Puck 'N Hockey

As most Caps fans are today, I will be spending the better part of this morning digging the family vehicles out, taking a break for the real big game at noon, and then heading back out to finish shoveling before that other game this evening.  This weather event will be a factor in today’s contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Ranging from 20 to 30 inches depending on where you live in the area, this snowfall has crippled the region.  As we all know, hockey players are borderline obsessive compulsive when it comes game day routine and ritual.  The routines of both the Caps and Pens players have undoubtedly been disrupted.

So, if you’re Coach Boudreau or Bylsma this morning, what are you telling the guys in the room?

According to the Penguins website, it took the team 10 hours to make the trip from Montreal to DC.  Half of that journey was spent on a bus.  This is not good on the legs and add the fact that the team stopped at an I-95 rest stop for food, these elite athletes cannot feel good going into a game against their biggest rivals.  Dan Bylsma has to be preaching short shifts and sticking to the systems.  A team that has spent all night traveling after playing a game less than 24 hours earlier, is not going to out skate the home team.  Look for the black and gold to clog up the neutral zone to slow down the high flying, Capitals offense.  Then, look for the Pens to dump the puck and work the Capitals’ blueliners along the boards.  Crosby and his gang will need to play a simple game and monitor their minutes to closely.

Bruce’s boys have had the luxury of watching the storm on TV.  That does not mean they are not affected by the mountains of snow though.  I am sure that some of the players, coaches, team staff, game day operations staff, and most importantly, fans,  are having trouble making it to Verizon Center this morning.  Many of the Capitals beat writers and media personalities on Twitter have been describing their snowbound difficulties this morning.  The voice of the Caps, Wes Johnson, is walking part of the way in.  However, the Capitals do have the advantage of sleeping in their own beds last night and recovering at home from Friday’s win over Atlanta.  They should have more jump and Gabby should be preaching that.  The theme on the red bench should be, “keep moving your feet.”  The Caps’ high powered offense should be able to out skate the road weary Pens and draw some penalties in the process.

This should be an interesting match up given the situation outside and what the Penguins have gone through to make it into town.  The Caps-Pens rivalry is always exciting.  However, I feel like the Penguins’ road legs could cause this to be a one sided affair.