ls teams cruised through the regular season. Making the playoffs was taken for granted. And so, perhaps, was winning."It's a different feeling this year,Nike Free Powerlines 2 Mens AU," defenceman Mike Green said. "I think in the past we've kind of been too worked up about it. There's an even keel right now, and I think that's good."Even goaltender Braden Holtby senses the difference, despite his limited time with the club. Holtby has spent most of the last two seasons in the minors, but he's expected to be the starter against the Bruins because of injuries to Tomas Vokoun and Michal Neuvirth."As weird as it's been for us, you kind of have to look at it as a positive,Nike Free 3.0 V6 Mens," Holtby said, "compared to the last couple of years where the team just kind of breezed through the regular season and the problems kind of just get thrown under the rug because you keep winning. This year, they were exposed. It's a good thing, and it's especially going to benefit us."The Capitals fired coach Bruce Boudreau in November and replaced him with Dale Hunter,Nike Free Run 3 Mens AU, whose defensive-minded approach mirrors the more traditional playoff style. Green and centre Nicklas Backstrom missed most of the season with injuries, but both have returned to give Washington a healthy roster at every position except goalie.Two-time league MVP Ovechkin's production was dormant far too often this season, but he has nine goals and three assists in his last 11 games."I don't think somebody can say who's favourite and who's not," Ovechkin said. "It's the playoffs, and you know, the last couple of years everybody think, like, we're going to be undefeated and it's going be easy for us in the playoff, and we lost."So right now it's a situation that we don't have to listen to you (reporters) and we don't have to listen to fans and what they say. We just have to concentrate, and this group of guys have to be together."Ovechkin, Green, Backstrom and Alexander Semin should be in their prime, but they're still infants when it comes to playoff success. Four years of frustration, along with this year's nail-biting finish to the regular season, should have taught them a lesson or two �� favoured or not."The big games, the games of hype, players because they were young probably made them too big," general manager George McPhee said. "It's better to just follow your normal routine and play,Nike Free 5.0 Mens AU, and I think we've learned the last couple of weeks if we just go out and play, we'll be fine. That may be something that the young guys have learned that are now in their mid-20s."___Joseph White can be reached at http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP
WILMINGTON, Mass. - Tim Thomas has gotten some rest.And if last season's playoffs are any indication, he's going to need it."I don't think he's a tired goaltender," Bruins coach Claude Julien said as the defending Stanley Cup champions wrapped up the regular season and prepared for what they hope will be another long playoff run. "I've seen Tim tired before,Huarache Free Run Grey Red White, and I see the signs, but he's certainly not tired. ... We've got a few days here to work on our game and get ourselves sharpened up, a