The Capitals didn't spare anyone any stress in their first round series against the New York Rangers, but for the first time since their run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998, the Caps are on to the second round.

 

Now Washington is faced with what was once a traditional postseason rite of passage (or, perhaps more accurately, lack of passage): a playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The teams have faced off seven times in postseason play, all within an 11-year span from 1990 to 2001. The Capitals have won a grand total of one of those series, a first-rounder in the 1993-1994 season. The only time these foes have met in the second round was 1991, in the first of their playoff matchups. The Penguins won that series and also sent the Capitals home in the opening round of the playoffs in 1992, 1995, 1996, 2000 and 2001.

But there's no more Mario Lemieux, no more Jaromir Jagr, no more Olie Kolzig and Peter Bondra. Not a single player remains on either team from the last time the Caps and Pens locked horns in a best-of-seven series (although defenseman Sergei Gonchar was a Capital then and is now a Penguin). This year it will be up to new faces to reignite an old rivalry.

The Caps took three of the four meetings with the Penguins this season, but lost the most recent in a shootout on March 8.

To give you an idea of what to look for in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the three Capitals beat writers have each broken down a different aspect of the match-up.

Ovechkin vs. Crosby
By Abram Fox

The mere thought of as many as seven straight games between the Penguins and Capitals makes Don Cherry hyperventilate with joy.

Ovechkin versus Crosby.  The Russian Machine versus the Golden Boy.

Superlatives don't do these two players justice, so I'll do my best to avoid them.  On any given night, there's a great chance either man is the best hockey player in the world.

'Man' may be a bit of an overstatement, though.  Alex Ovechkin is 23 years old and Sidney Crosby is 21, two neophytes in the grizzled world of playoff hockey.

Nevertheless, the grand hype machine has already begun.  "Ovechkin vs. Crosby" is shorthand for unorthodox vs. traditional, for exuberance vs. respect, for Russia vs. Canada.  Upon learning that his team's second-round opponent would be the Penguins, Washington coach Bruce Boudreau provided one of his usual pithy remarks.

"Welcome to the circus."

The ironic thing is, while the two are arguably the two best active hockey players in the world, neither were their team's best player in the first round.  That recognition goes to Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin and Washington's Simeon Varlamov and Alexander Semin.  With 9 points, Malkin leads the league in scoring this playoff season, while Semin leads in goals (5) and Varlamov is in the top 3 in every pertinent goaltending statistic.

While some of their less-heralded teammates have been better statistically so far (though 'less-heralded' is almost meaningless relative to Ovechkin and Crosby), Washington goes as #8 goes, and the same for the Penguins and #87.  How each star handles the pressure and attention of this series will have a large part in determining the result.

Ovechkin is the more gregarious of the two, the extrovert who thrives in the limelight and particularly enjoys the challenge presented by Pittsburgh.  Controlling his emotion and channeling his energy toward the game, and particularly toward scoring, may be a problem for the Great 8, who throughout 2008 demonstrated a willingness to throw his body around, particularly at Malkin, at the expense of his effort on offense.

Crosby, on the other hand, is somewhat of an introvert.  He has been promoted as the 'next Gretzky' by the Canadian media since age 12, and responded to the immense pressure by developing an incredibly bland, non-offensive public persona.  Crosby suffers the same problem as Ovechkin when the two meet: how to focus on the entire game rather than one-upping your fellow star, particularly one you dislike as much as Ovechkin.

It will be a Herculean task for either team to take Ovechkin or Crosby out of the game.  It may be easier to blunt Ovechkin's effectiveness, since his primary strength is as a goal-scorer, but the Penguins do not boast the type of shutdown defender who can completely neutralize Ovechkin.  Brooks Orpik is the closest, though he will have trouble with Ovechkin's physical play.

Crosby, on the other hand, is a set-up man more than a scorer.  He is deceptively strong, and like the Penguins the Capitals do not have one defenseman to consistently match against Crosby.  Even if they did, it is far more difficult to eliminate a player whose strength is his vision, not his shot.  Washington must get inside Crosby's head early through a combination of physical play and verbal enticement, and make him focus on them rather than seeing the entire ice, to keep him from making plays.

Role Players Figure Prominently in Round Two
By David Nichols

While most of the media attention for the Second Round match up with Pittsburgh will be centered around the teams' mega-stars, the role players in this series figure to be vital to either team's chances of winning.

All season long, Washington searched for a consistent threat of 'secondary' scoring.  In the first round against the Rangers, offensively challenged Matt Bradley chipped in with two extremely important goals in Game Five, including a shorthanded marker.  But other than that … well, the Capitals are still looking.

Tomas Fleischmann had one goal and no assists on 13 shots in the first round, after tallying 19 in the regular season, and Eric Fehr was completely shut out.  Fehr was the only Capital who played in all seven games in the first round who finished with a negative rating, at minus-3.

