The collective thought process going through the Capitals fan base after Monday Night's series clinching win over the Blue Jackets was a sarcastic "Here we go again". For the third straight year, the Capitals will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and Caps fans let the hockey world know how they feel about this match up the only way they know how to deal with their emotions. Cynical passive aggressiveness. Caps fans are inundating the DC Sports landscape with sayings like "Get ready for another Game 7 loss", "I guess the Pens win the cup again this year", and "We better win in 5 games, otherwise we are not winning the series". Caps fans already resigned themselves to being disappointed once they saw that a black and gold 87 would be on the opposing side in the second round, but the fan base's cynicism is not without warrant. The numbers for the Caps vs. Pens playoff history have been bandied about over the past 48 hours, and none really favor the Capitals (quick note: most of these numbers came from Pensburgh Blog. Please check it out for a good history of this playoff match up). The Capitals are 1-9 against the Pens all time in playoff series, yet they are 8-2 in Game 1 of those series and they blew a 2-0 series lead in 2009. The Pens are 4-0 against the Caps in Game 7's, and they are 11-2 against the Caps in playoff overtime games. Finally, in all five (yes, get depressed Caps fans, FIVE) of Pittsburgh's Stanley Cup Championship runs they have defeated the Capitals en route to the promised land. All of these numbers equate to good reasons for Caps fans to be cynical about this upcoming match up, but there is only one number that should be coursing through the Capitals' mind right now. One.
The number one should be on the Capitals' minds because for the first time in the playoffs it feels as if the Caps have that one thing, that one guy, that all Stanley Cup Contenders seem to have once the playoffs roll around. They have that one hot goaltender who finds his stride come the playoffs. They have that one guy who comes out of nowhere to make significant contributions no one saw coming (Chandler Stephenson). They have that one guy everyone forgot was really good, and now is showing everyone why he is really good through playoff production (John Carlson). They have that one line that seems to have "it" whenever they are on the ice, and one that can give production outside of the superstars on the team (Connolly-Eller-DSP). They have that one guy who is not going to take shit from anybody and prove it by knocking heads and putting points on the board (Tom Wilson). They have that one superstar who can come through in the clutch (Nick Backstrom). They have the one superstar who has proven why he is the greatest in the most important game of the playoffs to date. Finally, the Caps have that one thing that has been lacking in all other playoff runs this past decade. Grit. These Capitals have a sense about them this year that they will never give up. It has been honed throughout the season and it was on full display in the series against Columbus. The 2-0 comeback, the double overtime goal in Game 3, the relentless penalty kill the last 4 games, Backstrom's OT redirect goal in Game 5, Stephenson's short handed goal in Game 6. All of this shows how this Capitals team will not be fazed by adversity as easily has they have been in the past, and that is a good thing because the one thing that is most important in this upcoming series with the Pens is more tangible than grit. Winning.
All it will take is one victory. One time for Alex Ovechkin to get the better of his nemesis to make the fan base believe in themselves again. It does not matter how many times the Penguins have ousted the Capitals in the past, all the Caps need to do is win this one series against their most hated rival to give the fan base back some dignity. One time where Caps fans get to celebrate in their own building, their own city, and not have to watch this travesty again. There have been too many times over the past decade where Caps fans' hopes have been dashed in gut wrenching fashion in the playoffs, but all of those don't matter now. All that matter is that the Caps win this one series, one game at at time, to give Caps fans something to come back at Pens fans with when the discussion of playoff success comes up. The Caps need to win this one series so that Ovechkin can say he got the better of Sidney Crosby at least once when it really mattered. Finally, the Caps need to win this one series in order to break the playoff futility of all DC Sports in order to give the fan base the one thing they want. The chance to see their team play for a championship.
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