Excellent – not only did Varly have a great game, but the Rags got dominated top to bottom. i hope that piece of shit Avery gets suspended.

Iron Curtain indeed!

Backstrom helped out too, 3 As and deflecting away Callahan’s open-net shot off the post.

I can’t tell you how many times after Varly made a stop, I found myself saying “Theo doesn’t make that stop.”
If the Caps can just keep from imploding, they cruise to the series win.
Go to the net, and protect Varly. Caps in 6!

a .50 GAA and a .982 save percentage. You think the kid may be getting into the Rangers head? I can’t remember the last time I felt that secure watching a Caps goalie play. Maybe Olie in ’98.

Czar Varlamov > King Henrik tonight.

The ever-important 3rd goal in a 2-0 game, no less. I had a feeling he would score tonight and he came through at a very crucial moment. Laich has been solid as a rock this series. He also drew a great penalty with his forecheck on a PK.

Speaking of penalties, to his credit, Torts said the refs had nothing to do with the outcome of the game. An obvious statement, but part of me thought that he might have some complaints at some of the tick-tack calls in the 2nd period. Overall the refs were mighty whistle-happy throughout. The calls on Feds and Kozlov were really soft.

Not to nitpick, but two observations:

1) I thought Flash was awful tonight. I’m not really sure what Boudreau sees in him on the first PP unit over Laich. Hopefully that will be corrected soon.

2) Mike Green does not look like Mike Green…anyone know the deal?

Otherwise, great, great win. Confident with Varly in net.

1) Flash was in the right place at the right time at least three times but just muffed his chances. He did make a couple of sloppy plays though as well. Overall though I wouldn’t characterize his game as “awful.” He fluffs all his straightforward chances and then gets a lucky one off the back of his leg or something. The breakaway on Lundqvist, if he had just lifted the puck, that’s the game right there.

2) Thought the same on Green…speculation in the last post that he never fully recovered from the Pronger hit? Let’s hope that’s not the case. He was super-tentative in his own zone, leading to some turnovers. That’s been the case the whole series.

…will be HUGE, to state the obvious. It was so quiet in MSG by the third period that you could hear the players chattering to each other. The crowd was just demoralized, deflated, depressed. Ideal situation is another quick two-goal lead early. I’ve been to Rangers games at the Garden, the home fans can get restless pretty quickly and turn on their team. There was zero energy in that building for the last two periods.

Did anyone check out the ice times tonight? Green and Ovechkin were under 22. Nice. Part of that I suppose is them not getting double-shifted every PP. Poti and Pothier got PP time at the points too

I think 91, 28, 19, 39, 10, and 15 should all be getting SH time, like Torts using 3 sets of forwards. Maybe our PK is good, but it’s only the NYR PP.

Something’s definitely wrong with him. Only two shifts in the third totalling just a 1:34. I wonder if he even plays on Wednesday.

Notice the goaltending leaders on NHL.com’s stats homepage.

…sending Callahan flying before the pass for the 2nd Semin goal. That was a thing of beauty—the check, I mean. The pass wasn’t too bad either.

I said it once, I’ll say it again.

I don’t freakin’ care! It don’t matter to RED Jesus. But you’re not foolin’ me, man. You might fool the freaks in the league office, but you don’t fool RED Jesus. This bush league psyche-out stuff. Laughable, man – ha ha! I would have freaked you in the frack Saturday. I freak you in the frack next Wednesday instead. Wooo! You got a date Wednesday, baby!

“Varly What is best in life?”
“To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their Avery”

The next game is huge. Win Wednesday, and it’s a new series.

From here on out, the Rangers need to win 2/4. The Caps need to win 3/4. Yes, it can be done, but it won’t be easy.

Varlamov is helping, and the fact that the Caps FINALLY decided to crash the net is reason for hope.

The Rangers eventually woke up from the dreamworld they’ve been playing in: the one where Wade Redden and Michal Roszival are decent playoff defensemen; the one where Ryan Callahan is the second coming of Claude Lemieux; the one where Nik Antropov looks like Valery Kharlamov; and the one where Sean Avery is a disciplined winger.

Still, despite all that, the Rangers only need to play .500 to win this one. They’ve shown all year long that they’re capable of playing .500. The Caps still have their work cut out for them. Wednesday will be key.

To put it in military terms, last Wednesday was the Fall of France. Saturday night was Dunkerque: we made it out alive with some hope for the future because of Varlamov’s performance. Tonight was the Battle of Britain – scrappy performance that got us back on the right track. Something tells me that we’re still in for a Blitz and a u-boat blockade (courtesy of Callahan and Lundqvist, respectively). It’s appropriate that at that point of the war, the Russians began to bear the brunt of the fighting, and they will again. Can our Russians (and token Swede) hold out until D-Day?

Maybe Tortorella (being Italian) will change sides halfway through. . .

Do either of you guys have a % for teams coming back from 0-2 after getting back to 1-2 in a series?

“Iz zis guy, zloppy zecondz, ziz iz heem?”

By sheer numbers and statistical theory the Caps may be down a game and have a hard road in front of them. By observation and hockey experience they are nothing like Poland, France or England at the outset of WWII. We have lost two games by two goals, one of those games with a goalie who looked like the backup. We have improved each game in offense and defense, and have dominated every game. If the Caps had never had a chance to win the previous games I might feel some pessimism, but they have made a few mistakes in those games that cost them the wins. I have seen nothing from the Rangers that makes me fear them other than Henrik, and I don’t think he can win them four out of seven games by himself. This is a Caps team that flirts with greatness (at least in terms of Caps teams), and while a Pens team or a Bruins team might be able to catch them in seven, I can’t imagine, from what I’ve seen so far, that this mediocre Rangers team can best them. I was never convinced that we were even close to being out of the series before, and I am positive we have cleared the hurdles to take unrelenting control. Besides, I got my magic shoes via UPS today…