Friday night the Caps open their first Stanley Cup Playoff series in what feels like twenty-thousand years against the Philadelphia Flyers. The first six games of the series have all been picked up by national television stations. The team’s meteoric rise to the playoffs has even inspired a heavy metal theme song. What makes this the most anticipated Capitals playoff series ever? For one thing, there is a great symmetry between the opponents.
The Capitals and Flyers both finished last year in the league’s basement. Fans in both cities wondered if their teams would ever make the playoffs again. Until late Spring, in fact, the Flyers nearly challenged the Caps’ longstanding record for the fewest wins in a season. Then, over the spring and summer, each team reinvented itself. The Flyers signed first-place Buffalo’s captain, Danny Briere after they had just traded for the Sabres’ goalie, Martin Biron. The Caps signed a couple top-shelf free agents of their own. Each team has depended heavily on their recent draft-picks and promoted their minor league coaches, and each team has shocked the league throughout the 2007-08 season.
We mean, of course, that each team has performed above expectations. We weren’t trying to remind you that, one week into the season, three Flyers had been suspended by the league for illegal hits. We certainly weren’t alluding to Ovechkin’s offseason scandal, in which a Russian newspaper published unsubstantiated allegations that the Caps star had broken his former agent’s jaw in a nightclub. These would be appropriate comparisons, though, especially when the Post has just written about how tough the Flyers are.
Still, it’s important to remember that even when Briere played for a first-place team, Ovechkin had no qualms about decking him at will. Philadelphia is a tough team that depends on a relatively wimpy superstar to get things done. Washington, on the other hand, is a skilled team whose most skilled player is among the toughest in the game. In the NHL playoffs, that could make the difference. If so, it would mean a lot to the fans back home.
