Game 5 = Cloud 9

After Jason Chimera scored his double OT goal in Game 4, I wanted to think the series was over.  Sure, there was the Caps' history of choking away 3-1 leads.

But, really, New York was broken.  Right?

Then I decided to turn on the Lightning/Penguins game at noon as a preview to the Rangers/Caps game. I was feeling good. I was also fully expecting Pittsburgh to close out Tampa Bay.

Pittsburgh, as you know, took a 3-1 series lead over Tampa Bay the same night that the Caps went up 3 to 1 on the Rangers. Also, in 2 OT.

Well, let's just say Pittsburgh did not close out Tampa Bay.  Tampa Bay kicked the shit out of Pittsburgh 8-2. Their series continues.

And all of a sudden I had doubt. Maybe momentum means nothing.  Maybe I was going to go from this really content, relaxed state of being to feeling like Armageddon was upon us again.

Sure, I was used to it.  I am a Caps fan after all.  But not again.  Really?  Could the Caps have a chance to go for the jugular and lay another fucking egg?

I mean, the mighty Penguins just did.  And, FSN Pittsburgh showed that the Penguins are "a lot and one" in series that they have a 3-1 lead.  The Caps were 2-4 in such series going into today's game.

Thankfully, the Caps did not lay an egg.  Seemingly, the only point of criticism you could put on them is that they did not play a perfect-perfect game.

Finally though, the Caps showed me they wanted the series. It was by far their most complete effort of the series. Even better than the Game 2, 2-0 win.

They indeed, went for New York's jugular and got it. They didn't fuck around. The game was never really in question. From start to finish, the Caps ran the show.

Thank God!

Washington picks up its 2nd-ever series win after holding a 2-0 series lead. They are now 3-4 when having a 3-1 series lead.

Baby steps, right?

This is quite the welcome change from the utter despair I felt last season after the Caps dropped Game 7 to Montreal. Or, two years ago, when the Penguins demolished the Caps in Game 7.

Or, three years ago when I personally witnessed Joffrey Lupul's Game 7 winner for the Flyers.

And so on and so on.

Even the 2009 series win vs. the Rangers had this weird feeling to it.  Why did the Caps go down 3 to 1?  Why did it take 7 games?  Why did they come out flat in Game 7?

There will be reality checks to be had. The Caps will have to get back to business, to be sure. If you don't think the Caps can improve from this series, think again.

There are 12 more wins to go. The team is only 1/4 of the way to its ultimate goal.

And really, you can't pretend that getting out of the 1st round for the 2nd time since 1998 is akin to winning the Stanley Cup.

The last time it took fewer than 7 games for the Caps to close out a series was against Buffalo in 1998.

Since that series, the Detroit Red Wings have won 16 playoff series in less than 7 games. They have appeared in the Stanley Cup Final 4 times, winning 3 Stanley Cups (including against us in '98).

So, there is more work to be done before we have an impressive playoff resume.

But, in the series that matters most - the one that was most recent - the Caps did have an impressive resume.

Perfect or not, the Caps effort in this series got the job done quickly. It took 5 games + roughly 3 overtime periods. There was only 1 loss.

Only the Detroit Red Wings won their series faster. The Caps have time to rest their bodies. Us fans have time to rest our minds.

There is plenty more emotional trauma to be had. More Mylanta to be consumed. And in the end, we might not be satisfied with the Caps' run for this playoff season.

Who knows what the 2nd round will bring us....

Which team will the Caps play? How will the Caps perform? Will it negate the great feeling of beating the Rangers? Will it take the Caps to the team's 3rd ever conference final?

These are indeed questions to which we need answers.

But not yet.

There are a few days to take another deep breath. To relish in beating a team that beat us 7-0 and 6-0 in the regular season. A team that supposedly was our worst nightmare 1st round matchup.

This series could have gone many ways. Yet, it went our way.

Enjoy the thrill of victory, Caps fans.

See you in the 2nd-round!

Holy Shit! Game 4 to the Caps!

This is the problem when you have to watch at a sports bar - no laptop with you. Absolutely no way to describe how many different thoughts I've had about the Capitals since 7 p.m.

