FanHouse Brooks Laich

UNIONDALE, NY -- What does a Stanley Cup contender do when nothing is working, their feisty underdog of an opponent is giving them fits and they're down 2-0 with 15 minutes left in the game? To hear the Washington Capitals tell it after coming back to beat the New York Islanders 3-2 on Saturday night, a few things.

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BOSTON -- On the first day in October, more than eight months before the Stanley Cup is rolled out to center ice, the Washington Capitals demonstrated in NHL Game No. 1 in Boston on Thursday night why they may be the Eastern standard.

These Capitals are not just Alexander Ovechkin, but a team constructed with precision from top to bottom.

Wednesday afternoon, the NHL and the Washington Capitals issued statements in response to allegations made Tuesday night by a man arrested for possession of steroids that he had sold performance-enhancing drugs to members of the Capitals and Washington Nationals.

As if the second round series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals couldn't get any more entertaining than it had been through the first five games, it did on Monday night. There were three lead changes, shots off the iron, goals off the most unlikely of sticks and, of course, overtime.

After the dust settled on a wild game that saw both teams go through the motions numerous times thanks to playing four games in six nights, it would be Washington's David Steckel who sent the Mellon Arena crowd home unhappy and this series to a seventh game on Wednesday night.

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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.

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WASHINGTON – It became custom sometime ago that the hero in a victorious Capitals locker room received a shower of shaving cream from his happy teammates.

Late last week we gave you the heads up on E:60's upcoming profile of Washington Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin. Earlier this evening, ESPN aired the piece, which you can watch in its entirety right here. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I will say that Ovechkin is in rare form.

Fans of Don Cherry, Sidney Crosby and local speed limits will not be pleased.

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.

So much for the preliminaries. The 2008-09 NHL regular season is now history -- and, as I've written before, not a moment too soon. Beginning Wednesday night at 7:00 PM ET in Washington and Pittsburgh, the only hockey that really matters will finally take center stage: the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

To get an idea of what life is really like for a hockey fan this time of year, think of it this way: imagine the Sweet 16 of March Madness were all best-of-seven. It's the very simple reason why folks like us are completely giddy from now until sometime in June.

If your significant other is a fan of the NHL, Monday and Tuesday might very well represent the only real chance you'll have to say hello -- or, given the state of the relationship, goodbye -- for the balance of the next two months. It's a chance you shouldn't miss.

With that, I'd like to share a few thoughts on each of the eight playoff series that make up the first round. Safe to say, at first glance, it looks like the most compelling tournament in many years.

Toronto goalie Martin Gerber was ejected in the final minute of Tuesday's game with Washington for making contact with an official following a controversial goal. With the Maple Leafs leading, 2-1, there was a scrum in front of Gerber, resulting in Capitals forward Brooks Laich jamming a loose puck in for the game-tying goal.