The Hockey Stop

As a Caps fan growing up in the D.C. area, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins was as predictable as the Cherry Blossoms sprouting every spring. And to add insult to injury, bus loads of Pens fans would make the four-hour trip from Western Pennsylvania to the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland (in 1997 the Caps moved to the Verizon Center in downtown Washington) to cheer on their team to victory over the Caps.

Pittsburghers in Mario Lemieux or Jaromir Jagr jerseys hoisting tin foil Stanley Cups would annually fill up half the arena, making the Capital Centre a neutral venue.

When the Caps lost in seven games to the Pens two years ago, it brought back many painful playoff memories for Caps fans. Washington lost to Pittsburgh in the playoffs in 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 2000 and 2001. The only playoff series win against the Pens came in 1994.

Caps fans had to watch Pittsburgh skate to Stanley Cup championships in 1991, 1992 and 2009 while the farthest the Caps have gotten is the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998 when they were swept by Detroit.

This lopsided history is why it was so satisfying to see not only the Caps beat the Pens 3-1 at a rainy Winter Classic under the lights at Heinz Field, but also to see so many Caps fans in the stands. In fact, there were around 30,000 Washingtonians who made the trek to Pittsburgh, creating something of a D.C. invasion in the Steel City.

I read that one downtown bartender remarked that it was the most out-of-town fans he had ever seen for a game. And they were rockin' the red and were just as noisy and at times even louder than the 40,000 Pens fans. Of course they had more reason to celebrate with their team doing so well on the ice.

After so many seasons of frustration and disappointment at the hands of the hated Pens, for one night at least it was time for the Pens to get a taste of their own medicine and for the Caps to savor a big win over their arch rivals.

Preparations began for the Winter Classic as soon as the Pittsburgh Steelers game ended last night at Heinz Field. Also last night, hockey fans were treated to a thrilling preview of the highly anticipated New Year's day matchup between the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins when the two rivals battled in D.C. to a 2-2 overtime draw and seven rounds of the shootout before the Pens' Pascal Dupuis beat Caps goaltender Michal Neuvirth to win the game for the Pens. The Caps will be looking for revenge on January 1st at 1 p.m. in what will hopefully be an epic game on NBC.

Here is the live video of Heinz Field being transformed from a football stadium to a hockey stadium:

I just witnessed the Washington Capitals suffer perhaps their worst loss in the Alex Ovechkin era with a 7-0 thrashing by the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on a cold, rainy December night in Manhattan. The defeat extended the Caps' losing streak to six games and will inevitably lead to hand wringing by the media and soul searching from the top to bottom in the organization. As a Caps fan, I have not felt this deflated since the Game 7 loss to the Montreal Canadiens after blowing a 3-1 lead in the first round of last year's Stanley Cup playoffs.

Maybe the biggest question this organization has to answer is a structural one. When owner Ted Leonsis and General Manager George McPhee decided to blow up the team and rebuild, they drafted, picked up in free agency and traded for high-flying, offense-first players -- Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green, just to name a few. And when the Caps are cruising through the regular season in the weak Southeast Division and goals are coming easy, then the offense first structure looks brilliant. But when the playoffs roll around and offense is at a premium and defense is emphasized, then the house of cards collapses and the Capitals are simply awful. That was evident the past three years in seven-game losses to the Flyers, Penguins and Canadiens. This season, McPhee acknowledged the defensive deficiency when he traded offensive-minded forward Tomas Fleischmann for stay-at-home defenseman Scott Hannan.

Even with Hannan however, the perhaps fatal flaw in the structure of the Capitals is being exposed by an improved Southeast Division. The Atlanta Thrashers and Tampa Bay Lightning are now right on the tail of the Caps in the standings and are threatening to leave the Caps in the dust if the slump continues. And the game tonight against the Rangers exposed every weakness the Caps have been criticized for -- too young, too much offense, not enough defense, not mentally strong, no heart, no killer instinct, no identity, no discipline.

So as the Winter Classic date of January 1st quickly comes up, the Caps are a team in turmoil. It is gut check time to say the least for the team that won the Presidents Trophy last year and has received so much hype and given so much hope to long-suffering Caps fans who have poured their hard-earned money and their hearts out for this team by rocking the red at the Verizon Center every game night after years of disappointment.

We will soon find out the true character of this team at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

And the team they will face is red-hot, having won 12 straight games. And their Captain Sidney Crosby has an 18-game point streak. With their most recent win at Buffalo, the Pens matched a franchise-best by winning their seventh consecutive road game. And Pittsburgh is pulling away from the pack atop the standings with a record of 21-8-2 for 44 points.

It should also be noted that Crosby and the Penguins have already proven themselves by getting to the Stanley Cup Finals three years ago and winning the Cup two years ago. On that magical Cup run they also beat the Caps in a thrilling seven-game series which ended with a 6-2 blowout at Verizon Center (see above for all the reasons why that happened).

So needless to say, as these two proud franchises clash outdoors in front of 65,000 fans and millions watching around the world, it really shouldn't be a contest. The Pens should blow out the Caps. But then again, when these two teams get together you can just throw out win streaks or losing streaks and get ready for one of the fiercest rivalries in all of sports.

NBC's Crosby-Ovechkin Winter Classic preview:

Today, the NHL unveiled an artist rendering of what Heinz Field will supposedly look like at 1 p.m. on New Years Day, when the Washington Capitals face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the annual Winter Classic.

