The Washington Capitals were unable to close out the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night, and now they'll take out their passports and head north to Quebec for a Game 6 on Monday night. At Japers' Rink, SBN's Capitals blog, they've listed the reasons why Washington won't be moving on just yet.
Obviously the Canadiens were going to come out strong, fighting, literally, for their playoff lives, and arguably with an intensity and desperation the Capitals simply wouldn't be able to match. I can accept that. What I can't accept is that Washington - a team that has battled back from playoff deficits in each of the last two years, a team with a coach who has been in the game for decades and won championships in the minor leagues, a team with a strong veteran presence - looked like they were surprised and, consequently, unprepared for the Canadiens' effort and game plan.
We've said it before, and we'll probably end up saying it again: the Capitals are an incredibly talented hockey team, but if they want to win in the postseason, they're going to need to stop relying solely on their talent, and start using both their brains and their guts.