Starting with the 2002 draft, the Washington Capitals made it their mission to hoard as many first-round picks as humanly possible, making 14 selections in the first round between 2002 and 2008. No team had more than 11, while only Los Angeles and Phoenix had more than 10 over the same time period.
The result has been an up-and-coming team in the Eastern Conference that has taken significant strides the past two seasons, and was just one game away from reaching the conference finals in 2008-09. One of the players responsible for the team's recent success has been winger, and 2002 first-round pick, Alexander Semin.
If the Washington Capitals are going to exorcise the demons of past playoff experiences, they're going to need their 21-year-old netminder, Simeon Varlamov, to steal a couple of games for them. After giving up a soft goal to Mark Eaton late in the second period, tying the game at two, it seemed reasonable to assume his confidence might be damaged, at least a little bit. Then again ... maybe it wasn't.
After making the save of the playoffs on Sidney Crosby, Varlamov shut the door for Washington as it pulled out a 3-2 win over Pittsburgh in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
It's the series everybody is talking about, as Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin prepare to hit the ice in a one-on-one, steel cage battle for NHL supremacy. Wait. What's that? There's actually other players involved in this series? We take a look at the series after the jump.
WASHINGTON -- As the Washington Capitals left the ice at the end of a scoreless second period Tuesday with the team tied 1-1 with the New York Rangers in Game 7 of their first round playoff series, the team should have counted itself lucky.
Though the game was tied and the shot count close, the Caps, who had climbed back from 2-0 and 3-1 series deficits to tie the series 3-3 and force a Game 7 at home, had been thoroughly outplayed by the visitors.
How? The Rangers just seemed to want it more. All series long, New York coach John Tortorella had said that he wanted his team to work the puck down low deep in the Caps defensive zone. And on shift after shift during the second period, the Rangers took up residence in Wayne Gretzky's office, continually throwing the puck out front to wingers cutting to the front of the net. If it hadn't been for some otherworldly goaltending by Russian rookie Simeon Varlamov, the Caps could very well have been left for dead.
But in one moment in the third period, an old veteran proved he had something left in the tank, and 11 years of playoff frustration evaporated in a flash.
If you were looking for a more unlikely hero to step and save the season for the Washington Capitals, you'd have a tough time finding a better choice than right winger Matt Bradley. A plugger with a lot of heart who commands respect inside the Washington locker room for his work ethic, Bradley has never scored more than nine goals in a full season and only had five all season long.
But that didn't matter earlier this evening. With his team down three games to one to the New York Rangers and the season on the brink, Bradley scored a pair of first period goals that were all Washington needed on its way to a 4-0 win over the Rangers to force a Game Six on Sunday back in New York.
One week ago, after the Washington Capitals ended their regular season with a desultory 7-4 loss to the Florida Panthers, things couldn't have looked better.
Thanks to a late season slump on the part of the New Jersey Devils, the Caps had slipped into second place overall in the Eastern Conference. Their opponent: the New York Rangers, a team that the Caps had dealt with rather easily, posting a 3-0-1 record against them during the regular season.
But if one thing is clear after the Rangers have taken a 2-0 lead in this playoff series, it's that these are not the same New York Rangers that the Capitals faced during the regular season -- not by a long shot.
Exactly 1,230 regular season games have been played. We're down to the best eight teams in each conference. The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin Wednesday night with four series lid-lifters.
In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins rallied from a bit of a swoon around the All-Star Break to easily win the top seed. Even if you subscribe to the idea of Boston being favored because of their strong overall record, there are no sure things in these here playoffs. Who will threaten to knock the Bruins off their pedestal?
You're going to hear about Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin quite a bit during the NHL playoffs (probably more than you care to hear about them) but they are far from the only players in the NHL that could make an impact in the race for the Stanley Cup.
Here are four under-the-radar players that could play big roles for their teams this postseason.
Devils 4, Avalanche 0: After missing most of the season with an elbow injury, legendary goalie Martin Brodeur returned to the New Jersey lineup on Thursday and did not disappoint, posting the 99th shutout of his career in a 4-0 win over Colorado.
Brodeur turned aside all 24 shots he faced, while Jamie Langenbrunner, Zach Parise, Patrick Elias and Travis Zajac all scored goals in the win. The Devils have been one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference all season, and adding one of the best goaltenders of all-time back into the lineup makes them a dangerous team going forward.
A couple of weeks ago, TSN hockey analyst Gord Miller came to the conclusion that in order for the Pittsburgh Penguins to remain competitive in the NHL, they would have to deal the league's leading scorer, Evgeni Malkin, for a first-line winger, a No. 2 center, and "hopefully" a pick or a prospect. It was a laughable proposal.
On Sunday night, Rob Rossi, Penguins beat writer for the Tribune-Review, appeared on a weekly Pittsburgh talk show and suggested the team would be wise to put Sidney Crosby on the trade block this offseason. I guess this is what happens when you go from being two wins away from hoisting the Stanley Cup to being the No. 10 team in the Eastern Conference in a matter of one season.
FanHouse's Adam Gretz takes a look at his top 50 players in the NHL. No. 28 is Washington Capitals forward Alexander Semin. 
If the Washington Capitals are going to exorcise the demons of past playoff experiences, they're going to need their 21-year-old netminder, 
WASHINGTON -- As the Washington Capitals left the ice at the end of a scoreless second period Tuesday with the team tied 1-1 with the New York Rangers in Game 7 of their first round playoff series, the team should have counted itself lucky. 
If you were looking for a more unlikely hero to step and save the season for the Washington Capitals, you'd have a tough time finding a better choice than right winger 
WASHINGTON -- What a difference a week makes.
You're going to hear about 
A couple of weeks ago, TSN hockey analyst Gord Miller 
