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Sports

This is the Year the Washington Capitals Make it Out of the Second Round

The Pittsburgh Penguins have eliminated the Caps two years in a row in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As they get ready for a third straight matchup, Washington is ready to break the streak.
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

It’s not uncommon for sports fans to call out from work following a big playoff victory. The celebration from the night before goes a little too far. You find yourself hung over the next morning trying to conjure a believable lie for your boss with a hoarse voice while laying in bed next to a chair you stole from the bar for a reason that made sense a few hours earlier.

There are likely a lot of employees in the District of Columbia and parts of Virginia and Maryland who made that phone call this morning; only it had a much different tenor. These were Washington Capitals fans unable to face the next two weeks and needed a day to process everything. The call was likely loaded with honesty.

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“Hey, it’s me, I can’t make it in today.”

“What’s wrong? You sound awful. Everything OK? Have you been crying?”

“[deep, prolonged sigh] Actually, everything is not OK. It’s sort of personal so I’d prefer to not get into it.”

“I don’t mean to pry. Your sick days and personal days are free for you to use. But you sound really bad. I want you to feel comfortable talking to me.”

“Well, the Washington Capitals eliminated the Columbus Blue Jackets last night.”

“And?”

“And they have to play the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round again.”

“Take the rest of the week off. Come back when you’re ready. Your job will be waiting for you.”

Capitals fans had every reason to stay up all night Monday and into Tuesday, rocking silently in a corner, staring into the distance, quietly muttering “Ovi Era” whenever the dog got too close. Penguins-Capitals playoff series the past two years for Caps fans were like that cylindrical amusement park ride that spins you around inside of it really fast and makes you throw up; you don’t know why you get on it when the fair comes to town every year but you always do and always hate yourself for it.

But take a look at this from the perspective of the neutral observer.

Alex Ovechkin getting another shot at a trip to the conference finals against Sidney Crosby—the player he will be compared to for all eternity—and the Penguins—the team that has ripped out a fan base’s heart and won two straight Stanley Cups along the way—is tremendous theater. People love talking themselves into cheering for loser teams with colorful characters that can’t get over the hump. It’s why we root for Democrats.

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So, like a terrible boyfriend or a degenerate gambler with a new blackjack system, let me tell you why things will be different this time.

When the Capitals arrived in the playoffs the past two seasons, like a couple trying to get pregnant, they came with expectations. They won the Presidents’ Trophy in 2016 with 120 points and won it again in 2017 with 118 points, while also acquiring Kevin Shattenkirk at the trade deadline. The team was stacked and anything less than the Stanley Cup was considered a failure, but the moment something went wrong, they fell apart like an IKEA bookshelf built by Nicklas Backstrom, the IKEA bookshelf of postseason performers.

Rather than fold when facing adversity this year as the Blue Jackets built a 2-0 series lead with two overtime wins, the Capitals responded with four straight wins of their own (three on the road). When things had an opportunity to go sideways in the third period of Game 6 last night, the Capitals again showed backbone. If any team was going to fall apart, it was this team, in this situation. Instead they righted themselves and got better with each game.

There’s something to be said for not feeling pressure and having nothing left to lose. Braden Holtby was horrific over the final two months of the regular season, and, perhaps reflecting this new attitude of the Capitals, was stellar after replacing Philipp Grubauer in the third period of Game 2. Not only is Holtby red-hot heading into round two, he wasn’t needlessly run into the ground in the regular season like he was the past two years.

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When Holtby took the ice to start the second round against the Penguins in 2016, he was making his 73rd start of the 2015-16 season; last year, it was his 70th start of the 2016-17 season. That contributed to Holtby having an .887 save percentage in seven games against the Penguins last year and while he had a .923 in six second-round games two years ago, he had a .909 or worse save percentage in three of the four losses and was thoroughly outplayed by Matt Murray.

Holtby’s Game 1 start against the Penguins this year will be his 59th of 2017-18.

The Penguins also aren’t the imposing figures they once were.

For the first time in his trilogy, the Capitals and Penguins played the same number of games in the first round; in the previous matchups, the Capitals needed six first-round games to win while the Penguins only needed five games. There is no extra rest advantage for the Penguins in the year they probably need it the most.

Murray is coming off the worst regular season and second-worst postseason series of his young career. He had a .907 save percentage in 49 regular-season games and a deceptively high .911 save percentage in six games against the Flyers, as he had two shutouts but allowed 13 goals in his other four starts. He represents what the Penguins have been for most of the past three months—an unstoppable force at times and an object that can be moved with ease at other times.

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In other words, the Penguins right now look a lot like the Capitals the past two postseasons.

Evgeni Malkin enters the series at less than 100 percent after missing the final game of the Flyers series with an undisclosed injury. The Penguins have to be at least slightly overconfident at the thought of playing a Capitals team that, on paper, isn’t as good as the teams they beat in the previous two years, and there’s the accumulated wear and tear of two straight Stanley Cup runs. This is also the funniest thing working against the Penguins, because losing in the second round two straight years has become an accidental advantage for the Capitals much like Holtby’s extra rest as a result of struggles in the regular season.

That’s some long-con, Sun Tzu, rope-a-dope shit the Capitals are pulling and I love it. I’d give anything for the Capitals to win this series in five games and have Ovechkin tell the on-ice reporter, “Looks like winning all those championships by going through us really took a toll on them. Glad we took advantage of it.”

This is it. This is the year. The Capitals are finally going to do it.*

*Beat the Penguins and lose in the conference finals.