Last night, the Caps took on the New York Rangers, knowing it was their last chance to keep their playoff hopes alive and they did, overcoming about a million odds.  With just 4:59 left in the third period, Sergei Federov, put one in New York’s net.  Meanwhile, rookie goaltender, Simeon Varlamov, held off the Rangers allowing the team to celebrate a 2-1 victory.

This is one of those series that had me all worked up and I made some mistakes in judgment along the way.  The most important thing I need to take back are all of the inflammatory comments I’ve made about Bruce Boudreau as a coach.  I was furious with him for pulling Jose Theodore from the starting lineup because I really didn’t have a lot of faith in Varlamov.  I’m a big enough person to admit that I was wrong.  He’s been solid between the pipes and I think he played a HUGE role in helping the Capitals head to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in more than 10 years.

With the New York Rangers out of the playoffs, it will give the league some time to figure out what to do with Sean Avery and will allow coach John Tortorella time to go off and lick his wounds.  Who knows if either of them will be with the Rangers when next season starts.

Looking forward, I’m pretty excited about the showdown between Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby since the Capitals will face the Pittsburgh Penguins this Saturday in Game 1 of the semifinals.  Somewhere I swear I hear Gary Bettman drooling over how many viewers this series is going to attract.

image: TSN

Post from: Hockey Beat