There’s an old saying that sports are 80% mental, 20% everything else. It’s my theory that the same holds true for being a sports fan. It’s the reason why we believe our team can stage a miraculous comeback when down by 5; it’s what makes us concede the loss when they blow a one-goal lead. And it’s probably a big reason why many of us, after seeing the complete and utter collapse by the Devils Tuesday night, let out a groan of annoyance.

The Penguins. Again. Ugh.

Since Washington’s inception in 1974, the Caps and Penguins have each made the playoffs in a little over half of their seasons – and yet they’ve managed to clash in the postseason a whopping seven times over that span…with six series wins going to the wrong team. It’s enough to send shivers down any red-clad Caps fan’s spine, to be sure. If you were alive and a fan of the team during the 90s, you almost expected a Capitals-Penguins series in the first round. It was like clockwork and by the end of the decade the mental toll on the players and fans was obvious.

But we all need to get out of our heads for this one. As we said during the last series, history is history.

The plain fact is that all seven meetings between these two teams took place over a span of ten years, from 1990-91 to 2000-01. That it happened so often over such a relatively short period of time makes the bitterness over those six losses that much more pronounced. Try something enough times and fail, you’ll begin to feel like you can never win again.

But being so close together also means that the difference from year to year was small, that it was the same teams clashing and getting roughly the same result.

Consider this – it has been 8 years since the last Caps-Pens playoff series. There is not a single player on the Washington Capitals roster that was even in the system back then; that’s just about true for the Penguins, as well. Most of them weren’t even drafted yet, and some were merely toddlers the first time the Caps and Pens met back in 1991.

Now consider this – during those seven playoff series there was not one single year where at least five Caps from the previous year didn’t carry over. The roster was staggeringly consistent during the 90s, with a number of players who played in three, four or five of the seven series.

Hunter, Cote, Pivonka, Khristich – these are the guys who showed up year after year. Were it not for a broken hand in 1996, Calle Johansson would have appeared in all seven series; as it is, Peter Bondra holds that singular distinction. And in 2000 and 2001 we actually had a kid on the roster that grew up watching the rivalry in Potomac native Jeff Halpern.

Even in the most recent incarnation back in 2001 only two Caps dressed for the first time in a Capitals-Penguins playoff series – Dainius Zubrus and Trevor Linden, trade acquisitions that same year. Ten years removed from the first Penguins-Capitals series, a handful of players were still seeing the black and gold for the fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh time.

And while the Penguins’ roster wasn’t quite as stable, they certainly had their familiar faces popping up again and again. Guys like Francis, Tocchet, Murphy and Coffey, Tom Barrasso and Ulf Samuelsson, served as sidekicks to the infamous duo of Jagr and Lemieux, eternal heartbreakers in black and gold.

So this is where the mental aspect lies for Caps fans – in a decade-long span of time where we were forced to see the same Penguins take on the same Caps, with basically the same result.

But this year we start fresh. It’s two new teams facing off for the first time in what should be a pretty evenly matched, hard-fought series. Alex Ovechkin doesn’t know from Nedved’s overtime blast 13 years ago; Brooks Laich couldn’t care less about the time the Caps blew a 3-1 series lead. Varlamov, Semin and Backstrom are likely hardly aware of the one joyous win the Capitals gained over the Penguins, too busy dealing with the trials and tribulations of preschool at the time.

Whatever “edge” the Penguins have when history enters the argument lies only in the heads of their fans and ours. Pittsburgh faithful will have you believe that the past is relevant in some way; regardless of the outcome, however, it’s just not true. This team has already proven in so many ways that history is irrelevant.

For the players in this series, the motivation will come from the fresh blood infused into the rivalry in recent years, slights and insults and memories of a season series rife with conflict. It will come from the knowledge that the other team will play hard and the best is required – just as it has been all season, and in practically every game between these two teams since the arrival of Ovechkin and Crosby.

It’s a new day. It’s a new year. It’s a new series. This could be one to remember – and one to help erase the ones we remember too well.

