Game 4, Caps 1, Rangers 2.

 

Alex Ovechkin: 1 goal, +1, total ice time 28:47 (2nd after Mike Green 29:51), average shift 01:15 (way too long), 11 shots on goal, 4 hits, 2 giveaways.

What was the most successful way of scoring on Lundquist in game 3, going West-East, was again abandoned tonight. Another strategy, sit and wait to see what would happened, that's what Laich said in the interview after the 1st period, failed too.


NEW YORK - APRIL 22: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals skates past Markus Naslund #91 of the New York Rangers during Game Four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Round of the 2009 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 22, 2008 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Caps have been in 1-3 situation last year and they almost advanced. This time seems like Caps have more success on the road because Rangers execute the defensive strategy, like Boston, and it would be very hard for Caps to break it at home.

What's good?

• Ovechkin has finally scored, that's very good from the confidence point of view because it looked like Lundquist was unbeatable.


• Varlamov made a mistake, but he didn't fall apart. I thought another goal and Jose should replace him. And if Varly wants to be great, and I am sure he does, then a great motivation would be for him Patrick Roy performance in playoffs at the exact age of 20. Versus showed 20 years old Roy's performance at the intermission.


• Green is due any day.

Update:
Corey Masisak, TWT, Apr. 22, 2009:

Ovechkin was one period from being grilled by everyone for being 0-for-4 in the series and not having his best effort in the team's biggest game of the year.

Then he went out and was downright heroic in the final 20 minutes. Don't know if it showed up on the home broadcast, but Ovechkin was very animated on the bench before the start of the third period, and then he nearly carried his team back from a 2-0 hole.

“He’s our best, he’s the best player in the league and the best player on the planet,” defenseman Brian Pothier said. “That’s what we expect from him and that’s just another night for Alex.”

* Kudos to Simeon Varalmov for being willing to talk after the game. The kid had a tough break on one goal. The other was his fault -- handling the puck is clearly his biggest weakness at this point. Boudreau pointed to his near-disaster seconds before the goal when he put the puck off the side of his net when he tried to wrap it around the boards -- maybe Varalmov lost his composure for a brief period.

“I tried twice to squeeze it and fix it, but I couldn’t do it and dropped it,” Varlamov said through an interpreter. “If it were to haunt me, I would have [allowed] a third and fourth goal. Hockey is such a game that if you make a mistake you have to forget about it and move on.”

It is hard not to like his chances of being an elite guy in the coming years. He is passing every test along the way here.

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