| Capitals fans, as this season started. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) | If I were still writing, and thankfully I'm not, this Game 7 would be the sort of event that would send me swirling into an existential pit of misery. Of course, making coffee also does that to me, but whatever. It just seems too flimsy an event to lead to the sort of grand conclusions that it will have to lead, for all of us. If the Caps win, they're big-time favorites to win back-to-back Stanley Cups, which would put them in the company of legendary teams, prompting talk of historical greatness. If they lose, they're first-round chokers again, having gacked up 2-0 and 3-2 series leads, with home-ice advantage, against a young and injured opponent. Those aren't very similar results! And yet tonight could turn on a fluke bounce or a weird call or some other bit of trivia. And while you might not remember the trivia 20 years from now, you will definitely remember the difference between a first-round loss and a Stanley Cup win. "It's too much," as my 2-year old might say. Here's Boz, putting it more artfully: They will either end a brutally disappointing season in the first round, beaten for the 11th time in their history after holding a two-game lead in a playoff series, by a humble franchise that hadn't made the playoffs in 10 years. Or they will be smashing their way into the second round of an NHL postseason that's so wide open — with no teams left that are even an iota better than the Caps, and perhaps no team quite as good as Washington — that talk of back-to-back Stanley Cup titles will be on every hockey tongue. On Wednesday night, we will be living a retroactively rewritten history of the 2018-19 Capitals season — one version humiliating, the other an omen that these new Caps are tempered-in-fire champs. (Read the column) I guess this is just sports. It's worse in single-elimination college basketball, where Maryland skated on that impossibly thin late-game edge between going to the Sweet 16 in D.C. and failing to make the tournament's second weekend. The Caps had six games to make sure they didn't get to this point. But they got here. If they want historical greatness, they could just go ahead and dominate this game. I guess. And if you watched sports last night, you're plenty familiar with narratives being crafted out of one single moment. That's just what this enterprise is. There was Damian Lillard, stepping back from the banks of the Willamette. |  | | And the Sharks, coming back from the dead to win in a Game 7 overtime. | | | If you don't care too much about the results, these moments are just straight adrenaline, delivered to your couch in the middle of the night, straight no chaser. If you care, it's all kind of uncomfortable. You've got 10 hours to sort out your feelings. Maybe start by making coffee. I'm honestly curious how you will think about these Caps, win or lose, so feel free to let me know, and I guess I'll see you back here tomorrow. -- Dan Steinberg - The Caps say they're more prepared, mentally and emotionally, to handle adversity than ever before. So that's good. (Read)
- The only blemish on the Game 7 record of Mr. Game 7 came when he played in a Game 7 with the Caps, whom he'll now face in Game 7. (Read)
- The Caps shot-volume-vs.-shot-quality debate is ongoing, but Neil Greenberg is skeptical that this is all sustainable. (Read)
- The young Hurricanes will get a first taste of a win-or-go-home Game 7. (Read)
- Victor Robles was good, and the Nats bullpen held on in a spot when absolutely no one thought they would, and the Nats are back to .500. (Read)
- Why Patrick Corbin and Yan Gomes became battery mates. (Read)
- Max Scherzer says he "dodged a bullet" while dodging a foul ball and straining a muscle in his rib cage, and he's on scheduled to start Friday night. (Read)
- Here's a great look back at the 25th annniversary of the Redskins drafting Heath Shuler. He's doing fine. The team, maybe not as much. (Read)
- Colt McCoy missed the first week of voluntary offseason workouts as he recovered from his broken leg. (Read)
- A lot going on in this Brewer column. He says the Redskins are making real (if incrermental) progress and have taken a counterintuitive defense-first approach, but that Jay Gruden also needs to score points, and that this draft could be a chance for him to exert his influence, but that it's all very complicated. (Read)
- D.C. United is giving real minutes to a couple of home-grown pups. (Read)
- Identical twin coaches bring brotherly love to one of Northern Virginia's best boys' soccer rivalries. (Read)
- Damascus football's Bryan Bresee, one of the nation's top recruits, committed to Clemson yesterday. (Read)
- And Anthony Harris, a four-star senior guard from Paul VI Catholic, signed with North Carolina. (Read)
Today on TV: Big, series-deciding game: Nats at Rockies at 3 on MASN2. Also, White Sox at Orioles at 7 on MASN. Also, Hurricanes at Caps at 7:30 on NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Network. There are a couple of NBA Western Conference Game 5s on TNT. | | | | | |
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