At worst, it seemed, Game Seven provided a coin flip: even odds that the Caps could come away with one more win and reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the third time in franchise history. After all, the series had been unbelievably close on the scoreboard for six games. Three of those games required overtime, and the Penguins were outscoring the Caps in the series by only one goal.
But those watching every game must have known, even if they didn't want to admit, that the Penguins were controlling too much of the play, putting too many shots on net and drawing too many penalties. Over the first six games, the Penguins outshot the Caps by 66 and had 11 more power plays, both signs that Pittsburgh was dictating the play even though the results weren't making that obvious.
In Wednesday night's Game Seven, the results did make that obvious.
The Penguins scored two goals eight seconds apart in the first period and two more 1:45 apart in the second to cruise to an easy, 6-2 victory over the Capitals at Verizon Center, moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals while ending Washington's season.
"Whether we won or lost I never thought it would have ended up in a game like it was tonight," Caps Head Coach Bruce Boudreau said in his postgame press conference. "You've got to be ready every night. I mean, it's the playoffs," Boudreau added. "If you put yourself in a position like this, eventually you're not going to win games."
The first sign that the game might go poorly for the men in red came three minutes into the first period with it still scoreless, when Alex Ovechkin got a breakaway on Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
Defenseman Brian Pothier blocked Bill Guerin's shot in the Caps defensive zone and Nicklas Backstrom sent a clearing pass to Ovechkin, who was behind the Penguins defense. Ovechkin skated in alone on Fleury and snapped a hard shot to the Penguins goalie's left side, but Fleury made a stellar glove save to keep the Caps off the board.
"First ten minutes were pretty good, getting pucks in deep. I didn't score on the breakaway, so if I score first goal, maybe a different game. I didn't score it," Ovechkin said, lamenting the missed opportunity.
"It was a huge save by their guy. [Fleury] made a great save," Caps defenseman Tom Poti said. "That was definitely a momentum thing there. You know, we score there, it's maybe a different game. But you can't fault [Ovechkin]."
From there, the Penguins took over.
Caps defenseman Shaone Morrisonn went to the penalty box for a slashing call 11:29 into the first period to give the Penguins the game's first power play, and Pittsburgh took advantage.
A minute into the power play, Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar fired a shot from the point that was stopped by Caps goalie Simeon Varlamov, but Crosby jumped on the rebound and put it into the net to give Pittsburgh the early lead.
It didn't take long for things to get worse for the Caps, as Pittsburgh won the ensuing faceoff after Crosby's goal and immediately struck again. Just eight seconds after taking a 1-0 lead, Penguins right wing Craig Adams buried a low wrist shot that stunned the throng of red-wearing Caps fans in attendance.
"I don't think we could have come out any flatter, and they took it to us," Poti said after the game. "They got a lucky bounce on the first goal and it was just kind of mayhem from there on in."
When the horn sounded to end the first intermission, the Penguins had a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard and a 16-5 lead in the shot count.
The start of the second period didn't bring a reversal of fortunes for the Caps, as Guerin extended the Penguins lead to 3-0 just 28 seconds in. With Pittsburgh controlling the puck in the Caps zone, Bill Guerin found himself wide open above the faceoff circles, and Crosby hit him with a pass. Guerin quickly ripped a high shot past Varlamov and into the net.
And it got even worse.
It was a disappointing loss for Alexander Oveckin and the Capitals after falling to the Penguins with a score of 6-2 during the seventh game of the Stanley Cup playoffs at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Alan P. Santos/DC Sports Box File Photo
Less than two minutes later, Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang got a pass at the point from Evgeni Malkin and unloaded a slap shot over Varlamov's left shoulder, chasing the rookie goalie from the game after he gave up four goals on 18 shots in 22:13 of playing time.
"[Varlamov's] been unbelievable for us and then we kind of leave him out there to dry like that," Caps forward Matt Bradley said. "It had absolutely has nothing to do with Varly."
"After the third goal ... I was thinking of pulling him because he looked really dejected, and maybe I should have called a time out at that point. But after the fourth goal I think the wind completely came out of his sails," Boudreau said of his 21-year-old netminder.
Jose Theodore, who hadn't stepped on the ice during play since Game One of the first round against the Rangers, came in to relieve Varlamov with Pittsburgh well in control.
Jordan Staal all but ended the game 11:37 into the second period, when he extended Pittsburgh's lead to five. Staal found himself uncovered right in front of Theodore, and Miroslav Satan hit him with a pass for the easy goal to make it 5-0.
"We thought we play well when we're behind," said Capitals Captain Chris Clark. "Two goals, you can come back to; three goals gets harder; four and five just, obviously, gets harder and harder."
It was strangely appropriate that with five minutes left in the second period and the Capitals down by a handful, the Verizon Center scoreboard showed "Funny Follies," a series of clips of people falling violently or getting hit in the groin.
By the time Ovechkin scored on a gift from Fleury with just over two minutes left in the second period, it was little consolation for the 18,000-plus in attendance.
With just under two minutes left in the first period, the Caps finally got on the board when Fleury went behind his net to stop a dumped puck and tried to flick a backhand pass to a Penguins defender. Ovechkin was right there to snag the no-look pass, and before Fleury could get back to the front of the net the reigning MVP had whipped around and deposited his eighth goal of the series and 11th of the playoffs.
At the end of the second period the shot count read Pittsburgh 24, Washington 12.
With the Caps hoping to show some life and claw their way back to respectability early in the third period, their hopes were dashed even more when Brooks Laich took an obvious high sticking penalty when he unintentionally whacked Crosby in the face, drawing blood and putting the Caps on a four-minute penalty kill.
Despite the man-disadvantage, the Capitals managed to work their cycle game in the Penguins zone until Mike Green passed a puck back to Ovechkin at the point, who was quickly tripped by Satan. That (and a non-call by the referees) freed Crosby to take the puck all the way in on Theodore alone, burying his second goal of the night to make it 6-1 two minutes into the third.
Crosby now leads the NHL with 12 playoff goals and 21 points.
Laich tacked on a meaningless goal with 13:24 left in the game, scoring on a sharp angle after collecting the rebound from a Tomas Fleischmann shot to make it 6-2. It was Laich's third goal of the postseason and Fleischmann's first assist, and it proved to be the last goal the Caps would score in the 2008-2009 season.
The remaining time ticked down and the Washington faithful gave the team a healthy standing ovation for the season's accomplishments, but in the end it was an all-too-familiar scene: the Capitals on the disappointed end of the after-series handshake with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
"You have more time to think about it before the end of the game," Boudreau said of the blowout loss. "It's definitely anti-climactic."
Boudreau also hinted after the game that Ovechkin, Green, Poti and Alexander Semin were all playing with injuries, but he didn't want to elaborate for fear of it being construed as making excuses.
"Quite frankly I'm embarrassed right now. ... I have no idea why we played like that or what the problem was, but there's really no excuse for that," said Bradley. "I feel bad that we let our fans down."
"It's a tough pill to swallow," Laich said. "We did a lot of good things this year, but this game tonight is how this season is going to be remembered. And it's a shame because I think a lot of our players did a lot of good things. As an organization, I thought we did a lot of good things. It's a sour note to go out on."
The Caps are now 1-7 in playoff series against Pittsburgh, including an 0-3 record in Game Sevens.
The Penguins move on to play the winner of Thursday's deciding game between the Boston Bruins and the Carolina Hurricanes.
