As if Hank needed more motivation?

I'd like to think athletes don't need extra motivation to get fired up and do their job, but then I remember most of these guys make millions of dollars and are already set for life, spend their offseasons drinking and at strip clubs, come to camp 20 pounds over weight and have to play themselves into shape, and created the idea of the "bulletin board material" just to find something to get them up for big games.

So with that, not that he needed anything more than getting knocked out of Games 5 and 6, not that he needed more than a Game 7 on the road, not that he needed more than EVERYONE picking the Caps to win Game 7 tonight, but now Hank has a little extra motivation. The Vezina finalists were announced yesterday (NHL's award for best goaltender), and for the first time in his career, Hank was not a finalist. (Up until now, he had been the only goalie in NHL history to be a Vezina finalist in each of his first 3 seasons in the league)

The honor went to Backstrom, Mason, and potential foe for the Rangers next round in Tim Thomas.

We could use a Vezina performance tonight from Hank.

(Around the league, the west is all set as Detroit, Vancouver, the Blackhawks, and the Ducks have all advanced. The San Jose sharks, the NHL's number one seed, have been eliminated in the first round by the 8 seeded ducks (although the majority of this ducks team is of similar makeup to the one that won the cup a few years ago.) Ducks can do it, why not the rangers? The final two teams left in the Elite Eight will be decided tonight, with Game 7's in Washington and New Jersey)