And so we bid farewell to the New York Rangers. Give them a lot of credit – they gave the Caps a heck of a fight in a series that many “experts” were proclaiming to be a walk for Washington before the puck even dropped.

While most Caps fans probably didn’t expect the same, you can bet we also didn’t expect to see our team fall helplessly into a 3-1 hole. Even in the final, series-deciding game that followed two dominant performances by the Caps, it was the Rangers who came out flying and took some of the life out of the locals…if only for two periods. That’s some good, hard work by the Blueshirts to be sure.

Still, as much praise should be heaped on the Rangers (outside of the many, many off-ice distractions and disruptions), you have to think that at times they were only able to outplay the Caps because the Caps let them. We saw in each of the four wins how dominant this Caps team can be when they get going; even in the third period last night, when it looked like yet another series was going to slip away, the Caps dug deep and found another level that the Rangers simply did not have.

That level was why so many predicted Washington would come out on top in the first place. That level was why they won in the end.

For all the strange and bizarre twists of this series, though, the ups and downs, the underachieving mixed with bouts of dominance…the theme of this series was above all else a theme of redemption.

There was redemption for Sergei Fedorov, who had begun to show the signs of age in this series – that is until his rocket over Lundqvist’s glove hand won the series and reminded us of the player he still is.

There was redemption for Alex Ovechkin, who not only demonstrated his ability to be a role-player – albeit a highly visible, extremely potent one – but brought the competitive spirit each and every shift, each and every game. No dogs here, Milbury.

There was redemption for the six defensemen, proving to a league that had written them off as weak that they could hold teams in check – even a team with low-octane offense can bite you, and the Caps’ D limited the bites to 7 goals over the final 6 games.

There was redemption for Tom Poti in particular, a much-maligned defenseman in his time with the Rangers and someone who had drawn the ire of Caps fans toward the end of the season for subpar play. After getting the last few games of the season off to rest his groin injury he stepped it up big time in this series, scoring both of his goals (and a handful of assists) in front of his old MSG friends – and played some pretty great defense along the way, too.

There was redemption for the team, rebounding from a 3-1 deficit (and a sleepy first two periods in Game 7) to do something few teams have done before and giving the franchise, the fans and the city something to cheer about. That overtime loss a year ago seems blurrier and blurrier now that a series win is under our belts. It’s been a long time coming.

And finally there was redemption for the fans. This fanbase has long held the reputation, sometimes fair and sometimes not, of having no passion for the game of hockey. But if you watched the game on TV last night you heard it, the passion that is real and omnipresent if sometimes hidden, true Caps fans filling almost every one of the 18,277 seats and rocking the red right up to the end.

In person it was even more intense, a frenzied, raucous building the likes of which I, at least, have never seen before. The Phone Booth was literally shaking with excitement, as were we all as the minutes ticked away.

After the game players and coaches alike spoke to the enthusiasm and noise level of the crowd in that final five minutes after the go-ahead goal – but it actually started five minutes before that. Organic in its beginnings, starting with a simple camera shot of the Caps bench. Suddenly a round of applause rippled through the building and it built until people were up on their feet, cheering and screaming, no flashing lights or thumping bass or video screen or PA announcer to urge us on.

This ovation grew out of a love for the team, a recognition that it was now or never, a feeling that the Caps needed us to get that extra goal and take that extra step. It kept building until the moment Fedorov’s shot hit the back of the net – and when that happened it felt like the roof of the building would blow off. After that it seemed every hit, every pass, every clear of the puck was rewarded with more noise until the final seconds ticked off…and 11 years of suffering were forgotten.

And now we have to forget this series as well, for a different reason. One series is done, another begins and we look ahead to our next opponent – Pittsburgh. The first and last time the Caps faced Pittsburgh in the second round was also the first time they met in the playoffs period – and it, too, followed a Caps’ win over the Rangers. Washington would lose 4-1, all four losses coming after a big win in Game 1.

