Cardiac Caps Push It But Feds & Varly Win It 2-1

Simeon Varlamov - Tsarlamov, From Russia with Glove, Wallamov - whatever you want to call him, has been awesome in net, 2nd only to Roberto Luongo  in stats this playoff season and 1st star of the game 7 tonight.  He kept the Caps in it early in this game when they started out playing like shit - okay so let me define that - listless, not hustling, not battling, and generally not acting like it's a play or go home game.  Unbelievable, in fact.  The Caps believe their press clips way too much.  Much of the media handed the Caps the series on a silver platter.  That made me anxious all day.   Note - I agree that they Caps were way too anxious for this game - they just caused me a heart attack in the process. So my prior comments are reflective of being a frustrated, but passionate Washington Capitals.

Regardless, this game was all about Sergei Fedorov who got the 2nd star - he actually deserved the first star with the game winner. I was critical of his play during the first two periods because he seemed too slow and it seemed like Alex Ovechkin was always way ahead of Feds and Viktor Kozlov.  I wanted him off of Ovie's line and fast before the second period ended.  Don't get me wrong.  I love Sergei Fedorov and couldn't believe he ended up a Capital.  I mean, seriously, how did a legend end up as a Capital?  Sergei got the game winning goal on an absolutely beautiful shot at 15:01.  

In an eerily prescient moment, Craig Laughlin said on the broadcast something to the effect of Sergei will have something to say about how this series end. Wow.  He couldn't have been more right.

On a side note, Chris Clark played an up tempo, high energy game for his first game back since January.  

It took the Caps until the 3rd period to find their game.  They looked downright horrible during the first two periods.  And the last almost five minutes of that game after Feds scored were painful.  My heart raced way above normal during that time frame.  1998 was a long time ago, damn it, and I was tired of waiting.

Tonight, I don't have to wait anymore.  Thank you Washington Capitals.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are up next.

Let's go Caps!