Next season, you will get my real-time stream of consciousness.....until then......just know this:

I'm spent.  Good Lord am I spent after watching that game!

I was ready to write a scathing article about the lack of character the team had when it was 3-0 Rangers.  And I'm still kind of pissed off that the team hasn't learned to play a full 60 minutes. 

Of course, you know what happened in the 3rd period and the 2nd OT.  

Holy Shit indeed!

Give credit where it is due.  The Caps came back in spectacular fashion tonight. And like many, I'll take this uneven performance and 3-1 series lead over a hard-fought loss and a 2-2 series.

I have to go to bed so I can't fact check, but I'm pretty sure this is the franchise's first-ever multiple OT playoff game win.  Crazy, huh?

(UPDATE: Big thanks/stick tap to the Peerless Prognosticator for confirming that it is the Capitals 3rd ever multiple OT playoff win. 1985 vs. NYI and 1998 vs. Boston. For some reason I didn't remember Bellows' goal being in the 2nd OT, but it most certainly was. Good omen? Hopefully!)

Like I've mentioned before, I'll take the emotional abuse the Caps give us in tight games over the easy way out and early exits.

But, emotional abuse it is.  The Caps are like a manipulative girlfriend.  They treat you like garbage in critical times.  And every time you are ready to leave, they do just enough to get you to stay.

So I stay.  I take this 3-1 series lead and a big sigh of relief into the next day.  And I get ready for the next round of emotional trauma the Caps will inflict on us this Saturday.

Because as well all know, this series is not over yet.     

God willing though, the Caps will just kick the shit out of the Rangers in Game 5 and close out the series on Saturday.  

Time to chug another bottle of Mylanta and go to bed.  Enjoy the win.  Someone buy Jason Chimera -- and any other Capitals player you see fit -- a beer.  

See you for Game 5!

Here We Go Again

Sunday morning when reading the Washington Post and Katie Carrera's preview of Game 3, I had a Harry Doyle moment. Harry Doyle, as you may recall, was Bob Uecker's character in the movie Major League.

I know that when it comes to hockey playoffs, history is not on the Caps' side.  If they are the underdog, they seldom pull off the upset.  If they are the favorite, well, they seldom do as they are supposed to do.

But I never really paid attention to records or statistics.  I just have a general feeling of trepidation when putting "Capitals" and "playoffs" in the same sentence.

I know, generally speaking, that a 3-1 series lead or 2-0 series lead isn't safe in DC.

But, one thing Ms. Carrera poignantly called attention to in her preview is that in the 5 total seven-game series in which the Capitals have held a 2-0 lead,

the Caps are 1-4.

"That's all we got?  Is one goddamn series win?"


While the league's historical rate for closing out 2-0 leads is 86.6% (266/301 - WaPo), the Caps are lagging that slightly with their 20% success rate.

Ain't that some shit.


I mean, I remember 1998 vs. Ottawa. Hell, I was at Game 2! I had just returned from college and an old teammate invited me to the game. Boy, we stomped the Senators that night!

If I had known at the time that I would be witness to the Caps only 2-0 series lead that would result in a series win - I would have done something memorable.

I was under 21 and the "Phone Booth" isn't a college bar, so I wouldn't have gotten drunk. And I probably wouldn't have set anything on fire. That would be arson.

But I would have done something, dammit!

13 years later, we try for that lofty goal of converting on a 2-0 series lead (in 7-gm series) for the 2nd time in franchise history.

And we have encountered our first setback. The Caps will not win 16 straight en route to their first Stanley Cup. There will be no sweep of the New York Rangers (would have been franchise's first sweep in a 7-game series).

The Rangers didn't seem to do anything different. Maybe there were a few more pronounced porn 'staches. Also, instead of Sean Avery being a pest, Sean Avery and Brandon Prust were pests.

Neuvy seemed a bit rattled though. I thought he would have just ignored. He has ice in his veins, right?

The Caps never had the lead. OT seemed likely, but Brandon Dubinsky had something to say about that.

