GO CAPS!!!!

[lupin]

AO will still get picked as reserve (don't they do that?) so no rest for him.

[Ruzious]

You can't question the starts of Malk or Crosby they do have the 1st and 2nd point totals in the league. Also it is the Habs 100th year so there fans are just supporting the team which is how it should be even if you don't have a capable Forward to actually putin the game. Ovie probaly won't start to many All-Star games, but he still has a good chance to be MVP of them many times.

Am I right in guessing that the success or failure of this season rides on whether or not the Caps beat Pittsburg in the playoffs? It could become one of the great out of division rivalries in sports?

[Rafael122]

I think it's the Flyers more than the Penguins. The Pitt-Washington "rivalry" has more to do with Ovechkin vs. Crosby.

[Wizards2Lottery]

The Capitals-Penguins rivalry isn't only because of Ovechkin vs. Crosby. It goes back to when the Patrick division existed in the NHL. Then the Penguins beat us two years in a row in the first round of the playoffs (2000 and 2001). Similar to the Wizards/Cavaliers. Then the whole Jaromir Jagr deal happened. Since 2000, it was a succession of events where the Penguins just kept robbing us out of everything and anything. Plus the fact that Verizon Center is always split in half between Penguins and Capitals fans during the games.

Ovechkin and Crosby is just the icing on the cake. If the Capitals face the Penguins in the playoffs, that series won't go more than 5-6 games max. The Pens are a really bad team this year. This is what they get for being the Detroit Lions of the NHL, drafting three centers with top 2 picks in consecutive years. They have no wing players for Crosby and Malkin and they can't pair both together because the rest of the team would be horrible.

[Scabs304]

Both the Flyers ands Pens are the only real rivals the Caps have ever had. The Pens is hotter in the media because you have the whole Semin vs. Crosby talk and then Ovenchkin having beaten out Crosby for the ROY(don't know the name of that trophy) which leaves Crosby with a whole in his trophy room FOREVER. Flyers and Caps really don't like each other though.

[lupin]

It's all about playoff tragedy, from a Caps perspective, when it comes to the rivalries with Philly and Pittsburgh. The Pens definitely had a habit of knocking off he Caps in the 90s and the early 00s. I think the Flyers won a couple of heartbreaking 4OT type games back in the 80s.

[fishercob]

Lupin, I'm pretty sure the Islanders and the Pens were the 4OT opponents. Philly is a hated rival because they're philly -- because their fans are goons -- because of guys like Tochett, Berube, Kjell Samuellson, the Sutters, Brian Propp, and most of all , HEXTALL.

Pen's came back from 3-1 against us 2 or 3 times in the 90's.

[Severn Hoos]

Yep, the Islanders were the original 4OT game - and it was a Game 7. I watched the whole thing....

The Pens did the 3-1 comebacks against us, which was painful, but what I remember most about those playoff series in the 90s was Stomp the Floor. (What a travesty!)

And I was so encouraged to see my 8 year old son get so worked up for the series against the Flyers last Spring. I don't think he'd seen an NHL game in its entirety before that series (we catch a minor league game or two every year here in north ATL). But he was WAY into the Caps. And although it crushed him when they lost Game 7 in OT, I know those are the seeds that are planted to make a lifelong fan. We don't get to see nearly enough games down here (the occasional matchup on VS, if we go looking for it), but I can hardly wait for this year's playoffs.

[fishercob]

Frickin' Pat LaFontaine.

Sev, they just had an interview with Bob Mason on the Caps website and he talked in painstaking detail about that game. There was a lot of heartbreak being a Caps fan in the 80's and early/mid 90's.

[Severn Hoos]

Frickin' Pat LaFontaine.

Sev, they just had an interview with Bob Mason on the Caps website and he talked in painstaking detail about that game. There was a lot of heartbreak being a Caps fan in the 80's and early/mid 90's.

Thanks, fish - I couldn't come up with the name Bob Mason. All I could remember was "The guy with the boring name who played around the same time as Clint Malarchuk, Pete Peeters, and Donnie Beaupre and looks so good in that one playoff series but never really regained that form again." Or was that John Druce?

[fishercob]

Druce on the loose!

[WizStorm]

Man, what a turnaround by Theodore. It wasn't too long ago that I wanted that bum cut. I hope this is the same goaltender we see the rest of the year.

[Wizards2Lottery]

Yeah Theo is playing like a G. If it wasn't for Nylander, last nights game would have been a 2-0 shutout. Overtime was just beautiful by Theo. Richards missed a slam dunk but Theo stuffed Gagne and Carter.

I've almost given up on Nylander. After Fedorov's injury he had a chance to show he can man the 2nd line but he still sucks. Same for Jeff Schultz. Schultz might be the slowest guy in the whole league. If it wasn't for his long reach, he would be the most useless player in the league. Can't wait till Killer Carlson is in the minors next year. Lepisto, Carlson and Godfrey should be able to push Erskine and Schultz out of the lineup next year. The future is bright on the blue line with these guys and Green, Alzner and Jurcina.

[lupin]

Yeah, you're right - no 4OT or even 2OT playoff games, but they did have two series in back-to-back seasons in the 80s featuring 3 OT games among them. From a Flyers site:

1987-88
Lost Patrick Division Semifinals 3-4
6-Apr-88 Flyers 4 at Washington Capitals 2 W Boxscore
7-Apr-88 Flyers 4 at Washington Capitals 5 L Boxscore
9-Apr-88 Washington Capitals 3 at Flyers 4 W Boxscore
10-Apr-88 Washington Capitals 4 at Flyers 5 OT W Boxscore
12-Apr-88 Flyers 2 at Washington Capitals 5 L Boxscore
14-Apr-88 Washington Capitals 7 at Flyers 2 L Boxscore
16-Apr-88 Flyers 4 at Washington Capitals 5 OT L Boxscore
1988-89
Won Patrick Division Semifinals 4-2
5-Apr-89 Flyers 2 at Washington Capitals 3 L Boxscore
6-Apr-89 Flyers 3 at Washington Capitals 2 W Boxscore
8-Apr-89 Washington Capitals 4 at Flyers 3 OT L Boxscore
9-Apr-89 Washington Capitals 2 at Flyers 5 W Boxscore
11-Apr-89 Flyers 8 at Washington Capitals 5 W Boxscore
13-Apr-89 Washington Capitals 3 at Flyers 4 W Boxscore

And last years 7 game series of course.

[fishercob]

4/16/88 was one of the single greatest moments in Caps history: Larry Murphy springing Dale Hunter to beat Hextall in OT of game 7. Amazing! I still get chills watching this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rg2EiSBZ6Y

[Scabs304]

It's nice to be upset at a 2 game losing streak. Also nice to be more worried about if we can get the 2 or even 1 seed in the playoffs instead of sweating out making the playoffs.

[Rafael122]

Now this team is starting to play bad.

[ZonkertheBrainless]

Their defense is pretty bad. They try to outscore you.

Please please please don't collapse in the second half!!!!

[lupin]

what, you guys aren't happy with a 6-3 trashing of the Pengweenies?

[ZonkertheBrainless]

Woohoo! Another game winning goal in OT for Ovechkin! The pass to him was fricking sweet too.