Monday Morning Musings

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I'm sure my fellow Capitals fans, like moi, found it hard to watch all the Round Two action this weekend. Probably even harder on the fellas, I'm sure. Since there is no Caps news per se (wipes another tear from face), here are some tidbits from around the hockey world for your Monday morning reading pleasure:

• HM ran across this yesterday - a must-read for Capitals fans (especially those few that think all hope is lost - far from it). CBC's Elliotte Friedman disses his thoughts on how the team should move forward.
• Caps fans may have felt just a slight bit of satisfaction yesterday as the Habs that beat the Caps also put quite a drubbing (3-1 to be exact) on the rival Penguins. The bound and determined boys from history-laden Montreal were outshot by a mile, but their stalwart defense and the reignited hot hand of Jaro Halak took the victory. Sidney Crosby let the frustration get to him by breaking and tossing a stick - yep, been there.
• As for the Pens, Evgeni Malkin is getting some media heat for his lack of playoff lustre - unfortunately Geno could probably get some tips from Alex Semin in that regard.
• And though he is not in the building, kudos for Capitals forward Nick Backstrom for being cited as one of the winners of TSN's No Guts, No Glory honors. The young Swedish star shares the honor with Blues' veteran Keith Tkachuck for his stickless, shot-blocking performance against the Tampa Bay Lightning's Kurtis Foster during the regular season. See Nicky, all those ice packs weren't for nothing? Bravo young man!