So We Have a Series, Most Unwanted in These Parts

Pretty hockey teams are capable of playing ugly games, but who imagined Wednesday's Blight in the Igloo would have arrived hard on the heels of one of hockey's most appealing postseason games ever? If the Capitals tantalized their fans back in Washington with heart-stopping, high-octane drama in this series' first two games, they tortured them with ineptitude, confusion, and a maddening insistence on playing short-handed in game 3.   The lone bright spot for the Caps Wednesday night was, again, the play of rookie netminder Simeon Varlamov. Hung out to dry? More like abandoned by an AWOL set of skaters. Varlamov turned aside 39 of the 42 shots he faced. He was, from my vantage, the game's first star -- by a wide margin. The Capitals meanwhile managed just 23 shots on goal in nearly four periods of play. Rarely if ever did they win a race to a loose puck. Seldom did they exhibit poise with the puck in their own end. Sluggish in their skating, they took harmful sho...