Unacceptable

(Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

Unbelievable.

I had a feeling the Caps would jump out early on us tonight. Playing at home in front of a energetic crowd would get any team amped up. So when the Flyers fell early, I didn't worry. And sure enough, they tied it later in the period on a goal by Vaclav Prospal. Caps took the lead again, Flyers got it right back and scored two more for a 4-2 lead heading into the third.

Here's where I got nervous. I figured that we needed two more goals to end the game and take the lead in the series. All we had to do was control the neutral zone, limit the turnovers, and get shots on net since Cristobal Huet looked shaky. And guess what? None of that happened. Terrible turnovers, lousy play in the defensive zone, poor shot selection, and three straight Washington goals added up to a 5-4 defeat. To make matters worse, the media's new darling Alexander Ovechkin scored the game-winner. Prospal and Daniel Briere each scored two a piece, and Martin Biron didn't look too bad in his first playoff start, though he let in a softie on the short-side.

This loss is not sitting well with me for a number of reasons. The first, obvious reason is the simple fact that YOU DO NOT GIVE UP A TWO GOAL LEAD IN THE PLAYOFFS, ESPECIALLY ON THE ROAD!!!! Sorry for shouting. We're the veteran team, we have guys who have been in playoff situations before. The players knew they had to button up and didn't. Which leads me to the second reason I'm so frustrated. When you give up the lead, call a timeout. John Stevens needed to calm his team down and break up the momentum the Caps had built up, not to mention quiet the crowd down. He failed to do so. Third, Jaroslav Modry and Jason Smith were a combined -6 on the night, with Modry clocking up a -4 on his own. Why put them out on the ice with the game on the line? Unbelievable.

It's only Game 1, and there's still a lot of hockey left. No sense getting all worked up over this one. Besides, the Flyers have a history of losing the first game only to win the series, plus they still have two games coming up in Philadelphia. Still...unacceptable.