Results tagged “playoffs”

• Mystics 79, Fever 88: The Mystics let their first playoff game of the 2009 season slip away in the fourth quarter, as the Indiana Fever -- who had the best regular season record in the Eastern Conference -- outscored Washington 32 to 21 in the final period. Leading the scoring for Washington with 18 points was Crystal Langhorne, who was named the WNBA's Most Improved Player of the Year on Thursday. The Mystics will travel to Indiana for Game 2 in the best-of-three series (Game 3, if needed, will be played in Indiana). Overall, the teams looked surprisingly well-matched -- they had the same 3 point shooting percentage, the same points in the paint (36), and committed almost the same amount of turnovers, though the Fever had a slight edge on the boards and at the line.
  
  For the people watchers, Alex Ovechkin was reportedly celebrating his 24th birthday by watching the Mystics play at the Comcast Center. Of note: Ovie is younger than almost 75% of the Mystics' roster.
• Capitals 4, Sabres 3: Speaking of Capitals, the local hockey outfit won its first exhibition game of the preseason over Buffalo. A Brian Pothier tally with a two-man advantage in overtime was enough to settle matters, but Alexandre Giroux, Mike Knuble, and Jay Beagle also scored for the Caps. Semyon Varlamov played the entire game in net and looked good through the first two periods, but then allowed three goals in the third.
• Phililes 4, Nationals 2: The Nats got five innings of solid work from Ross Detwiler (0-6), but the bats went quiet once again, only pushing across two runs against the Phils combo of starter Cole Hamels (10-9) and always volatile Brad Lidge. Hamels struck out 10, and had a perfect game going until the sixth inning.

              

It looked more like the NHL than basketball, but despite the bumps and bruises on both benches, the Mystics pulled out a must-win over the visiting Atlanta Dream on Saturday. Washington led the entire game and clinched a playoff spot with the 82-64 victory.

The NHL regular season came to a close this past weekend. The Washington Capitals finished with a 50 win, 108 point season—their best finish ever—culminating in their second Southeast Division title in a row. Their mark was good enough to earn the second seed in the Eastern Conference behind Boston. Along with the Bruins, only San Jose and Detroit of the Western Conference enter the playoffs with better records. As the two seed in the East, the Caps draw the # 7 New York Rangers for a first round Stanley Cup Playoff series that begins tomorrow evening at the Verizon Center. Game 2 is an afternoon affair this Saturday.

Ouch.

It is a great time to be a Caps Fan. We've seen media coverage of the guy who brings his trumpet to the games and the rock bands who have sung the team's praises.

Friday night the Caps open their first Stanley Cup Playoff series in what feels like twenty-thousand years against the Philadelphia Flyers. The first six games of the series have all been picked up by national television stations. The team's meteoric rise to the playoffs has even inspired a heavy metal theme song. What makes this the most anticipated Capitals playoff series ever? For one thing, there is a great symmetry between the opponents.

Tonight it's draft lottery time in the NHL once more. For the last four seasons, this has been the day that we Caps fans cross our fingers and hope that the team is lucky enough to get a chance at a player who will help them do better in the future. This year, though, Washington will not participate, because the Capitals have made the playoffs.

First of all, let's remember that the Capitals would be nowhere right now without Jeff Halpern. The Bethesda native, lifelong Caps fan and former Caps captain scored with five minutes left on Saturday night to help the last place Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Carolina Hurricanes.

With a number of area teams gearing up for a playoff run, it's an exciting time for sports in the Washington area. Here's what you should be watching this week. Don't hesitate to leave your own suggestions in the comments, and, if you're so inclined, shoot me an email with suggestions for next week.