The Montreal Canadiens snuck into the playoffs by losing their last game in a shootout to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
That bodes ill for a team set the task of upsetting the No. 1 seed in the league, the Presidents' Trophy-winning Washington Capitals.
The Capitals lead the league in scoring with 46 more goals than the second best Vancouver Canucks (272). The team features Alex Ovechkin, who has again scored 50.
Nicklas Backstrom had a 100-plus-point season playing with Ovechkin. Alex Semin provided more than a point a game. Mike Green, despite missing out on playing for Canada's Olympic team, looks like the best rushing defenseman in the league since Paul Coffey.
Past versions of this team have lacked supplementary scoring. This year there's a host of contributors from the second and third lines. Mike Knuble managed 29 goals in 69 games. Brooks Laich scored 25. Tomas Fleischmann had 23, and Eric Fehr scored 21.
Team defense always gets the knock with any big scoring team. Often these teams are just too darn busy in the opposing end to worry about playing in their own. The Capitals gave up a not inconsidera ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Scott Weldon
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April 14th, 2010 by Scott Weldon Leave a reply »
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