Wednesday Caps Clips

Your savory breakfast links:

• Today's must-read: Steinz on John Druce. [DC Sports Bog]
• Does the WaPo have a sports editor? Why is Mike Wise writing the same article Tarik wrote a day earlier? [WaPo]
• Speaking of the WaPo, Tarik on the second season (we'll look for Wise on the second season tomorrow), Barry Svrluga on the team's Russians, and Sally Jenkins on you-know-who. 
• Over at the WaTi, Corey is killing it with articles on Jose Theodore and Simeon Varlamov and an in-depth series preview, and Thom Loverro has a column on using last year's loss as motivation.
  
• Mercifully, this is the last day of articles in which the teams blow smoke about how great the other team is. [AP]
• Happy 32nd Birthday, Brian Pothier. How about a healthy scratch as a present? [CI]
• "[T]here’s no way the Rangers will beat the Caps in the first round." [NY Daily News]
• Chris Drury's a great quote. [LoHud.com]
• Stan Fischler knows how to stop Alex Ovechkin - have Sean Avery shadow him. Hey, a similar tactic once worked 59 years ago, so it's bound to work again. [MSG]
• HockeyReference.com knows something that we don't know. I mean, they know a lot of things we don't know, but one thing of particular interest. [Blueshirt Banter]
• Pierre LeBrun thinks Jose Theodore is on a short leash. We don't. [ESPN]
• If he can make it there, he'll make it anywhere - the Times sells AO. [NYT]
• A look at the playoffs' match-ups of masked men. [SportingNews]
• Please tell me this is all just a Three's Company-esque misunderstanding and that what these guys are actually getting are Red Stripes and not red streaks. [WttS]
• If Trey Parker and Matt Stone did a Caps graphic, it might look like this. And the heads would flap. [WaPo]
• A lot of regular season love for a couple of Caps, but not so much post-season faith (except for from the lovely Helene St. James). [USA Today]
• Numbers... formulas... Caps are gonna win a couple of rounds... numbers... [Puck Prospectus]
• The First Fan gets his formal informal invite. [Ted's Take]
• The SI.com crew weighs in with its predictions, and Daren Eliot has the Caps in five, Michael Farber has the Caps in seven and Allan Muir has the Caps in five.
• Apparently the Metro is going to be hell tonight and on Saturday. [Caps Message Board]
• Peerless prognosticates Caps in five. [Peerless]
• The Forechecker thinks it'll be a short series with the Caps advancing as well. [On the Forecheck]
• The Caps had the two most clutch skaters in hockey this season. [THN]
• I really have no idea what "a Twitter community" is, but join it, if you're into that sort of thing (oh, and follow us). [CK]
• If you weren't already a Caps fan, you'd want to be after reading Rob's plea. [StC]
• Michal Neuvirth is the man in Hershey, and seizing the opportunity. [Patriot News]
• Sticking with the Bears, playoff lines seem set (spoiler alert: don't expect to see any of the new guys in uniform). [Patriot News]