Never Tell Me the Odds

I'm ready, but not yet willing to give up on my Caps.  We've been here before, hoping against all good sense that our hometown hockey team can defy the odds. While we anxiously wait for Game Three, pondering the possibilities, here's another playoff edition of Fact/Opinion:

Fact: No team has won a series after losing the first two games at home, in overtime.  Only 19 of 103 teams have won a series after losing the first two games at home. One of those teams was the Capitals in 2009 versus the Torts-coached Rangers.
Opinion: We gotta get Torts a water bottle.

Fact: Tom Wilson's growth as an offensive player was an integral part of Washington's regular season success.
Opinion: Tom Wilson is also a bonehead who should be made to wear a shock collar with which an assistant coach could taze Wilson if he is about to take a stupid penalty.

Fact: I understand a coach's job is to babble coachspeak and attempt to maintain an even keel in post game press conferences following losses.
Opinion: After Game 2, Barry Trotz should have dispensed with the happy horseshit about the many positives to be taken from the game. (John Carlson hitting the post with thirty seconds left wasn't a good thing. Somebody in red always hits the post.   It was more a sarcastic chuckle from the universe.) You can grasp at positivity straws, but I'd rather you get angry, rip your guys for the terrible second period, show ANY kind of emotion. If you are going to look like a Russian premier you might as well bang your shoe on the podium.

Fact: A young co-worker was lamenting the anguish she has felt during her six years as a Caps fan.
Opinion: That's nice. Come talk to me in another 24 years, kid.

Fact: The viral video of Brett Connolly's attempts to get a warm up puck to a young fan was heart-warming. (Except for the other two brats who kept stealing them, of course.)
Opinion: It would have been better for the other 18,504 fans in attendance if he could have placed a few pucks in the net instead of the front row.

Fact:Braden Holtby is talented enough to steal this series.
Opinion: Haha, good one, Bryan.

Fact: The first and third periods of Game 2 showed who the Caps CAN BE.
Opinion: The second period of Game 2 showed who they ARE.

Fact: Washington's power play is operating at an outstanding 38.5%.
Opinion: This is much less impressive when you realize Washington PK is allowing Columbus' PP to score at a whopping 50% clip.

Fact: I will Rock the Red until it's over.
Opinion: It gets harder every year.

Fact: I previously picked Columbus to win in seven games.
Opinion: Columbus in six.