So rather than rest comfortably for the next three days, I live in fear. You see, in playoff hockey, the result clouds the game.

Maybe today wasn't a New York Rangers blow out. Maybe the Caps came out a little flat and a little sloppy, but responded and played a decent enough game. They still could have won.

But they lost. So it feels like Armageddon is upon us.

And now you have to look back at Games 1 and 2 and say those games were pretty close as well. So maybe the Caps were fortunate to win those games.

But they won those games. So it felt like the Stanley Cup was coming to DC.

Thus the series stands 2 games to 1 in favor of DC. I would like to think that Game 3 will serve as the proper wake-up call.

The Caps will become hungry again. They will take no shit from the Rangers on Wednesday night. Game 4 will be much more smooth for DC.

I mean seriously, if the Caps can't get motivated to kill the Rangers in Game 4, then what business do we have talking about the Stanley Cup?

Rather than let an inferior team with inferior tricks succeed against DC, the Caps will calmly remind the hockey world that John Tortorella is a one trick pony, Sean Avery is a douche, and New York as a whole is overrated.

I see no reason why this won't be the case. I have faith in my team. I have faith in Neuvy.

And after Game 4 is done, the Caps should have a stranglehold on the series with a commanding 3 games to 1 lead.

Of course, by my count, the Caps are 2-4 (in series outcomes) in which they have held a 3 games to 1 lead.

The ONLY two series in franchise history that the Caps have converted a 3-1 series lead into a series win took place in 1998 (vs. Ottawa and Buffalo).

I guess the bright side is that when the Caps get off their rear ends and decide to do something with the series leads, they go far in the playoffs.

But really. As we all know, the only 3 games to 1 series lead this iteration of the Caps has seen, it pissed away to Montreal last year.

Shit.

Speaking of Major League, I'm going to make like I'm GM Charlie Donovan meeting with Owner Rachel Phelps and go chug some Mylanta straight out of the bottle.

Someone please remind me that past performance is not a predictor of future behavior?

Let the Games Begin!

It is go-time.  It is officially the day that Game 1 will be played.  Bring on the Rangers!  

Yes, that lowly, 8th-seeded Rangers team - aka - the team that took 3 of 4 games from DC during the regular season.  

And let's not get into the score of two of those games.

I will say however, that I am glad the Rangers beat the Caps 6 to 0.  That game was right before the trade deadline.

It was a reminder to George McPhee that he couldn't stand pat.

I don't know what he was thinking or when, but he certainly could not have gotten away with doing nothing after that game.

Funny how things go in life.  As an "old school" Caps fan, I am supposed to favor match ups with former Patrick Division teams.

But the Rangers were so 2 years ago.  And I kind of wanted to see what it would be like to face the Hurricanes in the playoffs.

Alas, the Hurricanes had their chance and couldn't get it done.  The Rangers did.  

And so we play the Rangers.

Looking back to two years ago it seems that many people remember that the Caps won the series against the Rangers before losing to the Penguins in round 2.

(As an aside, that is the opposite of what happened in 1994, but I digress)

Many people remember Sergei Fedorov's goal 3/4 of the way through the 3rd period of Game 7.  They remember that the Caps won the game 2 to 1.

What is sometimes swept under the rug is that the Caps went down in the series 3 games to 1.  Included in that was dropping Games 1 and 2 at home.

The Caps were the 2-seed.  The Rangers were the 7-seed.  Yes, the Caps won, and got the franchise's first (and only) playoff win since 1998.

But, that series was disproportionately too close for comfort.  And while the Caps showed up in Games 5 and 6 to force a Game 7 -- they came out flat as a pancake in Game 7.

Let's remember that it was the Rangers that scored first in Game 7.  And quite frankly, Alexander Semin's equalizer was a fluke.

It was damn near 2-full periods later when Sergei Fedorov won it for DC.  There was a lot of jubilation in DC, to be sure.

But in my mind, it was mainly relief.  

Had the Caps not won that game and followed 2009 with the same 2010 loss to Montreal, Bruce Boudreau would have been fired last summer.  

No question about it.

