim Thomas Jefferson) has since gone on a few more of his now famous Facebook rants, but for the most part it had died down for the rest of the season. That is, of course, until our very own Joe Haggerty of CSN New England asked the question that everyone knew was coming but also didn't want to ask. That of course being the situation with playing and D.C. and how it relates (somehow, someway, that I don't understand) to Timmy's little White House hookey in January. Thomas didn't sound very thrilled that Haggs asked the question, but he didn't really seem pissed off. More like he was expecting it but dreading it at the same time, if that makes any sense at all.

The Caps are the team with the real issues though. As I said already, Ovechkin and Semin are only dangerous when they decide to show up and play, which is a very rare occurence for Semin. They've also got back Nicklas Backstrom, but he is coming off an injury and who knows how he'll hold up in a 7 game series. Not to mention the fact that both Tomas Vokoun and Michael Neuvirth are currently injured. Vokoun's injury came in Washington's last trip to Boston that resulted in a much needed shootout win for them, and Neuvirth's injury came against the Florida Panthers, when Marco Sturm somehow managed to fall all over himself and land right on the netminder's leg as he was extended in the butterfly position (thanks Sturmy, once a Bruin, always a Bruin. Unless you're Joe Thornton or Brad Stuart, of course). The Capitals now have to rely on rookie goaltender Braden Holtby, who has just 21 games of NHL experience. Not to mention that this team seems to have a phobia for defense. They either don't play it at all or they play it very poorly, leaving it up to the other team to hope their offense is competent enough to throw the puck at the net and go for rebounds.

If the Bruins play the way that they have been lately, this should be a series that lasts no longer than 6 games at the very most. But, we all know that the Bruins can be inconsistent at times and, as I pointed out, the Capitals are a much better team than most give them credit for, so this could last as long as 7 games, with Game 7 going either way.

The title defense has begun, Bruins Nation. The Bruins are on the right track to make yet another deep playoff run, so prepare yourselves for an exciting and also very frustrating month of May, and possibly even June.