The return of captain Chris Clark in Game Seven, due to the suspension of Donald Brashear, seemed to bolster the spirit of the squad.  Clark provided a spark on the ice as well, registering a couple of hits in limited ice time.  He did not score, but did drive to the net on several occasions, a task few Capitals – other than Laich – seem to relish.

General Manager George McPhee did not make a move at the trading deadline, and said at the time that Brian Pothier's return from post-concussion symptoms could be the biggest acquisition the Caps could make.  Pothier dressed in nine regular season games, with one goal and two assists and a plus-3 rating.  In the first round against the Rangers, his veteran prescience was valuable on the blue line.  He, and the rest of the Caps' defensive corps, held the Rangers to 166 shots in the seven-game series, 50 fewer than Washington registered.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the first round was the play of veteran defenseman Tom Poti (2 goals, 4 assists).  Poti often found himself on the ice squaring off with the Rangers' top line.  Poti was also asked to contribute to the power play, as coach Bruce Boudreau moved Ovechkin from a point to a wing to try to generate more traffic in front of the net.

The Penguins third line of Tyler Kennedy, Jordan Staal and Matt Cooke will look to pressure the Capitals 'D' with a strong forecheck, as they did in their first round series against Philadelphia.  The trio play a gritty, hard-charging style that is a stark contrast to the dynamic skills and skating ability of the Pens' primary lines.  Kennedy had a goal and two assists in the first round.

The Penguins defense is led by Sergei Gonchar, who scored the game-winning goal in the series clincher against Philly.  But he won't be tasked to stop Ovechkin, Semin and the rest of the Capitals high-flyers.  That duty will fall to rugged defenders Brooks Orpik, Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill.  Orpik (6-foot-2, 219 pounds) will probably be on the ice whenever Ovechkin is, and he'll try to physically wear down the league's leading goal scorer.

The trade deadline brought veterans Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin to the 'Igloo.'  The pair add plenty of grit and experience to a team that played with too much finesse up front in the early part of the season.  With talented but enigmatic wingers Petr Sykora and Miroslav Satan struggling, General Manager Ray Shero went out and found guys willing to do the 'dirty work.'  Oh, and it didn't hurt that Kunitz and Guerin already have their names stenciled into Lord Stanley's Cup.

Goaltending Duel
By Craig Stone

Charged with keeping their opponent's formidable scoring threats off the board will be a pair of young netminders: Washington's Simeon Varlamov and Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury.

Fleury, the top overall pick in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, is beginning to establish himself as a top-flight NHL goalie.  After three inconsistent seasons to start his career, Fleury battled injury and appeared in only 35 regular season games for the Penguins in the 2007-2008 season.  When he was playing he was stellar, and his .933 save percentage and 1.97 goals against average in the playoffs last season helped guide the Pens to the Stanley Cup Finals.

At 24 years old, Fleury was solid if unspectacular in the 2008-2009 campaign, ranking in the middle of the pack in goals against average (2.67) and save percentage (.912).  But now that it's playoff time, Fleury is stepping up again.  Against the Flyers in the first round he faced 40 or more shots twice and won both games, most notably stopping 45 of 46 Flyers shots in a crucial and close Game Four to steal a victory and lead the Penguins to a 3-1 advantage in the series.

Varlamov, who just turned 21 the day before ousting the Rangers in Game Seven of the first round, is more of an unknown.

In six NHL appearances (five starts) in the regular season, the young Russian went 4-0-1 with a .918 save percentage and 2.37 goals against average.  And he's been even better in the playoffs.

Since Caps Head Coach Bruce Boudreau inserted him in the lineup to replace struggling Jose Theodore for Game Two against the Rangers, Varlamov came through with a pair of shutouts, was on the short end of a 1-0 loss, and posted a ridiculous 1.17 goals against average and .952 save percentage.  His insertion into the crease was key to keeping the Capitals in the playoffs.

Fleury's 2.39 and .922 in the first round were good, but Varlamov was better.  Of course one can't discount the opposition, as Fleury was facing the NHL's fifth-most potent offense while Varlamov went against the third-worst.  But consider that Fleury's goals against average was more than double Varlamov's in the first round (a difference of 1.22 goals per game), whereas the difference between 28th and 5th in team scoring in the regular season was only 30 percent (a difference of 0.73 goals per game).

Make no mistake, though, Varlamov has not faced an offense as good as Pittsburgh's in even one game in his short NHL career.  The poise for which he was so frequently praised in the first round will be put to the test when he sees point machines Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby bearing down on him with control of the puck.

Maybe Fleury should have similar concerns in facing Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin, as the two pierced the Penguins keeper for four goals apiece during the regular season.  In total, Fleury struggled against the Caps in 2008-2009 to the tune of a 1-3-0 record, 4.73 goals against average and .862 save percentage.

With both teams known for their scoring prowess and not so much for playing solid defense, the goalies will likely see a lot of hard rubber coming their way in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Caps ranked third in the NHL in offense and 19th in defense in the regular season, while the Penguins ranked sixth in scoring and 17th at keeping other teams from scoring on them.