The playoffs are played so differently than the regular season. Everything is amped up but at the end of the day, it is still about will power; health; luck; and catching a lucky break here or there with the on-ice and replay officials.
Goaltending is and continues to be the difference maker and performance on the power play and penalty kill seems to be what the games are all about. Whoever has the best special teams seems to win every game.
Whenever the Flyers fall behind by two goals or more, the Wachovia Center becomes the most solemn and quiet arena on earth.
Why do teams hold “white outs” when they play in black uniforms?
If Detroit is a hockey town, why so many empty seats? We sold out every game in DC. We need to get more respect from the media for our fan support.
Sidney Crosby is starting to look like Freddie Mercury of the band Queen with his new “stache”. However, the Caps have some players that can’t even grow any facial hair. (Say hello, Nicklas Backstrom.) 
A Detroit vs. Pittsburgh Finals will be something to behold: Old vs. new; youth vs. experience. All skill, all offense. It should be a ratings bonanza.
The NHL playoffs are better than any other league playoffs in terms of intensity and player dedication. Every play and shift seems to be of paramount importance.
HAHA Comparing Crosby to Mecury is priceless! Being from Detroit. . . I can say both of the above comments are true, the games are techinaccly sold out. . . but the prices form Stub Hub etc, or even from the team its self is too much for the depressed economy there. But those who can do it are there thats for sure
Also what did you think about the waved off goal in the Wings Starts game?
Please don’t ever compare Sidney Crosby to Freddie Mercury in any way. It’s definitely an insult to Freddie. While Mercury certainly wasn’t perfect, Crosby isn’t worthy of being mentioned in the same breath.
I will concur with the comments about empty seats in Detroit due to the economy. I have several friends that have moved from Michigan and said that people in Detroit are struggling financially. Heck, the wait list for season tickets is not nearly as long as it used to be.
I just don’t think the DC area has been hit as bad as other parts of the country.
What I’ve been noticing…. When did it become okay for hockey fans at NHL arenas to stand up for basically the ENTIRE game? It seems to be widespread now at many different venues.
My son and I experienced it first hand in St. Paul when the Wild were playing the Avalanche. It used to be that fans would stand up for a breakaway, a goal, a fight, etc. But these fans stand for almost the whole game, and are encouraged to do so via the scoreboard. This would be (somewhat) acceptable if all in attendance were adults, but how is it fair that my 8 year old son is not able to watch the game? He paid the same amount of money for his seat as everybody else….
Sit your butts down; the kids have a right to see too!
Actually, all of the seats in Detroit have been sold by the team. Typically people who want to see hockey in Detroit have to go through a ticket broker (StubHub, etc.) to get tickets. Considering the prices they have for those tickets, I suspect there’ll be a lot of empty seats. But don’t worry the Wings have got their $$.
As for the Penguins being 1.5 years ahead of the Caps, they’re actually much further ahead. Despite their “young talent” (Crosby, Malkin, Orpik, Fleury) they have a lot of older players in key roles (Gonchar, Roberts, Hossa, etc.). They’ve already said they are likely to jettison Hossa after the playoffs, and I can see them dropping Gonchar, Roberts is likely to retire, esp. if they win the Cup. The Pens farm system is good, but it’s not like the Caps, which is loaded.
The Caps are going to be battling for the Eastern Title over the next few years, but their main opponent will likely be Montreal, who are also a younger team with a loaded farm system…
Despite Nick not being able to grow facial hair, I am jealous that he can grow hair out of the top of his head!
The empty seats in Detroit are baffling. They’ve sold out every game for the last 20 years it seems and every year they are a Stanley Cup Contender. And it’s not like they are the Atlanta Braves who made the playoffs every year but one only one championship. They’ve won 3 in the last 11 years! And they’ve been to several conference finals!
The only reason I can think of is the economy…Supposedly Detrot fans are predominantly Blue-collar (I hate that term but I can’t think of a more appropriate one) and with jobs being slashed at Automakers it’s reducing disposable income greatly. But isn’t Pittsburgh a blue-collar town? I don’t see any empty seats there.
Ted, you’ve crossed the line! Freddie Mercury had a much better “stache” than Sidney Crosby. I’ll tell you what Sidney Crosby looks like with facial hair: an over-hyped peach.
You did NOT just put Sidney Crosby and Freddie Mercury in the same sentence. *looks again* OK, so you did. I just FERVENTLY hope that Crosby doesn’t end up singing “We Are the Champions” before it’s all said and done.
And the NHL could have already HAD a ratings bonanza if it had been Caps-Pens in the Conference Semis.
And it looks like Don Koharski isn’t going to be calling any more games this postseason. Somewhere out there is a Krispy Kreme that is absolutely raking it in right about now.
I saw a post on another site that attributed the empty seats at Red Wings games to the depressed Michigan economy. The poster said that the core fans were blue collar workers who have been hard hit by the recession and do not have discretionary income for tickets. They watch the games on TV. I have no idea if this theory is correct.
I think that is the big plus to the caps new uniforms, the red outs are sweet and practical. I thought Pittsburgh should do a gold out, the white out looks stupid because it looks like the home crowd is against the home team. Pittsburgh would do a blackout but they can’t because goaltenders have complained about not being able to distinguish the puck from the crowd. It always happens that goaltending and defense are paramount in the playoffs, which is why i believe the red wings will beat the penguins.
If the Pens are any indication, as they are about one to 1.5 years ahead of the Caps on the rebuild, it looks like the Caps and Pens will be slugging it out in the playoffs for years to come, only in this era we WILL spank the Pens routinely. Keep working the plan Ted. I look forward to the first drop of the puck in October.