But as in life, the hockey playoffs are a game of inches.  The Caps did win.  The 3-1 deficit quickly became a distant memory.  

And further, the Caps put on a hell of a show against the Penguins.  

I know.  The Caps blew a 2-0 series lead.  Again.

The Caps laid a big egg in Game 7.  And lost to Pittsburgh - AGAIN.

But, in totality, I take that series against the Penguins over the series against the Rangers any day of the week.

Of course, the Caps took their learnings from 2009 and learned in 2010 that they weren't suited for the 2nd- round.  But, let's pretend that never happened.

****************************************

Fast forward to now.  What does this all mean?

As much as I think that John Tortorella's "the pressure is on them" approach is worn-out, he obviously gets results from his teams.

The Rangers are confident.  And they will get a leadership boost from the return of Chris Drury.  They have shown an ability to defensively handle the Capitals too.

But rather than clamping down in a defensive shell, if the Caps are to win this series, they have to overcome the Rangers defense and light the lamp.

For some reason, I'm not worried about Henrik Lundqvist.  I get it, 11 shutouts.  

But, I think the Caps have an ability to break him.

Not just in the form of crashing the net.  But on first chance shots as well.  Let's not forget that Ovi has a rocket.  And so does Semin - who performed well against the Rangers in 2009.

Yes, the Caps need to create screens and crash the net for rebounds.  But they need to wear out King Hank's glove hand from minute 1 -- and open up the top shelf.

The offense is at full-force right now.  Everybody is healthy.  And if they aren't so predictable and lazy as they are when they are playing bad hockey, they should be fine.

Move the puck around.  Keep the Rangers on their toes.  Keep Hank moving laterally - get the open shot.

And they should get the puck in the net.

Skate down the middle.  Shoot from the blue line with nobody else in the zone. And you've basically just created a turnover.

Stick Green and Arnott on the points for the power-play.  Hopefully that will work enough magic to keep the Rangers from feeling they can take penalties whenever they want.

Neuvy will be fine.  I'm not worried about him. He's a cocky little SOB.  And he knows Varly and Holtby are waiting in the wings.

Something tells me he's a gamer.  Maybe the 14 playoff series he's won in North America.  I don't know.  But I think Neuvy will wind up matching Lundqvist's performance - if not bettering him.

I'm not worried about the Rangers offense.  As long as the Caps stay healthy on defense, they should be able to handle the Rangers attack.  Especially with Ryan Callahan out.

Wideman will be out.  Let's see how Green performs defensively?  He stepped up his defensive game in the regular season, but let's see if he can get it done in the playoffs. 

Fair or unfair, the last Caps/Rangers playoff memory of Jeff Schultz is from 2009 when Brandon Dubinsky broke his ankles and won Game 1.  But Schultz has stabilized since.  He should be ok.

Erskine did a marvelous job of handling Sean Avery in 2009.  I think he is underrated as all get-out.

Hannan is a rugged defenseman.  And hopefully the Carlzner wonder-boys will be a solid pairing.

But if one person gets injured, there really is no depth.  Tom Poti isn't ready to return.  Then it's on to Tyler Sloan, Brian Fahey, or Sean Collins.

Overall, the D should get it done, if healthy.  

As long as the offense steps up - we should be ok.  We are deep in goal.  Our penalty kill should be fine.

Hopefully, the power play will come to life as a result of the offense coming to life.

Long story short, the Caps control their own destiny.  They either want it and come out with intensity - or they suffer a fate more embarrassing than that of last season.

It's game time.  People have every right to question the Capitals' playoff toughness.  

The Caps have 1 playoff series win since 1998 - and it relied a little too much on luck for my taste.

They either want to do something about that or they don't.  They are either pissed off and ready to re-write history or they are confined to self-fulfilling prophecies.

It's up to them.  Now's the time.  

Show us what you're made of, Caps......

My Last Caps vs. Rangers Playoff Game

So it is. The New York Rangers. The classiest organization in the league. The team that plays in the greatest city in the world.

And in the greatest arena in the world. And has the best fans ever. So they say.

