Busy Weekend Ahead

For the second straight year, the Caps will be engaged in a two-city, back-to-back playoff set against a team from Pennsylvania. Just like last year against the Philadelphia Flyers, two straight wins by the Caps over the Pittsburgh Penguins will earn them a spot in the next round.

The Pens are feeling confident after their game three OT win and for good reason: they were the better team on Wednesday night. But the Caps must take that sickly feeling and turn it into 120 minutes (or more) of retaliation to make their season one of the best success stories in franchise history. (It only would be the third conference finals berth in franchise history.)

Before any eggs are hatched, though, the Caps must work like they've never worked before against a hungry Pens squad. Conventional wisdom suggests that the Pens can't duplicate their game three effort. But let's not forget that Pittsburgh reached the Stanley Cup finals last season with mostly the same squad that they're fielding. And they faced an elimination game in Detroit where they played a perfect game (that they won in OT) similar to Wednesday's effort.

So the Caps must work for everything, storm the crease and, perhaps most importantly, not let the Pens (especially Evgeni Malkin) roam free in their zone. It will take a total team effort, something they are fully capable of producing.

If the Caps try to skate by again (they clearly have not produced a 60-minute effort yet in this series), then their season might take a severe downturn over the next two games. If they put forth their best, then the Caps could be celebrating as early as Saturday night.

Pens Dominate, But Barely Edge Caps

The fact that the Caps even had a chance to win last night's game three against the Pittsburgh Penguins was a minor miracle. If not for Simeon Varlamov's heroic performance, the Caps would have been blown out of the Igloo with so much to think about. And, on top of that, two of the Pens' three goals were the direct result of fortuitous bounces.

That being said, though, the Caps should be ill this morning, swine flu-like even. After a very strong first 10 minutes, the Caps had nearly nothing in the tank for the final 50 in the 3-2 OT loss. They took bad penalties, were sluggish, didn't play with any heart and, quite frankly, shouldn't have been even in the game. It's not time to panic, but it might be close.

"Well, [the Penguins] played great. They were going on all cylinders and we were watching them skate," Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "As far as penalties go, I hope I never hear them complain about penalties again, picks, and everything else. I think we might have deserved the penalties, but they sure as hell deserved a few more than they got."

The Pens' first goal was a gift off the stick of Milan Jurcina, who needs to learn how to block passes away from the goal instead of right back to the shooter. The third goal was a gift from Shaone Morrisonn, who probably should have slid instead of trying to block Kris Letang's GWG while upright. The second goal, by Evgeni Malkin, was a thing of beauty I admit -- but by then the Caps already had taken way too many penalties.

Malkin was the best non-goalie on the ice by far. This confirmed what has been known for a while: as Malkin goes, so goes Pittsburgh. The Pens also did a better job of neutralizing the Caps' dominant energy line of Dave Steckel, Brooks Laich and Matt Bradley.

The only good news? The Caps still are up 2-1 in the series and, if they can somehow correct their ills, could close it out this weekend with back-to-back wins Friday in Pittsburgh and Saturday at Verizon Center. A game four loss would give the Pens all the momentum going into what would amount to a best two-out-of-three.

The same cannot be said for the Boston Bruins, who lost by a 3-2 OT count last night in Carolina.

The Caps won't practice today but will have a meeting and media availability. The loss should stew with them all day, steam tomorrow and then energize them for game four. If it doesn't, then all the good gained in the first two home wins will be lost faster than Varly can make another breathtaking save.

Malkin panic mode in full effect

Wow, could people overreact a little bit more? Even Spector, possibly the first hockey blogger I ever followed along with Mirtle, threw more logs on the fire by saying "he hasn't scored in 5 games."

True. He hasn't scored ... a goal. Just four assists.

