Game 5 Caps vs. Penguin Scum 5-9-2009 Wrap Up

The Local Yokels:

(Com)Post: tripped up, bitter, bad memories, playing on. Times: on the brink, same old song, injury replacement, steadiness, yet again. Caps.com.

The Neutral Observers:

NHL.com: recap, two Russians, no luck, already fixed. AP Wire. CBC. ESPN.com.

The Other Side:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: stolen, still believing, still out, defensive. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: on the verge, been there, done that, for Gonchar, notes, ignored. Penguin Scum.com.

Final Thoughts:

This is going to take awhile folks because we still have a lot to get off our chests...

First of all, let us once again reiterate, we don't get as upset with calls that are made against us as what is not made against the other team. Was Evegni Malkin-Lindros tripped? Yes, no doubt.

However our problem with the call is primarily two-fold.

#1. The wrong player was penalized. It was Sergei (#3) Fedorov who did it and not Milan Jurcina. Eric Furlatt had no idea what he was looking at.

#2. The penalty came 25:41 after the last penalty resulting in a Power Play, an automatic too many men on the ice penalty against the Penguin Scum, was called. The Power Play before that one came at the 16:05 mark of the first period. You had essentially 60 minutes of "let em play hockey" which we respect in an important game. And it wasn't as if there weren't clear cut opportunities for more calls either. You had Ruslan Fedotenko high stick Tom Poti in the face right in front of Eric Furlatt with no call in the second period. Right before the "penalty" on Juricna, Alexander "Slappy" Semin had somebody put their stick blade into his skates as he tried to cut back and tripped him with no call. And then after the "penalty" was called and the Penguin Scum were on the Power Play, Boyd Gordon gets cross checked/interfered with and was taken out of the play as the final rush started.

Oh, and before we forget, Canadian Diving Team Captain, Lowblow Secondary Assist Cindy Crosby running over Simeon "the Saviour" Varlamov in the crease, knocking Simeon the Saviour's helmet off and causing a stoppage in play in the process. Goaltender interference anyone?

The there was Maxime Talbot in the first period started running around trying to stir something up. First he tried to land a head shot on A.O. but missed when A.O. sidestepped him. Talbot responded by punching A.O. in the back of the head anyway after the puck was long gone. Talbot then went after, and missed, Nicklas Backstrom. Frustrated by his in ability to hit anything that was moving, Talbot then slashed Backstrom on the ankles. This touched off the melee at the end of the first period. A.O., John "Coach's Pet" Erskine Bowles, Malkin-Lindros, and Brooks Oprik all ended up in the penalty box with roughing calls because of it. Talbot however didn't get called for anything.

Furthermore, after last night's shenanigans, the Caps are now 14-21 All-Time in Overtime Playoff games. You should already know that the Caps have dropped seven straight of those, but did you know that this is the fifth time in the last eight Caps Overtime Playoff games they have lost while trying to kill a penalty?

We have last night, Game 7 vs. Philadelphia last year, Games 3 and 6 against the Ning in 2003, Game 2 against the Penguin Scum in 2000, and for good measure the infamous Game 4 against the Penguin Scum in 1996 (that four overtime game, St. Calle Johansson was in the box for hooking when Petr Nedved scored with 45 seconds remaining).

Yet, we can't remember the last time the Caps even had a Power Play in overtime of a playoff game, lettalone won an Overtime Playoff game with a Power Play Goal. If somebody wanted to dig that up for us, the Power Plays for and against the Caps in Playoff Overtime, we'd be really interested to see how that breaks down.

So go ahead folks. Say we're "whining." Call it "sour grapes." Tell us we're "poor losers." Call us "kooky konspiracy theorists." Laugh at us. Do you honestly think that this hasn't happened to us before?

But ask yourself, why did Las Vegas treat Game 5 like it was a Professional Wrestling match?