The last time I was at a Caps/Rangers playoff game I was in high school. To be precise, the date was May 7, 1994.  It was Game 4 of the second round.

Interestingly enough, in the first round the Caps beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in 6 games.

It was the first/last/only time the Caps have beaten the Penguins in the playoffs. Vomit.

And heading into this fateful Saturday night in Landover, the Caps trailed the Rangers 3 games to 0. Lots of annoying Rangers fans at the Capital Centre.

Pretty sure I saw a few brooms there, too.

I had a feeling the series was already over. I just didn't want it to end on my watch. I shouldn't be into consolation prizes.

But I was young. And I can't stand New York sports fans.

All I wanted was to not witness the Caps' elimination. To not have to deal with New Yorkers being New Yorkers.

To provide them with a little unhappiness and me with a peaceful ride home.

Showing a somewhat surprising refusal to die, the Caps actually came to play that night.

For some reason I remember the Caps only allowing a goal en route to a near shutout.

Todd Krygier had 2 goals for DC.  Joe Juneau one goal.  Jason Woolley the other.

In reality, the final was 4 to 2 in favor of the Caps.  Regardless, the Caps won and it wasn't really close.

I had earned a temporary reprieve and that peaceful ride home I so desired.

A lot of Caps fans chanted the then-popular "19-40!" in response to winning the game.

Probably a bit over the top for a fan base that was still 1 game away from elimination and had no control over the series.

But that was indeed the last time the Rangers had won the Stanley Cup at the time and I guess you have to celebrate the victories in life, right?

Well, in a "brought to you by 'touche'" moment - some Rangers fans responded with "19-Never" on the way out of the arena.

Clever, I'll give them that.

What pains me is that one of those chants quickly became outdated and the other one is still current.

See, it was two nights later in New York when reality would set in. There would be no precursor to the 2010 Flyers comeback over Boston.

The Rangers took Game 5 at home and finished off the Caps.

And as any Rangers fan will tell you - and tell you again - two rounds later they were Stanley Cup champions for the first time in 54 years.

"Matteau!  Matteau!"  quickly turned into "And this one will last a lifetime!" as they took a dramatic 7-game series against the Devils and then another 7-game series against the Canucks.

Not to beat a dead horse, but those two Game 7 home wins are the same number the Caps have in franchise history........

***************************************************************

Fast forward about 7 years.  It was January 2001.  I had just gotten back from a semester abroad in the Netherlands.  I was on my winter break for a few weeks before needing to return to college.

My friend from New York invited me up to see a Rangers game.  The train from DC to NY as many of you know is extremely efficient, so I figured why not?

We saw a Saturday afternoon matinée between the Rangers and Devils.  That is fitting.  If you are going to catch a game at Madison Square Garden, it would make no sense if it was against the San Jose Sharks.

Might as well be a nearby rival.  And thanks to the fact that MSG is right on top of a train station, it made getting to the game very easy for me.

I just hopped on at Union Station-DC that morning.  And an hour before game time I was at MSG.  Perfect.

The game was wild.  Jan Hlavac had a hat-trick for the Rags.  Some guy named Theo Fleury scored for them too.  Former Capital Scott Stevens played for the Devils - as did current Capital Jason Arnott.

My friend explained to me that every Rangers fan thought some guy named Valeri Kamensky was a waste of space.  And well, they let him know it often.  That was his last season as a Ranger to say the least.

The Rangers were up 5 to 4, but gave up a goal in the final 90 seconds or so of regulation.  Gasp!  The game ended in a 5 to 5 tie!  Remember those?

I just remember MSG being loud.  A fun place to watch a hockey game.  For some reason all of the thick New York accents are a lot easier to stomach when the Rangers aren't playing your team.

That evening I wanted to do something touristy.  As I said earlier, I had just returned from Europe and was in sightseeing mode.

Throughout my youth I made annual trips to New York City to visit family.  But I never did anything touristy.

And of all places, my friend and I chose to go to the top of the World Trade Center.

I will never forget how frickin' scary it was to be on the roof of one of the Twin Towers.

That feeling is attached at the hip to my memory of the only time I've seen a hockey game at MSG.