from Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post,

So here we are again, in late April, absolutely panicking. The Washington Capitals, for enormous stretches of two games against the Pittsburgh Penguins, have orchestrated essentially the best hockey they can play. They have, by a wide margin, more shots. They have held the puck more. And they have led for exactly zero minutes.

The result: They have lost twice, and they’re flailing. Their goalie — supposed to be a backbone — has instead broken down, and he was yanked before the start of the third period Saturday night. Their arch-nemesis, Sidney Crosby, has all but toyed with them, putting the puck between his legs like a Globetrotter on ice, scoring goals and assisting on others. And Verizon Center grows quieter still.

So the questions have now shifted from, “Can the Caps finally vanquish the Penguins?” to “Will the District host another hockey game again this spring?”

Put aside whatever the Caps said after this one, a 6-2 loss in Game 2 of their second-round series. After all these playoff series over all these springs, words are empty. We have heard about playing “desperate hockey.” We have heard about the “resolve in the room.” We have heard about how “this team is different.”

There is, at the moment, no evidence of any of that.

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