Penguins-Capitals: A Playoff Primer

Thirty-four to twenty-one. Sounds like the score of a typical Steelers game, doesn’t it?

Except in this case, the numbers represent the Penguins’ postseason won-loss record against the Washington Capitals, their opponent for the upcoming second-round series.

Indeed, our Pens have dominated the Caps in Stanley Cup action like no other foe, to the tune of eight series victories in nine tries. The lone blemish? A six-game setback in 1994, when an aging Pens squad fell prey to the underdog Caps.

Before looking ahead, I thought I’d harken back to some of the highlights. A Pens-Caps playoff primer, in brief, from ol’ Perfessor Buker.

It all started back in 1991, when we tamed the Capitals in five games—a relatively easy victory that served as a stepping stone to our first Stanley Cup. The following spring, however, the Pens ran headlong into a powerhouse Washington team, one that walloped us by scores of 8-0, 6-2 and 7-2 during the regular season.

Initially, the playoffs proved no different. The Caps raced to a seemingly insurmountable 3-games-to-1 series lead. Leading the way was Dino Ciccarelli, a junkyard dog and net-front nuisance who scored four goals to pace a 7-2 Game 4 demolition.

In desperation, Ron Francis and Mario Lemieux huddled with coach Scotty Bowman. Why not try a 1-4 delay?

Nobody expected the freewheeling Pens to employ a neutral-zone trap, least of all the goal-happy Caps. While feisty Bob Errey stuck to the abrasive Ciccarelli like Elmer’s Glue, the Pens took three straight—a triumph that paved the way for our second Stanley Cup.

Three years later, the Pens—minus Mario—faced an eerily similar predicament. The Capitals had pounded us, 6-2, in back-to-back games and snatched a 3-1 series edge. Intent on finishing us off, they grabbed a quick two-goal lead in Game 5.

The locals were in dire straits. Then Jaromir Jagr—mullet flying in the breeze—sparked a pulsating rally with a dramatic shorthanded tally. Inspired by Jagr’s thunderbolt of a goal, the Pens beat Washington on Luc Robitaille’s overtime winner, courtesy of an improbable end-to-end rush by heavyweight defenseman Francois Leroux. The locals torched the Caps in Games 6 and 7 to consummate the comeback.

For pure drama, nothing can top the Game 4 quadruple-overtime thriller in 1996. The Pens, trailing 2-games-to-1, were locked in an epic struggle for supremacy. To make matters worse, goalie Tom Barrasso succumbed to back spasms and Mario was unceremoniously tossed from the game for attacking tormentor Todd Krygier.

In true super sub fashion, Barrasso’s replacement, Ken Wregget, came off the bench to make 53 saves—including 42 through four spine-tingling overtimes. With 45 seconds left in the fourth OT, sniper Petr Nedved fired off a wrist shot. The puck somehow slipped through a sea of humanity and eluded exhausted Caps goalie Olaf Kolzig.

Predictably, the Caps wilted in Games 5 and 6. The Pens advanced to the Conference Finals.

Following a pair of easy black-and-gold conquests in 2000 and ’01, there was a lull in the rivalry as the adversaries rebuilt—the Caps around Russian dynamo Alexander Ovechkin and the Pens around Canadian wunderkind Sidney Crosby.

The initial postseason clash between the emerging titans in the 2009 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals? The stuff of legends.

Powered by four goals from “Ovi,” the Caps grabbed a 2-0 series lead. Led by “Sid the Kid,” the Pens punched back to take three of the next four. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury set the tone early in Game 7, stoning “The Great Eight” on a breakaway. At his big-game best, Crosby scored two goals in the series finale to pace a 6-2 victory.

A loser despite notching eight goals during the series, Ovechkin vented his considerable frustration by slugging Evgeni Malkin’s agent at a Moscow nightclub. Meanwhile, the Pens went on to hoist their third Cup.

Which brings us to last spring. After dropping Game 1 of their second-round series to the Caps, the Pens staggered the Presidents’ Trophy winners by taking four out of five. Who can forget the clutch goaltending of rookie sensation Matt Murray, or and the timely scoring of the HBK Line, which tallied all four Penguin goals in the pulse-pounding Game 6?

Can you say Bonino, Bonino, Bonino?

On deck…my series preview. Stay tuned.