Caps Playoff Past Exorcism

The only way to defeat your demons is to stare them in the face and laugh at them. So, instead of pushing the panic button, I’m going to bring back all of the painful memories and ghosts of Capitals’ playoff failures past in an effort to exorcise those demons. And, to be honest, I’m not sold on this playoff beard thing either, especially considering that it has NEVER worked for the Caps. And Rocking the Red seems to be a pretty good formula during the regular season, but not so much in the playoffs. I may go with fluorescent green tomorrow.

Anyway, this list of painful memories is going to hurt a bit, but in retrospect laughing is the only response that is appropriate. The tears have already been shed, so read the list, have yourself a chuckle and get ready for four straight Caps victories. Now, in chronological order:

John Tonelli
Bob Bourne
Billy Smith
Butch Goring
Brian Trottier
Anders Kallur
Patrick Flatley
Kelly Hrudey
Brent Sutter
John Vanbiesbrouck
Adam Graves
Bob Brooke
Tomas Sandstrom
Pierre Larouche (rhymes with La D…)
Greg Gilbert
Pat Lafontaine
Bob Mason
Al Arbour
Easter Sunday
Andy van Hellemond
Larry Murphy
Bob Mason
Sean Burke
John MacLean
Ron Hextall
Rick Tocchet
Pelle Eklund
Brian Propp
Ray Borque
Cam Neely
Andy Moog
John Carter
Bobby Carpenter, Bob Gould, Gary Galley, Dave Christian
Glen Wesley
Mario Lemieux
Tom Barrasso
Scotty Bowman
Jaromir Jagr (thief)
Ron Francis
Joe Mullen
Dale Hunter
Pierre Turgeon
Benoit Hogue
Brad Dalgarno
Brian Mullen
Ray Ferraro
Travis Green
Terry Gregson
Jim Carey
Jim Schoenfeld
Ken Wregget
Ed Johnston
Norm Maciver
Troy Murray
Joe Juneau
Chris Tamer
Petr Nedved
Jim Johnson
Chris Osgood
Sergei Fedorov
Esa Tikkanen
Kris Draper
Niklas Lidstrom
Steve Yzerman
Thomas Holmstrom
Vladimir Konstantinov
Gary Bettman
Home ice advantage?
0-7?
Johan “Moose” Hedberg
Kevin Stevens
Jan Hrdina
Sergei Gonchar
John Tortorella
Vincent Leavalier
Jason Doig
Martin St. Louis
Martin Biron
Scott Hartnell
Braydon Coburn
Tom Poti
Mike Richards
Cristobal Huet
Joffrey Lupul
Sean Avery
Scott Gomez
Brandon Dubinsky
Henrik Lundqvist
Jeff Schultz
Jose Theodore

I know I’ve missed a few, but you get the idea. I look all of these people and situations in the eye and laugh. There, demons exorcised. Funerals end TODAY! Nothing but positive thoughts going forward. Now, does anyone have a black cat I can play with for a few hours?

Saturday prediction: Caps 5, Rangers 2