from Barry Svrluga of The Washington Post,

This was never going to end in five games. It just wasn’t, and if you allowed that little sliver of a thought to enter your brain at some point on a sunny Thursday afternoon, well, suppress it and hang on. When the Washington Capitals lost the opener of their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins last week, Barry Trotz, their coach, said matter-of-factly, “It’s going to be a long series.”

And guess what? It’s going to be a long series.

Nothing was determined in Thursday night’s 3-1 victory for the Penguins, other than, whatever happens Saturday in Washington, there absolutely will be a sixth game back here Monday night. The series is even at two games apiece. Mark your calendar. Get the chores done while you can. Maybe even leave open Wednesday — and grab the airsickness bag — for yet another Game 7?

“We said we wanted to come here and at least, at minimum, get this thing to a best of three,” Trotz said. “Well, we’ve done that.”

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