Gameday Preview Special: Caps vs. Penguins

Okay, everyone ready? A visit from the Penguins always calls for a little something special in my book, so if you came by looking for a regular gameday preview move along. Nothing to see here.

This year's first glimpse of our favorite feathered flightless friends comes early in the season when our threshold for pain might be a little lower. Hope everyone brings their game faces. And, you know, a few extra Caps fans...

So here's where we are heading into tonight's game. The Caps come in on a three game losing streak but had yesterday off to practice, among other things, the power play. Brilliant idea. Meanwhile the Pens squeaked out a shootout victory against the Canes last night but had dropped three of their last four before that and have been prone to slow starts.

Hanlon had the perfect quote today regarding the overhyped, overplayed, hardly a real discussion Ovechkin vs. Crosby thing:

"For the people who haven't been here, it was a rivalry long before Ovechkin and Crosby came on the scene. That's how we look at it."

Well said. Although I think Ovechkin's response to why the "rivalry" continues to be in the spotlight wins for quote of the day:

"Because they like us [and] because we're cute," he said, struggling to keep a straight face. "Because we have good smiles."

But if you really need to know what's going on in the 'race', let's look at the stats:

Ovechkin - 6 GP, 4 G, 2 A, 6 Pts, +1

Crosby - 6 GP, 2 G, 6 A, 8 Pts, -3

There. Now that that's out of the way...let's move on.

As usual the more insane branch of PensNation (think the Pittsburgh equivalent of us crazy Caps bloggers) is getting all riled up and unrolling those ever-creative insults for which they have become famous. Namely they like to attack our lack of attendance and absence from the playoffs...over and over and over.

Right. Because before the lockout the Penguins did really well in both areas.

Oh, but I'm not here to start a firestorm. God only knows that occasionally their snarky remarks are true, and occasionally we Caps fans are also guilty of fueling the hatred. Maybe by, I don't know, making sweeping generalizations at the expense of certain attributes one identifies with our friendly foes. *cough*mullets*cough*

I think it's time we put aside this silly animosity and move forward in the true spirit of sportsmanship, don't you? Let's all join hands and sing a song near and dear to our hearts (updated for current events, of course...):

The Caps are Gonna Win

(to the tune of "The Good Ol' Hockey Game")

Hello out there, check out the hair,
It must be Penguins time

In Steelers gear and four cups of beer

Up into the stands they climb

They storm the seats like bumblebees!

Clad all in black and gold

Then someone roars, "OVIE SCORES!"

Suddenly they're not so bold.

OH! The Caps are gonna win,

Even if our crowds are thin,

All the loyal fans can grin,

'Cause the Caps are gonna win.

2nd period...

'Neath his 'gangsta style' and his gap-toothed smile

Ovechkin leads the lads

Captain Clark is there to clear the air

And Godzilla stacks the pads

With a tricky deke and some slick technique

Our Swedes both old and young

Will send those fowl home with a scowl

And the Caps will take game one.

Oh! The Caps are gonna win,

And they'll give the Kid a spin

There'll be rejoicing when

The Caps pull out a win.

3rd period...first meeting of a loooooooong season, too

Oh take me where the Horn Guy blares

And the chant is "Let's Go Caps!"

Where the locals light up the stands with white

(And the fights stay under wraps)

To the ol' Phone Booth where we learn the truth

That the Caps will rule the day,

Though the enemy swarms like a vicious storm

We'll have the final say.

Oh! The future can begin

With the help of Ovechkin

And we'll share his beaming grin

'Cause the Caps are gonna win.

Yes, the Caps...are...gonna....wiiiiiin!

(With apologies to "Stompin' Tom" Connors)

Alright, enough of the singing and peacemaking. Bring on the trash talk, folks! Keep it clean and civil, though, or risk permanent bannination from the Cheap Seats. Oh, and if I hear one word about "three games in four nights" I shall beat the offending party about the head with a newspaper, because that's how the Caps started the season...and they won all three. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.

It should be a good one.