So Long Capitals

Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Lightning for bouncing the Washington Capitals from the Stanley Cup playoffs in remarkable fashion Wednesday night. The Lightning defeated the Caps in four straight games meaning that the Caps are the first #1 seed to get swept in one of the first two rounds of the playoffs since the current playoff format was adopted in the mid-1990s. I shouldn't be happy about a team losing, but I am. (My 2010 and 2009 posts partially explain my reasoning for this.)

I also enjoyed some of these text messages submitted by Caps fans on the Caps Postgame Live show (with my comments):

- At least the team got this far. Oh well. (Yes, it's amazing that the top team in the conference defeated a team that barely made the playoffs in the first round to advance to the second round.)

- Maybe next year? Yeah right. (There's the positive attitude we like to see.)

- Keep ur heads up. We'll get em in game 5. (That's funny.)

- Did I just watch the Redskins on ice? (That's also funny.)

- Say hello to the East version of the San Jose Sharks. (That's not fair to San Jose. The Sharks have actually made their conference finals plus they are still alive in this year's playoffs.)

- What can you say. The better team won.

Let's get to that last text. This was supposed to be the year that the Capitals made a Stanley Cup run. Washington Post columnist Tom Boswell wrote about the reasons why everything was falling into place for the Caps.

Any team that wants to make a deep run toward a Stanley Cup needs many things to fall in place. It’s a long, difficult checklist. In just a few days, an inordinate number of those factors have started to align for the Caps. Win an early series quickly. Get your stars playing their best at the right time. Find a hot goalie. Watch your foes get injuries, or risk elimination, while you have time to heal. Integrate young players who find their playoff legs. Meld veterans who mesh with old stars and add poise. It’s all happening.

After early playoff exits in the three previous years (in which the Caps were always one of the top-seeded teams), the Caps finally developed a defensive system that was supposed to get them to the next level. To me and other hockey fans, this was truly the reason why this year's team was different from the other Caps teams. Of course, Tampa Bay dismissed this notion, and the Capitals, rather quickly.

So now, the focus turns to Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau. Has he filmed his last TV commercial in DC?



It looks like a keg will fit perfectly in that cup holder!