| A celebration cut short. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post) | A few thoughts on the Caps and their looming Game 7. (First, read Isabelle's game story.) * This is already a different sort of postseason than last year's. Last year, the Caps went 4-0 in potential clinching games; this year, they're now 0-1. Last year they went 10-3 in playoff road games; this year, they're now 0-3. Last year, if I'm looking at this correctly early in the morning as I attempt to do this newsletter before my kids wake up having foolishly stayed awake to watch the Nationals lose in entirely predictable fashion my word why did I do that, the Caps never lost a playoff game by more than two goals. This year, they've already done it twice in eight days. So it's not quite the same. * Wait, here's one more, via Svrluga: Last year, Evgeny Kuznetsov was usually the best player on the ice. This year, to use that great hockey term, he's largely been a passenger. It's nice to be a passenger. Relaxing. Maybe you can nod off once in a while. Look at your phone. Enjoy the view. Sip some green tea. But this Caps team isn't repeating with Kuznetsov as a passenger, no matter what happens Wednesday night. (Read the column) * Now we get a Caps Game 7 and the first round of the NFL draft on back to back nights. * The Nats, by the way, have been so confoundingly mediocre. Here's the latest. (Read) * Fine, fine, the call. I think I used to be reflexively sympathetic to the Caps about officiating in the postseason. I didn't feel that way last night. I'd say I was 55-45 that Ovechkin did not score what would have been the tying goal by poking Petr Mrazek's pads before he got to the loose puck, and that it kind of looked like it should have counted. Maybe 60-40. If they called it a goal on the ice, fine. But even the red-rocking Craig Laughlin and Joe Beninati disagreed on whether it should have counted; Laughlin said yes, Beninati said no. The camera angles aren't perfect. It all happens so fast. You can sort of see both sides. I'm not sure what kind of instant replay supporter thinks that was enough to overrule a call on the ice, even if you sort of think it might have been wrong. Tough break. But having replay change a call like that against your team would be way more brutal. Regardless, it was a potential tying goal and not a potential winning goal; the Caps responded poorly; and Carolina was the better team and probably deserved to win. So whatever. (Read everything you need to know about the call.) |  | | * Also, the embellishment call against Dmitry Orlov was worse. This one, I just don't see at all. | | | * I no longer think of the Caps as terrorized by past demons. At all. Still, interesting to note that they never faced a Game 7 at home last spring, and that Carolina has been perfect in Game 7s since moving to Raleigh. Then there's the whole Mr. Game 7 thing, ol' Justin Williams. Although he might have used up all his magic being Mr. Game 6 last night. | | * Why did I stay up to watch the Nats? And how is it possible that Matt Grace and Kyle Barraclough have both pitched in more games than the Nats have even played? * Here are some new NFL GM ratings, courtesy of NFL.com. Washington's top football man made the top 25! (There were only 25 men ranked.) (And he finished 25th.) | | | * Relatively speaking — and I know you might disagree — this has been a pretty chill first round. There were two blowouts, and your belly doesn't attempt to devour itself during a blowout. There was only one overtime game, and even that one occurred in the late afternoon, when it's still bright outside and there is still life to be lived and things don't seem quite as serious. Last night was the first game with a lead change, and while it was plenty tense for a while, the ending leeched much of the drama from the proceedings. But Wednesday? Wednesday your organs are likely to start feeding on themselves. Sorry. Just the way it is. Feel free to passionately tell me how wrong I am about that disallowed goal, or about Game 7s, or about playoff drama, or that I'm a traitor to my community for kind of being a little professionally relieved that the Caps will not play simultaneously with the draft, and I'll be back here tomorrow, when part of your small intestines might already have disappeared. — Dan Steinberg - Ryan Kerrigan goes into great depth on his Game 5 beer chugging and why it's harder than it looks and how he did it for D.C. and I love this very much. (Read)
- Doug Williams says the Redskins are more likely to trade back than to trade up. (Read)
- Jake Noll is back for the Nats. (Read)
- The Wizards tout diversity. Here are six black candidates they could consider in their GM search. (Read)
- D.C. United's Russell Canouse is likely to miss two more matches with a sprained knee. (Read)
- Bryce Harper freaked out and got ejected, and while I know you don't care, c'mon, you kinda do for this one. (Read)
- Kyle Guy says he'll stay in the draft and not come back to Virginia. (Read)
Tonight on TV: The Nats are in Colorado at 8:40 on MASN2. The Orioles host the White Sox at 7 on MASN. There are four NBA playoff games, plus two NHL Game 7s: Toronto at Boston at 7 on NBC Sports Network, and Vegas at San Jose at 10 on NBC Sports Network. | | | Recommended for you | | Get Best of Post Sports | | Hand-picked sports features, profiles and columns — and the stories behind them — delivered every Saturday. | | | | | | | | | | |
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