While there will be time to discuss why this year’s team is different from the ones that fell repeatedly to the black and gold during the 90s, there lies with almost every Caps fan a mental anguish at the mere idea of having to face the Penguins yet again. It’s time for redemption of a different kind, for relief. It’s time for the Cardiac Caps, this historic incarnation of the red, white and blue, to step it up once more.

Is there more to come, more redemption on the way? We can only hope.

Amazing.

It was an ugly, dirty win that needed to be ugly and dirty. It was filled with bad bounces and good. It was a time for redemption at the hands of one of the Caps’ most notorious underachievers in this series.

And most of all it was exactly what we wanted and what has been missing for so long – a playoff series win, done in historic and dramatic comeback fashion. Nothing else would do for this team, it seems; a fitting conclusion to Act 1 for the Cardiac Caps.

We’ll get more into this game, this series and the one that lies ahead starting tomorrow and heading right into Saturday, when Round 2 gets underway. Renewing acquaintances with the black and gold is always painful as hell fun – beware the hype machine, certain to kick into overdrive at the mere thought of an Ovechkin-Crosby playoff series. There’s time to talk about all of that.

But for now…just enjoy the moment:

Time for Round 2.

What a long, strange trip it’s been.

Win or lose, this series has to rank among one of the weirdest the Caps – or any team for that matter – has ever gone through.

There was Water Bottle Gate, a surreal moment and dark smudge on Verizon Center history that resulted in a bump on the head, an attempted joust with a hockey stick, insinuations and accusations about poor arena security and a suspended coach.

There was the phantom bite, Morrisonn allegedly taking a chunk out of Dubinsky’s arm – a case still unsolved, with both sides claiming different things and no action taken by the league (from which you can draw your own conclusions).

There was the Case of the Missing Goalie, first in Game 1 when Jose Theodore staked the Rangers to a 1-0 series lead and appearing in later games when vaunted Rangers goalie Lundqvist shrank from his throne to be nothing but human.

There was the crank call to ESPN insisting that Brashear and Mike Green were suspended for Game 7 – a story with nothing backing it up yet still miraculously making its way to the airwaves. Someone got fired, that’s for sure.

There was the Jekyll and Hyde performance that continues to be Sean Avery, a guy who cannot keep himself in check when playing his game all out and who disappears when asked to restrain himself.

There was the unprecedented whining coming from the other side – everything from the usual gamesmanship regarding faceoffs and penalties to the open letter penned by GM Glen Sather admonishing the Caps for having fans who dared drop the occasional f-bomb. As if New Yorkers don’t use that word as a greeting just as often as they use “hello”.

There was the two-goal performance from Matt Bradley early in Game 5 that, until Ovechkin’s late second period goal, gave him one more tally in this series than the Great 8.

And of course there is the general hockey aspect of it all that has just been so freakish in every way. A 7th ranked team that barely squeaked into the playoffs riding a hot goaltender to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. A 2nd ranked team that dominated in almost every period of action and yet had to claw its way back into the series game by game. Shots, goals, faceoffs, attack time, general control of the play – all favoring the Caps in what is quickly becoming the most lopsided seven-game series in a long while.

But all of that gets put behind us tonight.

From the moment the puck drops we forget about Tortorella’s hissy fit, about Sather’s letter, about the “bite” and the hit and everything else. We ignore history; it means nothing in the face of actual hockey that remains to be played.

And we focus on this team. This team, this game, this series, one night. We focus on the Caps, their abilities and strengths and the fact that they’ve made this a season in which anything – anything – is possible.

All that’s left to do is drop the puck…and maybe leave you with a song?

Now this hasn’t gotten the greatest response, but since the Caps haven’t lost yet when I’ve butchered a well known classic song I figured it wasn’t wise to stop now. Tempting fate and all. I won’t do it.

Looks like the Caps will be without their enforcer for the foreseeable future as the league handed down a 6 game suspension to Brash today, one for the pregame “bump” with Colton Orr and five for the open ice hit on Blair Betts.

