Japers' Rink, a Washington Capitals community

"We're very close to being a very good team. And maybe all it is is a little bit more maturity in some areas, and I think we'll be able to make that step. I believe next year that if you were asking me right now, we'd be very disappointed if we weren't in the final four."

We play our best when we're just flying around. We're an aggressive team by nature, and it's sort of a high-risk high-reward kind of a game sometimes. And with us, we're playing better when we're buzzing. I absolutely would expect that, and it seems like every elimination game we really figure out, this is it, so we show up.

There is one more Mike Green Edition Stealth in existence: the one he used to set the NHL record for consecutive games with a goal by a defenseman earlier this season.

That stick was earmarked for the Hockey Hall of Fame. But I'm hearing the stick could be back in Green's hands on Wednesday.

"[I]t's not over yet. If somebody thinks it's over, it's not over.... [W]e're gonna come back here again Game 7. That's our goal."

"I don't think you can look to the guy next to you to do it; you just have to take it upon yourself to go out there and be the man that makes a difference."

"I just didn't play well. I watched my shifts, and the goal, when I scored, was lucky, and after that I didn't skate. I don't move my legs, and I think [the Penguins] did a good job, but it's not about them. It's all about me. It's my fault, and [Sergei Fedorov] and [Viktor Kozlov] give me good pass to create something, but I didn't create, because — I don't know. My legs just didn't run, and I don't know why. I feel pretty good last game, but I just don't know why I didn't play well."

"The shoddy ice at the Mellon Arena has become an issue. Ovechkin and Boudreau complained about it following Wednesday's Game 3 and Orpik today said "it's the worst I've ever seen it and it won't be any better after last night's concert." Comedian Dane Cook was on stage last night[.]"

"They can think whatever they want to think, they're still down 2 to 1."

"By the (center-ice) red line we need to understand who's going to take the puck carrier and identify late guys (jumping into the play). They do a real good job on the rush. If you give them one (open) opportunity, it might be one too many."

"After watching Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin beat him with four shots through two games of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said Tuesday he would not be surprised if Ovechkin plays with an illegally curved stick blade.

"'I haven't taken a look at it,' Fleury said. 'The puck sometimes sticks to it pretty good, even if it's bouncing.'

...

Ovechkin, who has scored 50 goals in a season three times, has never been caught using an illegal stick during a game. Former New York Rangers coach Tom Renney once challenged a blade used by Ovechkin, but officials determined it was legal.