Caps Strike First; Lead Pens 1-0

You always say, it's nice when you don't play your best and still win. That was our Capitals on Saturday afternoon in Game 1. Don't get me wrong. I think they played well, even great, at times, but 22 giveaways and allowing countless odd man rushes will not get it done in this series. You know the Penguins will be better in Game 2 and let's hope the Caps are as well. Now, what a game it was on Saturday. After all the nutty buildup, I think the game lived up to the hype. Both 'superstars' scored. There was a ton of end to end action. Goalies were great (and not so great). It ended with a flurry and the Caps survived. Kudos to the Caps checking line. That's where they say Stanley Cup's are won. Teams with deep teams that can roll 4 lines are the one's that win. Well. the Caps have that. Matt Bradley has really emerged as a big time player in the postseason. And how about Dave Steckel who chipped in with a big goal, but an equally as big faceoff win with 30 seconds to go. Then there's Boyd Gordon, Chris Clark, Eric Fehr, etc. Big guys winning the battles. That's our advantage in this series. The Pens are a great team. They have an explosive offense and gifted players that will create opportunities all game long, but it's the garbage goals and the hard work that will determine this series and the Caps got off to a pretty good start. Now, the 'start' of the game was a different story as the Pens came out and took it to em, but I think that had a lot to do with nerves and the Caps having to get used to a completely different team than they faced in Round 1. The guys on NBC were saying time and time again that the Caps defense were being too aggressive and allowing the Pens to get behind them in the neutral zone. I think there is something to that, but I don't blame the defense as much as the forwards for those miscues. As Mike Green said after the game, if the Caps defenders stayed back and allowed the Pens to come to them, it could be a bloodbath because Pittsburgh's players are just too talented. Therefore they have to be aggressive. Now what killed the Caps on Saturday was the communication between the D and the forwards were not good. There should be forwards coming back to help out when the defense takes chances and that did not happen enough, but I'm sure it will be worked on before Monday. Now the giveaways are a different story. The Caps need to get those taken care of. Sure, there will be more giveaways and odd man rushes in this series because the offensive talent is so much better than the Rangers had. So, the Caps need to be more careful with the puck in the neutral zone and in the defensive zone and as the NBC guys said a lot: "live to play another shift". Now onto Varly. Wow. You knew that a 21 year old was bound to give up some bad goals just due to inexperience and not being used to the firepower of the Penguins skill guys. But the way he bounced back after giving up the softy was unbelieveable. Sure, the save on Crosby was lucky, but he made his own luck. How many times has that happened to the Caps in a game that was tied? Bruce Boudreau said that after the bad goal, Varly "owed us one." Well, that save and the one on the 2-on-1 right before it more than made up for it. The way he bounced back shows a lot about the kid's character and further proves he will be the goalie of the future. I know the Penguins will regroup and determine that the way to beat Varly is on the glove side. He has had his problems with the glove, but now it's up to the kid to work on that part of his game and it's up to the Caps to limit the chances they have. What a huge win it was to grab the lead in the series. The Caps need to build on this with a quality effort on Monday. I'm not saying it's a must win, but improved play is essential. While I wish this series would be over in 4 games, you know it won't be. This should be a long one and the Caps need to get better every game, and if they do and get some luck and some bounces, they are well on their way to achieving something that they've only done twice in their history. One side note - The fact that Anaheim's Mike Brown was not suspended for his brutal hit on the Red Wings Jiri Hudler is outright ridiculous considering what Donald Brashear got. Unacceptable NHL. Just because Brash has a history does not mean he should get run for 5 games while an equally inappropriate hit gets a slap on the wrist. Nice job once again Gary Bettman.