There's no denying that Evgeni Malkin is struggling, but let's calm down a bit people. He scored a ton of points to start the series in Philadelphia and then slowed down, but he's still on a point per game pace in the playoffs. He took a bad penalty and had a bad game 2 but so did most of the non-Crosby Pens. Give him a little time (and hopefully some improved play from his ghost of a line mate Sykora) and everything should be fine.

Let's wait a few more games before we attach some goat horns.

Caps-Pens Preview: Hate Everything

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Hate Sidney Crosby... because he's the poster boy nobody wanted. He whines, he doesn't square up when he fights, and he sucks in air through his teeth during interviews.

Hate Alex Ovechkin... because he's a blank slate, someone that gets lauded for not sticking to cliches only because he doesn't speak English. Also, he head hunts and doesn't backcheck.

Hate Evgeni Malkin... because his head looks like a block of wood and he enjoys elbowing people without consequence.

Hate Marc-Andre Fleury... because his name is Marc-Andre Fleury. Don't you have a joust to get to or some peasants to beat, you landed fuck?

Hate Simeon Varlamov... because his name was spelled "Semen" when he was drafted but they made up some fake excuse to change it so he could save some embarrassment. Fuck that, I want my jokes!

Hate Mike Green.... because he's 23 and he's going to win the Norris and I'm 23 and once pissed myself after drinking with a guy named Norris. Also, his hair.

Hate Sergei Gonchar... because he signed a massive 5-year, $25 million dollar deal that everyone laughed at and then lived up to it.

Hate Sergei Fedorov... because he has boned Anna Kournikova and now he looks like he has AIDS or tuberculosis.

Hate Brooks Orpik... because his name is Brooks. The hell is up with that?

Hate Donald Brashear... because he is a cheap-shotting trogolodyte that has no business in the NHL. Also, he ended Marty McSorley's career. (I'm not saying what Marty did was right, but I think we all know that Brashear probably deserved it.)

Hate Bruce Boudreau... because he was the AHL coach for the Kings when they were looking for a coach right after the lockout, but Dean Lombardi went with Marc Crawford instead. That's not really Bodreau's fault, but then again I'm stupid so there.

Hate Alexander Semin... because he's a Russian stereotype and generally deserves all the criticism that Ovechkin gets.

Hate Nicklas Backstrom... because he gets too much credit for passing to Ovechkin. Also, he looks like a lesbian.

Hate Brooks Laich... Goddammit, another Brooks?!? Where the hell are these people getting their names?

Hate Jordan Staal... because people are lazy and say, "Crosby, Malkin and Staal" when it should be, "Crosby, Malkin... and then that one weird albino with the pinhead." Also, hate him because Penguins fans refuse to admit they made a mistake drafting him instead of Jonathan Toews or Phil Kessel because he plays defense, which is like saying, "Yeah, I'm glad I went blind because now I have a good sense of touch." Wait, it's not like that at all. Moving on...

Hate Eric Fehr... because I don't know who he is but I'm sure he's a jerk. (Fehr: Hey, I just got here, what's going on?)

Hate Chris Kunitz... because he looks like a Garbage Pail Kid and he'll always have that Anaheim Duck stink to him. Plus, he's leeched off better players his whole career. To quote Hunter Thompson: "He was just another noisy little punk in the great legion of punks who marched between the banners of bigger and better men."

Hate Jose Theodore... because I'm pretty sure he once had sex with Paris Hilton.

Hate Bill Guerin... because he has 3 30-goal seasons in his life. Does that seem low? If it does it's because he scored 40 goals one season and then signed with Dallas, where everyone forgot about him and assumed he was good. He's not. He is a weiner and he looks like a monkey and I don't know why people still know his name.

Hate Mathieu Garon... oh, you can't hate Mathieu Garon. His story is a Greek tragedy.

Hate the Capitals and the Pengu..ins. because no one ever shuts up about them. Including me.

Prediction: Penguins in 6. Everyone hypes up Crosby vs. Ovechkin while Malkin quietly throws up 10 points.