ABCDE
D
PRO FOOTBALL
Redskin’s time flies
Chris Cooley watches friends move on and becomes one of the elders in the locker room. D2
HORSE RACING
Dollars for the Derby
Trainers are using more than just their best judgment to choose Kentucky Derby entrants. D2
SPORTS
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tuesday, april 27, 2010
BLOGS, MULTIMEDIA AND CHATS washingtonpost.com/sports
First Things First Today, 9:30 a.m. Another Caps Game 7? Discuss with Tracee Hamilton to start the day. D.C. Sports BogToday, 11:30 a.m. Dan Steinberg chats about the Capitals, Redskins and anything else. World Wide Wilbon Michael Wilbon is in L.A. for Game 5 of Lakers-Thunder, blogging shortly afterward.
BASEBALL
Nationals finish late
The game at Wrigley Field against the Cubs ended too late for this edition. Full coverage is online, at washingtonpost.com/sports.
I ain’t got nothing for you guys, other than I better start getting it, because
they’re wearing my [butt] out.” Nats’ Nyjer Morgan, on going just 5 for 9 on steals so far. D4
[Series tied, 3-3, Game 7: Wednesday at Verizon Center}
CANADIENS 4, CAPITALS 1
54
Shots on goal by the Capitals.
21
Shots on goal by the Canadiens.
0
S
Number of times Washington has won a seven-game series in which it lost Game 6.
JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
Alex Ovechkin lies on his back after being taken down by Montreal’s Hal Gill. Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak held Ovechkin scoreless and had a shutout until late in the third period.
Washington’s closeout fail
b-b-b-booming inside the Bell Centre, louder than fury unleashed in Washington. Louder, according to the arena’s decibel meter, than any moment in its 14-year history after the second goal. The white towels begin pirouetting above the throaty throng, and all of Quebec is relying on one man to again stone the most explosive offense in the NHL and keep the season alive for at least one more game. Jaroslav Halak looks up at the time, clicks his goalie stick against the metal piping, bends his knees, digs in and does the impossible: He takes away the Capitals’ mojo, seizes every puck that
S
One hot goalie pulls out all the stops
montreal
o, this building of guttural roars is up two goals to nil early, and it’s rocking — I mean, just
MIKE WISE
could have ended the series. Again. It’s a frightening window into this suddenly-even Eastern Conference quarterfinal series: The goaltender of the most proud and
decorated pro franchise in Canada, sprawling, diving, doing the splits as if he were doing his compulsories on the
wise continued on D5
washingtonpost.com/ capitals
EXAMINE EVERY SHOT
After each game, check out our interactive graphic showing every shot and goal, sortable by team and player.
SCENES FROM GAME 6
Check out a photo gallery with
The Post’s shots of all the action on the ice and in the stands Monday night at Bell Centre.
Complete first-round playoff schedule and summary of Boston’s series-clinching win over Buffalo. D5
In second chance to eliminate Canadiens, the Capitals come up short in Game 6
by Tarik El-Bashir
montreal — Verizon Center will play host to a fourth Game 7 in three seasons on Wednesday — an almost unthinkable scenario five days ago when the Wash- ington Capitals seized a three-games-to- one lead over the seemingly over- matched Montreal Canadiens. But that’s exactly the predicament in which Alex Ovechkin and his teammates find themselves after a Monday night at Bell Centre dominated by goalie Jaroslav Halak and another fruitless effort for a once vaunted power play added up to a crushing 4-1 defeat. “I thought he played pretty good,” Coach Bruce Boudreau said. “We threw
54 shots at him. We got great looks and we missed chances. But how much of it is him and how much of it is us missing? I think it was more him than us.” The Capitals have now lost two
straight games and return home for one of sport’s most random events — a sev- enth and decisive game in the Stanley Cup playoffs. In all, 129 series have gone to a Game 7 and the home team has won only 80 times (.620). Each of the four playoffs series under Boudreau have now gone to seven games, and they’re 1-2. But there is one stat that should give fans a little comfort: a No. 1 seed has never blown a 3-1 lead to a No. 8 seed.
capitals continued on D6
HOME AND AWAY CARON BUTLER, BRENDAN HAYWOOD AND DESHAWN STEVENSON
A fresh start with old teammates
New Mavericks Butler, Haywood, Stevenson are in thick of a playoff battle after leaving D.C.
by Michael Lee
in dallas
They were forced to start over together in Dallas, to instantly wash off the dis- tractions and dissension that overtook just about every aspect of the Washing- ton Wizards in the first half of this sea- son. While their former team is focused on recovering from a second consecutive
lottery campaign, Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson were given a second shot at success with the Mavericks.
But with Dallas down three games to
one in its best-of-seven first-round series against in-state rival San Antonio, the op- portunity grows more remote to claim the championship that last summer But- ler actually thought the Wizards would contend for. “Maybe we were dreaming
or thinking too big at the time for the sit- uation that we were in” with Washington, Butler said last week. “But this is an op- portunity that’s every player’s dream — to have a realistic shot at winning a title.” To keep that dream alive, the Maver- icks will have to defeat the Spurs in three consecutive games, beginning on Tues- day at American Airlines Center. The trade on Feb. 13 helped Dallas secure the second seed in the rugged Western Con-
ference, but the honeymoon period — which included a 13-game winning streak — has ended. After scoring 22 points in his Mavericks’ playoff debut in Game 1, Butler has struggled with his shot and turnovers and was benched for the entire second half of Game 3 in San Antonio. Haywood has received inconsis- tent minutes backing up Erick Dampier
mavericks continued on D3
DON RYAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
After scoring 22 points in Game 1 against the Spurs, Caron Butler has struggled with his shot and turnovers.
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