So…it’s an interesting call by the league.

The one-gamer seemed pretty automatic, unfortunately, and questions about who started it and what was said are irrelevant since Brashear was the only one to initiate physical contact.

As for that other, lengthier one? I’m a little torn. Watching it live and then seeing it again on replay you could tell it was definitely a borderline hit, a little late and probably not the smartest move. I’m not of the opinion that it was “illegal” so to speak but wouldn’t have been surprised with a one game suspension. Gray areas abound on this one, particularly from the angles we were given.

Five seems a bit much, though – worse crimes have gotten less, that’s for sure. There’s a legitimate question (as there always seems to be) about whether the punishment is harsher because an injury is sustained; had Betts walked away unharmed this might not even be an issue.

It is a somewhat promising sign from the league that they’re serious about actually, legitimately cut down on head shots, you have to wonder where the suspensions have been in some other notable instances in this series and this season. Heck, you have to wonder about one game for hitting an innocent bystander with a water bottle versus checking a fellow combatant who, like you, is getting paid to be there, but…I suppose that’s neither here nor there. Inconsistency, thy name is Colin Campbell.

Just remember this ruling next time you bitch about “if Avery had done it, he’d have been suspended for life”, okay, Ranger fans? The memory of #16’s stick bloodying Jurcina’s face or hovering at Ovechkin’s throat is far too fresh, and Brash has been getting reputation calls since Avery was in diapers.

As the series swung up to New York for Game 6, CC’s parents were among the brave Caps fans who ventured into Madison Square Garden – a place where children are free to wander about happily hearing nary a curse word, a sacred building where no one ever throws things or questions the sexuality of the athletes on the ice.

It’s a happy, golden place to be sure.

CC’s dad was kind enough to send back this report from behind enemy lines confirming just that:

We’ve all heard the complaints from the Rangers about the “profanity” behind their bench at Verizon Center. Now that I’ve been to a game at MSG, I have to laugh: how could any of the Verizon language be any worse than some of the stuff that the “civilized” MSG fans in the corridors and stairwells yell at anyone wearing a Capitals jersey?

Simply stated, one hears frequent references to the male anatomy and its various uses, and the occasional “f*** you” and many variations on that theme. Although I’ll have to admit that the folks in our section were somewhat more refined. We were actually seated next to two other Caps fans who live in the NY area, both wearing Caps regalia. The worst we got from the folks behind us was when we stood up for the Caps’ fourth goal, and one guy yelled out “Sit down! Ovechkin, f*** you.”

The arena was loud, but it was no comparison to Verizon Center. The on-screen presentations were quite dull and the efforts to get folks to cheer were pretty mundane. I mean, really: how many times can the organist play “dah, dah, dah dah dah” to get the “Let’s Go Rangers” response? No real creativity there. And as soon as we scored the third goal–well, suffice it to say that you could feel the air go out of the building. And when the crowd no longer had anything to cheer about, they turned to their second favorite pastime: booing the home team and yelling curses at the visitors and the officials. Their one favorite epithet was a popular seven letter “a” word, hurled lovingly and loudly at the referees.

[CC's Note: Hmm...I bet it was 'arugula', right? Right?]

An interesting sidelight: as we headed out of the seating area amidst plenty of the aforementioned trash talk, I actually had a Rangers fan come up to me and ask if I wanted to sell my Ovechkin jersey. Well, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, right? And even with the trash talk, we heard no one–no one–saying anything about their Rangers winning game 7. They know that they’re toast, and I’m confident and hopeful that they’re right.

After leaving the arena, we walked out with a bunch of other Caps fans to the fenced-off area where the Caps bus was waiting; Bruce Boudreau walked over to say hi to some folks he knew, and GMGM, Ovie and a few other folks waved to us as they boarded the bus.

We had a great time, and we’re looking forward to game 7 tomorrow night back at our home arena. I feel like clicking my heels like Dorothy and saying, “there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.” Well, maybe I’ll just show up at the game and cheer as I always do!