CAPS TOP PENGUINS TO OPEN 2-0 SERIES LEAD

Washington Capitals’ 21 year old Russian rookie goaltender Simeon Varlamov is very close to moving beyond ‘phenom’ status.  Backstopped by his solid goaltending, the Caps defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 at the Verizon Center on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in the best of seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.  The series will now shift to Pittsburgh’s Mellon Arena for games three and four starting Wednesday night.

Varlamov stopped 33 of 36 Pittsburgh shots, while the NHL’s biggest superstars—the Caps’ Alex Ovechkin and the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby—each earned their first career postseason ‘hat trick’ with three goals apiece.  The big prize, however, was earned by the Capitals as they won the game and took control of the highest profile of the NHL’s semifinal playoff series.  Afterwards, Ovechkin gave his thoughts on the game and the reaction of the Caps’ raucous home fans:

"Sick game.  Sick three goals by me and Crosby. It's unbelievable to see how fans react, how fans go crazy. The atmosphere right now, it's unbelievable in town. You see all the red, and -- probably I'm afraid to go home right now."

Crosby was understandably less giddy over the game and his 3 goal performance:

"It's nice to score. But it's better to win. ... I'm sure it's entertaining for people to watch, if I were to look at it from a fan's point of view. As a player, you don't like when the guy on the other team gets a hat trick. That's usually not a good sign."

The Pens and Crosby struck first as ‘Sid the Kid’ netted the first of his three goals on the power play at 6:38 of the first period assisted by Sergei Gonchar and Kris Letang.  Pittsburgh would take a 1-0 lead into the dressing room at the end of the first period, but it didn’t take long after the start of the second frame for Washington to tie the game—they did so at 2:18 on Ovechkin’s first goal assisted by Viktor Kozlov and Sergei Fedorov.  The Penguins would regain the lead with Crosby’s second goal of the game, this one coming at 10:57 of the period assisted by Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin.  Washington’s Dave Steckel would tie the game at 15:49 assisted by Tyler Sloan and Brian Pothier, and the stalemate would stand at the end of the period.

In the final period, Ovechkin took over starting with his second goal of the game scored on the power play at 12:53 set up by Mike Green and Nicklas Backstrom to give the Caps their first lead of the night at 3-2.  Washington would stretch the lead to 4-2 on Ovie’s third goal of the game at 15:22 again assisted by Kozlov and Fedorov.  Crosby would score in the final minute of the game on the power play to complete his hat trick, producing the final 4-3 verdict.  He also added some more ‘bad blood’ to the already testy relationship with the NHL’s other top superstar:  per hockey tradition, the home town fans threw hats on the ice after Ovechkin’s third goal completed the ‘hat trick’.  During the blizzard of headware, Crosby appealed to the ref to make an announcement to get it to stop:

“People kept throwing hats. And I was just asking if he could make an announcement to ask them to stop."

Despite the Caps 2-0 lead, no one is thinking ‘sweep’ with the next two games on Pittsburgh’s home ice.  After Wednesday’s game three and Friday’s game four, the teams will return to the Verizon Center for game five on Saturday should it be necessary.  A potential game six would be back in Pittsburgh on Monday, and should a game seven be needed to decide the series it will be in Washington a week from Wednesday.