The Fifth Liners

This week it was out with the old and in with the new this week in the state of Springsteen as New Jersey Devils sacked head coach Peter DeBoer and swiftly replaced with him former Capitals coach Adam Oates and former captain Scott Stevens . A storm of controversy soon followed as the Caps protested that NJ should have asked permission first, but the matter was quickly settled with the minimum of fuss. After leading the Devils to an unlikely Stanley Cup final appearence in 2012, DeBoer has struggled to bring consistency to his aging side and has left his side seventh overall in the Eastern Conference and over nine points adrift from the wild card slot! In his four years as coach, De Boer only registered a solitary playoff appearance. But his sacking doesn't appear to be been solely based on results. Since the departure of stars Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk , New Jersey has failed to replacement them with a consistent goal scorer. This season in particular has been a pretty...

Washington Capitals are currently top of the Southwest Division, from Mike's previous post about this seemingly mundane division, we have learned it is one that is far from excitement. But this team does boast an impressive roster and based on their 6-5 win over Tampa Bay Lightning- we have learned that this team has plenty of fight in them and this is what counts come playoff time! Led by notorious Captain Alexander Ovechkin- the Caps have been a regular feature in the Eastern Conference playoffs over the last four years and this year their forward line has clocked up some impressive stats- Centre Nicklas Backstrom currently sits on 44 points while Mike Ribeiro has contributed 41 points and along with wingers Joel Ward and Troy Brouwer- we have some offensive lines crying out for progress! Former NHL player Adam Oates was installed as Head Coach earlier this season and so far the results seems to be paying off and with a true star in Ovechkin leading the way, we could well see...