If you would’ve told me 3 hours ago that Simeon Varlamov would give up just 1 goal, I would’ve made the assumption that the Caps would win. One problem… Henrik Lundqvist was in net for New York in their 1-0 win on Saturday. And he was on fire! Washington had so many chances (35 shots) to get one past King Henrik. Ovechkin again did all he could to try to lead his team to victory… 6 shots, 10 more shots blocked/missed, and 5 hits. But the rest of the Caps seemed tight and a step slower than the Rangers. Mike Green was hesitant when he had a shot opportunity, and played poorly on defense. Alex Semin played up tight as well, and took a dumb penalty in the 3rd when he cross-checked Ryan Callahan across the face. The play where I knew the Caps were in big trouble was when Ovechkin hit the crossbar with 6:03 left in the game – that was their chance. Marc Staal made a poor turnover, and that gave AO the great scoring chance.

It seemed to me that Washington definitely felt the pressure of the must-win scenario. Rookie ‘tender Varlamov was pretty good. He looked shaky at times, but he had a solid outing; he stopped 23 shots. I cringe to think what the score could’ve been if Theodore was between the pipes… 3-0, 4-0?? I’d give Varlamov another shot in Game 3…

Now the Capitals head to the Big Apple in a hole that they thought would’ve been reversed at this point. If anything, Boudreau’s bunch would’ve expected to be up 2-0, not down 0-2. The Rangers have figured them out, and are giving them absolutely no room to create in the offensive end. The Caps need to somehow change that… changing up the lines could help. New York has also been efficient on the penalty kill, where they were tops in the league this season. With Lundqvist in net, and the Rangers playing so well defensively, I’m beginning to think that the 0-2 hole the Caps find themselves in could be too much to climb out of.

[Source: RedLightD.Blogspot.com]

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