Now, I expect there to be a lot of Caps fans in red Ovechkin jerseys at the game. Many fans will surely make the short trip from Washington to Pittsburgh to take part in the festivities.

But from the looks of this drawing, Caps red is drowning out the Pens' black and gold. In fact, it almost looks like an outdoor version of the Caps' home arena -- the Verizon Center. I'm sure this was unintentional, but nonetheless, for those who notice, it is another small match fueling the big fire raging in the buildup to what promises to be one of the most viewed games and hopefully one of the most exciting games in the history of hockey.

Anyway, take a look and judge for yourself. Is that a lot of red in the stands?

Multiple sources have reported this morning that Home Box Office network is bringing "Hard Knocks" to the National Hockey League with "24/7 Penguins/Capitals Road to the Winter Classic" -- an in-depth reality series in the weeks leading up to the highly anticipated showdown on New Year's Day at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

This announcement is a real coup for the NHL and almost assuredly will bring in boffo ratings to the cabler (to use my former employer Variety's slanguage dictionary) and will also likely assure sky high ratings for the game pitting Alex Ovechkin's team against Sidney Crosby's team.

According to NHL.com, it marks the first time HBO will document two teams simultaneously and the first time teams will be filmed in the middle of a season.

The first episode will air on December 15th at 10 p.m. EST with an encore at 11 p.m. and subsequent episodes will air on the following Wednesdays at 10 p.m. with multiple replay dates and the ability to watch the shows anytime on HBO On Demand.

The Washington Capitals will visit the Pittsburgh Penguins at Heinz Field on New Year's Day for the 2011 NHL Winter Classic.

This is going to be a great game between two fierce rivals. And of course there is Alex Ovechkin vs. Sidney Crosby for the league to hype to the maximum.

Also, commissioner Gary Bettman indicated that Washington will host a Winter Classic in the next two to three years. The Capitals Insider blog asks fans where they would want the game played.

Out of 1,072 votes so far 39 percent, including myself, voted for the National Mall followed by Nationals Park with 33 percent, RFK Stadium with 14 percent, FedEx Field with 11 percent and 1 percent for somewhere else.

The National Mall would be spectacular. Can you imagine a hockey game with the majestic backdrop of the Capitol Building on one side and the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the other side? It would be breathtaking. The National Mall recently handled more than a million people for the Obama inauguration so I'm sure it could handle 50,000 for a hockey game.

Félicitations! Congratulations to the Montreal Canadiens! As this legendary franchise revives the Montreal Magic on its 100th anniversary by defeating the Washington Capitals in the first round and Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round -- both in Game 7 -- the question must be asked: How did this team sneak into the playoffs as an eighth seed?

Montreal's mediocre regular season left nearly every sane person on the planet believing that the No. 1 seed Caps would destroy the Habs in four games in the first round. It must have been one of the biggest spreads in the history of Vegas odds makers.

But the Canadiens and their Super Slovakian goaltending wonder Jaroslav Halak and heavy hitter Hal Gill frustrated and confounded Alex Ovechkin and his band of scoring machine gunners to claim the series and become the first eighth seed to come back from a 3-1 deficit to beat a No. 1 seed.

So they upset the Caps and moved on to face the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. So every sane person on the planet said, OK, so they beat the Caps, but Washington was horrendous on the power play, relies too much on its offense and there is no way Halak can stand on his head for another series, especially against the playoff-built Pens.

So when Pittsburgh scored four times on the power play in four tries in Game 1 and brought Halak down to earth, it seemed to vindicate all those pundits and critics who blamed the Caps' "system" for the epic fail.

And so Sports Illustrated in their latest issue decided that Sidney Crosby is the better player than Ovechkin, after all he has a Stanley Cup and a Gold Medal. Of course everyone conveniently forgets that team Canada and team Pittsburgh won those championships. Ovechkin has collected tons more individual awards than Crosby has. So I ask you -- to all those Pens fans who jumped on Ovechkin after the Caps lost to Montreal, where was Crosby tonight besides watching Montreal score from the penalty box? I hear crickets chirping. Only silence.

Sorry but Sid the Kid could not save the Pens from Les Habs. Not tonight in Game 7. So let history be the final judge. When their careers are finished, let's see who has more individual and team triumphs and I'll bet it will be Ovechkin.

But again, congratulations to the Montreal Canadiens on their unbelievable run in these Stanley Cup playoffs.

Vive les Canadiens de Montreal!

I'm a big fan of the NHL Network. The channel is a hockey fan's dream with the NHL on the Fly show providing nightly updates, live game look-ins, instant analysis from legends like Denis Potvin and Larry Murphy, and marquee matchups such as tonight's Caps-Pens battle in D.C.

The channel is offering a free preview on many cable providers nationwide until the end of this week. That means many channel surfers will be pleasantly surprised when they stumble upon the best rivalry in hockey.

Ovechkin vs. Crosby. Steel City vs. Nation's Capital. Defending champs vs. the team that wants to unseat them this year. Blood. Sweat. Tears. Passion. Everyone gets amped up for Pens-Caps and it should be a great game tonight on NHL Network.

Throw the book away when these teams meet. Previous records, stats, trends don't matter. This is personal. This is the Pittsburgh Penguins versus my Washington Capitals.

My advice is forget ESPN and turn it to the only channel in the universe that matters tonight and that is the NHL Network.

Game starts at 7 p.m. EST and 4 p.m. PST.

Let's go, Caps!