Its probably for the same reason I haven't been to the new Nats park or why there are a number of cool museums in DC that I have yet to visit. The supply, as it were, is so plentiful that you don't feel any urgency to go today. But then that same feeling strikes tomorrow and the next day and the next....

NFL games are more rare.

For the first time in a decade, not only am I going to watch a hockey game, but I am excited about it. Yes, I am hopping on the bandwagon. I was in DC this afternoon and I actually saw people walking around with Caps shirts on.

Reed, I think that's a dead-on diagnosis.

As for the game tonight (by the way, what's the reason for back-to-back games? I thought that never happened in the NHL these days), I'm shutting off my phone and watching from behind my sofa, as I'm sure of disaster for the Flyers. The combination of this game and the PA primary will ensure that tonight is not a fun one for me.

The refs seem intent on making sure the Flyers win.

It's back to back because they started the Caps series late so they could put game one on a Friday night for some reason.

QUOTE:
It's back to back because they started the Caps series late so they could put game one on a Friday night for some reason.

Weird. It seems unfair (though I'm not clear who it would benefit other than the next opponent of the winner).

QUOTE:
The refs seem intent on making sure the Flyers win.

So when a highstick cuts a Flyers' face it shouldn't be called? Remember, the first of the two penalties leading to the 5-3 that lead to the Caps goal was pretty weak (the second, however, was horrendous by Hatcher).

That being said, I've been watching this game thinking the refs were in the tank for the Caps (until the last 4 minutes). The only thing I take from this is that everyone always thinks the refs are against them.

I got home late. I didn't see the Caps goal.

The officiating has been very erratic throughout the series, but it seems to favor the Flyers slightly overall, although maybe it just seems that way because they have a better powerplay.

There were a number of no calls during that long power play that should have killed it off early.

The Philly folks all think the refs have been favoring the Caps, with the justification that the league is desperate to have Ovechkin keep playing.

I should note that the Caps have been outplaying the Flyers at even strength, so I hope that the refs are favoring the Flyers as it's their best chance to win.

Those are the same people who insist that Michael Jordan played baseball as some kind of crypto suspension for his gambling sins and that the draft that put Patrick Ewing on the Knicks was rigged.

If the league was conspiring to market Ovechkin, they wouldn't have let him end up on the Capitals in the first place nor let Crosby go to Pittsburgh. (I recall there were some supposedly serious journalists suggesting that the league should openly rig the post-lockout draft to ensure the Rangers got Crosby.)

Discussions about officiating rarely go anywhere because it usually devolves into conspiracy theories and whining. The truth is that its just erratic and random distributions rarely end up perfectly even, so somebody does end up with an advantage but it's because the officiating was just inconsistent all around, not intentionally favoring anyone.

Except in the BigTen football. The officiating is atrocious all around, but you can always count on Michigan or Ohio State to get the bad call in their favor. Always. The league never addresses it, they just circle the wagons and charge sour grapes.


The ice is pretty bad at Verizon Center.

I keep flipping between this game and the cable nets for the election results. Given this double dose of pain, I'd probably do just as well to subject myself to the pain of Andrew Lloyd Webber night on American Idol.

As I said, the refs are completely in the tank for the Caps. . .

Joking aside, I missed the replay of the goal, but the Caps announcers were apoplectic.

Very cheesy goal, but those kind of plays have been called both ways. On replay it looks like goalie interference, but it wasn't clear at full speed.

The Flyer barreled into the Cap and then into the goalie so technically, it was a defender that knocked over Huet. Personally, I think the goalie should be given more protection in the rules from that sort of thing. In cases where an offensive player provides the impetus for a pile up like that, they should just blow the whistle and face off inside the zone. I'm sure Don Cherry would shit his plaid pants if they installed a candy-ass Swede-loving rule like that, but he'll be dead soon so fuck Don Cherry.

If the Flyers win, it will be the sort of questionable call that everyone remembers and feeds the rivalry.

I'm watching it on mute.

That Flyers goal was ridiculous. If shoving players into the opposing goalie isn't technically against the rules, why wouldn't this be a standard tactic? Particularly on power plays, when there is often a scrum in front of the goal.

It sort of is a standard tactic, but usually you can't get away with plowing somebody over nowhere near the puck.

Certainly, we would not have allowed that as a goal playing floor hockey back home.

The league should talk up Daniel Briere. He's like a rich man's Theo Fleury.

QUICK TURN TO NBC!!!

That Ovechkin guy is pretty good, too.

Was the NBC comment about the Chippendale's sketch? If so, I agree, it's awesome, if a bit sad.