Over the past few days I have witnessed some of the hardest hitting, physically taxing and absolute amazing playoff hockey!  I was talking to a buddy last night about the Varlamov and Luongo saves, and how this post-season has to be “The Year of the Goalie!”  Every analyst will tell you goalies win playoff games, and every year there is that one or two goalies that stand out and own the playoffs.  This year, there seems to be a greater number than two!  Hiller in Anaheim, Thomas in Boston, Luongo in Vancouver and Osgood in Detroit have all been amazing!  Now, add to that mix Varlamov in Washington!

The Washington Capitals struggled against the New York Rangers in the first round, and they delivered some amazing first round hockey and in the end came out victorious.  I am very happy to see them playing the Pittsburgh Penguins this round for no other reason than to watch them win!  Since the Sharks are no longer in the chase for the cup, I have to choose a new dog to hunt with - I have the teams I am cheering for in the current games (Carolina and Chicago) and then there is that Detroit / Anaheim round where I wish it was mathematically possible for BOTH teams to lose, but to no avail, ’tis not.  So, I hang my hat on our boys in DC.

If you missed the saves here they are … keep reading because have another point I want to make in this post.

Varlamov’s Amazing Save (5/2/2009)

Luongo’s Amazing Save (5/1/2009)

Now, since Dawn has been in France over the past week, I have been able to watch many hockey games.  In Washington’s recent play, and thinking back to their play all this season, I have noticed something that has brought them to round 2 and has been a big benefit for their team.  They play with passion and emotion, they physically grind in the corners and take away the neutral zone - they play good solid text book hockey … however, their secret weapon looks to be their poise!  I have noticed this especially with Alexander Ovechkin that when he misses a one-timer or does not hit a pass just right or his check comes up short, he does not get frustrated.  He puts his head down and gets right back into the play.

Pay attention to the poise and frustration of players in the next game and you’ll see a big difference in how that simple, yet incredibly hard to handle emotion can have devastating results on a player.  Joe Thornton in San Jose, better yet, the whole San Jose Sharks team fell victim to this killer.  You could see every time the whistle stopped play in the Sharks/Ducks series how frustrated everyone was on the San Jose bench.

Hopefully, the Sharks can learn from this years melt down and at the same time I hope the Washington Capitals do not lose it - Frustration is a silent killer in Hockey and I think our boys in DC can continue this push and take it far this post season.  What do you think, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the teams left?

Tags: Attitude, Goalies, Sharks, washington capitals