What Now?

Clean. Dirty. Trapping. Wide open. It seems no matter which style the Philadelphia Flyers employ, the Washington Capitals can't find a way to beat them. Last night's 2OT loss was prbably the final nail in the coffin that buries Alex Ovechkin's first playoff experience. Throughout the series, even when playing well, the Caps just seemed a smidge short of really making me believe they could win the series. Let's be real, if not for a stunning comeback in Game 1 this series would literally be over. The Flyers have played great, bottling up OV and riding the hot goaltending of the usually average Martin Biron. I wish the Caps had lost last night's game in regulation on the bogus power play awarded to Philly when Viktor Kozlov was checked into Biron. It would have saved me a teeth-gnashing 30 minutes of overtime. Plus, I could have gone ape shit and had something to shout at my TV about. As it was, the Caps played well enough to come up just short. No penalty injustice, no dirty play; they lost because they were outworked at the goal mouth at a really bad time.

Really, what was there to complain about as the game wore on last night? I, with my meager pro hockey knowledge, had made a pregame list of things that the Caps needed to do to win Game 4 and make it a series. The bitch of it is that they made every single adjustment( and I'm sure many others that I didn't think of) and they still lost. A quick rundown of my mental list:

Help Backstrom: Of all the Caps youngsters he has looked the most uncomfortable with rough-and-tumble playoff hockey. Boudreau moved him off the first line, alleviating some pressure, and Backstrom responded with a goal and assist. Yet, it wasn't enough.

Put the power back in the power play: For most of the series Philly has been dirtier than my boxer shorts on Taco Tuesday. (For the record, the last part of that sentence is fiction. I eat my tacos on Wednesday.) The Caps needed to heat up the PP to discourage the Flyers from taking lots of penalties. After the Caps cashed in on a 5 on 3 created when dirtbags Briere and Hatcher delivered wicked slashes, the Flyers began to play smarter. The Caps potted two PP goals doubling their output for the series, yet it wasn't enough.

Spectacular goaltending: In the playoffs your goalie has to be your best player, making saves that he probably shouldn't-in effect stealing a goal. Cristobal Huet did that during his hot push for the playoffs, but hadn't in this series. Until tonight. He made several acrobatic diving saves keeping the Caps in the game. Yet, it wasn't enough.

Washington also cut down on their turnovers, boneheaded mistakes and poor passes. They delivered hits instead of being pushed around. Yet, it still wasn't enough.

I had said before the Caps qualified for the playoffs that I wouldn't care if they got swept in Round 1 as long as they made it in the tournament. I feel getting in has been a milestone for the franchise's comeback and this experience, however bitter, will serve them well in the future. I predicted the Flyers in six, so the Caps can throw me a bone by winning Saturday to prolong the agony. Of course, there is still a little piece of me (the stupid, I should have been a Cubs fan, glutton for punishment piece) that believes the Cardiac Caps have the Flyers right where they want them.
As CapsChick correctly points out, there is a precedent.