That was ugly.
How many of you came back from the bathroom to find the Caps down 2-0 in the first period?
How many of you didn’t make it back to your seats in time for the second period only to find the Caps down 4-0?
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I couldn’t finish cussing about the first goal before the Penguins had scored a second goal.
By the end of the second period it was 5-1 Penguins. What do you say to a team down that many goals with only one period to go before their season is over? I don’t think there’s much you can say.
The crowd was ready, the Penguins were ready, but it really looked like the Capitals weren’t ready.
And maybe that’s a good summation of the Caps’ season. They played great, but they just weren’t ready.
I mean, let’s face it; we got our money’s worth out of the Caps this year. They played a lot of great hockey during the regular season. They broke all kinds of records, we got glimpses of the future with all of the call-ups from Hershey, we have found our franchise goal-tender, but in the end the Caps just weren’t ready to go all the way.
It’s a real shame that the Caps last game of the season had to end with such a lop-sided loss. Their season was better than that, this series was better than that, but all that will be remembered from this round of the playoffs will be the 6-2 loss.
On another note, I want to say how proud I am to be a Caps fan. You guys who went to Verizon did us all proud. The Caps lost 6-2, and unlike the last home game there was no garbage thrown on the ice, but instead a standing ovation for the team that kept us all happy for the past eight months.
The players may not have earned it on the merit of this game, but they certainly have on the merits of this season.
Now here’s what’s better about hockey than most sports…it starts all over again in just four months!
With what we’ve seen from Hershey, we can expect the Caps to be exciting again next year, and maybe next year…they’ll be ready.