Game 4 Caps @ Penguin Scum 5-8-2009 Preview

Series J: Washington Capitals (56-36; 108 points; 1st Southeast Division, 2nd Eastern Conference, 4th Overall) @ Pittsburgh Penguin Scum (50-41; 99 points; 2nd Atlantic Division, 4th Eastern Conference, 8th Overall):
Eastern Conference Semifinals Game #4, Caps Game #11, Road Game #5, NHL Game #224

Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, PA. 7:08 pm. Washington TV: Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic. Radio: WJFK 106.7-FM. Pittsburgh TV: Fox SportsNet Pittsburgh. Radio: WXDX 105.9-FM. U.S. National TV: Versus. Canadian National TV: CBC, RDS (French).

Tonight, the Caps once again will look to put a hammer lock on the Series with the Penguin Scum with a victory in Game 4 up in Pittsburgh tonight. All-Time against the Penguin Scum in Game 4, the Caps have a very respectable 5-2 record.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post: being themselves, official complaints. Times: back to form, official complaints, ca$hing in, Game 4 Preview. Caps.com.

Neutral Views:

NHL.com: AP Wire Preview, discipline, simplicity, desperation, did it all themselves, did it to themselves, wake up call, still leading. AP Wire: history lesson, death threat.

Open Source Intelligence:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: taken seriously, death threat probe, very cocky. Pittsburgh Tribune- Review: back-to-back, cockiness, inspiration, critical complaints, seen this before, teen in trouble.

What Do We Expect Tonight?:

We've said it before and we're going to repeat ourselves in that there isn't a dime's worth of difference between being down in a series 3-1 as opposed to 3-0. So that means tonight's Game 4 is a MUST WIN GAME for the Penguin Scum and it is hard to imagine them playing any better than they did on Wednesday night. Conversely the only way for the Caps to play worse than they did on Wednesday night is for Simeon "the Saviour" Varlamov to have bad game. So this one could very well be a donnybrook. Three games into the series and the team that has scored first has lost every single game so far. Is this something we want to test tonight and allow the Penguin Scum to score first again? Maybe, because the Penguin Scum have yet to show any respect to the Caps and give them any credit for building a 2-1 lead. We can and have admitted that the Penguin Scum have played well and that the series is a close one, but the Penguin Scum are walking around as if this series is already decided in their favor. Should they jump out to a lead tonight, they very well could get even cockier and give the Caps the chances that they need to beat them. As for the Caps working the refs yesterday? The numbers speak for themselves and while recent history suggests that the squeaking wheel gets the oil, it could backfire on the Caps the way it did on the Penguin Scum. The Caps tied up Game 3 on a moving pick call on Pascal Dupuis (very similar to Sean Avery's moving pick on Mike "BEAM ME UP" Green all the way back in Game 1 of the Rangers series) that isn't called very often but was brought to the forefront by Pittsburgh's whining. Special teams could end up deciding this one.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 3
Penguin Scum 2
Winner by Semin

(4-6 in the playoffs)