The Dream Matchup!

Well, we are now all getting ready for a big playoff matchup between our Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals. It was a surprising matchup because in order for this to happens, the Hurricanes had to win and the Capitals had to win their game sevens. The part I was surprised about wasn't as much the Caps, but the Canes. They were down 3-2 with 90 seconds left. They scored two quick goals to win the series and forcing the matchup. I am sure Gary Bettman is ecstatic, he has been hoping for this for years now!

I have been thinking of the Pens lineup going into this series and have decided that I think Dan Bylsma would revert back to the original lineup that worked so well during his short tenure. I know that the only major change was Miroslav Satan for Petr Sykora. I believe that Bylsma will entrust Sykora with a higher level of game play. I believe that Sykora will provide that type of game that is needed to succeed in the playoffs. Her is the potential lineup for the Pens:

I liked this lineup from the start.

So I designed a pretty good T-Shirt that fits in this series perfectly, let me know what you think! If you want to order one, Click Here!

I am looking forward to seeing how the Capitals handle real competition. They faced a lesser opponent in the New York Rangers. Now, don't get me wrong, the Caps are good, but the Rangers weren't that good. The Rangers were on a downhill spiral at the end of the season and barely made the playoffs. The Flyers were as well, but still won some tough games. I like our odds in this series just as much as I liked them against the Flyers. I would love to see what happens when Ovechkin gets a full series to get under our skins, or when Semin decides to get dumb and say something for the bulletin board. It is going to be very interesting regardless.

This game seems to almost have an underlying advertisement for the NHL. I mean we got two of the Hart Trophy candidates playing each other for up to seven games straight. I believe I already made myself pretty clear on who I think deserves the trophy, but we will see what becomes of it. I truly believe that because the votes aren't in yet, that this series will determine the winner. As weird as it sounds, it will be up to that. I think whomever dominates the opposing team more and inevitably wins the series, will win the Hart as well. The only way I would be alright with Ovechkin winning the Hart is if Evgeni wins the Conne Smythe, the MVP of the Stanley Cup Finals. That goes to the Cup Winner.

I am going to make a prediction for this series: Penguins in six.