History repeats for Caps

For the fourth time in the past 11 seasons, Washington takes a two- game lead in a best-of-

By TOM JONES, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 21, 2003

WASHINGTON -- They've been here before.

Sitting in a quiet locker room, shaking their heads, shrugging their shoulders, searching for answers. Another collapse, another meltdown, another series that got away.

The Washington Capitals, again, played the role of choke artists, gagging away a playoff series they seemingly had stashed away in their satchels.

For the fourth time in the past 11 years, the Capitals couldn't hold on to a two-game lead in a best-of-seven series. This one, though, might have been the worst collapse of them all.

They won, dominated really, the first two games -- in Tampa, no less. They came home with a 2-0 lead against a team that hadn't been in the playoffs in seven years and had won only two postseason games in its history.

In an instant -- actually, one minute in overtime of Game 3 -- a chain reaction was set forth that led to the Capitals' demise.

"A five-on-three (power play for the Lightning) in overtime of Game 3," Washington coach Bruce Cassidy said.

"That's what turned this series around. They scored, and now it was a ballgame."

There was a hint of anger in Cassidy's voice, but his detection of the crossroads of this series was precise. The Lightning used the two-man advantage to score a goal, win Game 3 and start a four-game win streak that ended the series.

If the Capitals could have won Game 3 for a commanding 3-0 lead in the series, the obituary for the 2002-03 Lightning likely would have been written days ago.

"That got us back in the series," Lightning center Vinny Lecavalier said. "It was a huge goal. Who knows what might have happened if we don't score there. We did, got our confidence going and played well after that."

The Game 3 victory, followed by a Game 4 victory less than 24 hours later, also bought the Lightning one more day to find the lost confidence of goalie Nikolai Khabibulin.

The Lightning goalie played stronger every game, and the Capitals' collision course with another postseason choke seemed almost inevitable.

"You have to look at the way we lost these games and say to yourself that some things are just not meant to be," Cassidy said. "I think that the way we played, we should have ended this much earlier. But that's how it goes."

Well, that's how it goes in Washington.

The Capitals, though, didn't dismiss the Lightning as bringing nothing more to the series than smoke, mirrors and a rabbit's foot.

"They made changes over the course of the series, and the changes worked," Capitals star Jaromir Jagr said.

"They played great, and you sometimes have to get the lucky bounce."

Cassidy credited Khabibulin and the trio of Martin St. Louis, Lecavalier and Vinny Prospal, which combined for 10 of the Lightning's last 11 goals in the series.

Meantime, Jagr was held to no goals in five of the six games; as was Robert Lang. Neither scored after Game 2.

"We have a plethora of guys that can score. They just couldn't get it done," Cassidy said. "That's what makes the difference. Their goal scorers scored, and ours didn't. They finished."

And they finished the Caps.

Again.