APRIL 28, 2010 -- Not since Truman defeated Dewey has our Nation's capital seen such an upset.  Never in the history of the National Hockey League has an eighth-seeded team rebounded from a 3-1 deficit to defeat a number one seed.

Alexander Ovechkin

Alex Ovechkin, welcome to the NHL record book. Your place in history is secure. For many years to come, you and your Washington Capitals will be the answer to a spectacular trivia question.

The Montreal Canadiens somehow pulled off this most unlikely of upsets. They defeated the Capitals 2-1 on April 28th, 2010, after being down 3 games to 1 in the opening round of the playoffs. The Caps are out, Montreal now moves on to the next round where they will face the Pittsburgh Penguins and the other "best hockey player in the world", Sidney Crosby.

This Montreal team was undersized and outclassed against Washington, but still managed to get it done. Granted, they had stolen Game One in Washington, and held a 4-1 lead in Game 2, but then it was seemingly going to be all Caps, when team Ovechkin outscored them 16-5 to take games 2, 3, and 4.

When Alexander the Great and his conquering army headed home to D.C. to deliver the heads of their enemy to the home crowd, something went terribly wrong.

The Caps lost 2-1 in front of the disappointed masses at MCI Center. No matter, surely they would go to Montreal and in Game 6, see and hear the satisfaction of complete silence as the Montreal faithful mourned their fallen warriors. No such luck, Montreal wins 4-1.

Okay, enough of this foolishness. Back to MCI Center for Game 7 to grab these undersized little smurfs by the throat, and once and for all choke the life out of them in a game which was now drawing national attention. Then, the unthinkable happened. When the final horn sounded, the stunned home crowd, in what must have been a truly surreal moment, looked up at the scoreboard one final time before hanging their collective heads and filing out silently into the chilly D.C. evening air. Canadiens 2, Capitals 1 - History had been made.

For a substantial helping of blame, how about Alexander Semin, who pulled a Joe Thornton-like disappearing act and had but one point in the entire series. Let us not forget Norris trophy candidate Mike Green, who was not only highly touted by hockey analysts, but also the star of TV commercials. The defenseman did have three assists, but was largely a non-factor and left west coast hockey fans wondering what all the hype was about.

Caps Goalie Semyon Varlamov did only face only face 28, 21, and 16 shots respectively in games 5 through 7, but upon further review, the Caps scored only one goal in each of the last three games. Thus, expecting Varlamov to have three straight shutouts in unrealistic, so the rookie netminder is officially off the hook.

While there is no excuse for the poor play of Semin and Green, neither of them individually can be blamed either. Consider too, Montreal goalie Jaroslav Halak was almost God-like in stopping 131 of 134 shots over the last 3 games, so credit must be given where it is due.

The blame for this one must fall on the doorstep of coach Bruce Boudreau. When things started to go south, the team still played as though they expected to win. There was far too much one-on-one (or in the case of Ovechkin, one-on-three) hockey being played. The team seemed determined to try to outclass the Canadiens instead of outplaying them. Hockey is the consummate team sport, and the Caps played like an All-Star team, rather than the superior hockey team they were. Most disturbing, is that Game 7 was the Caps' poorest display of team play in the series, when it should have been the opposite.

Perhaps this is just part of the learning curve for Boudreau, or maybe he just cannot coach a team with alot of individual talent. It has been said that it takes a special type of coach to coach talent. This is bound to be a soul searching offseason for coach Boudreau and the Caps Brass as they break down film and try to figure out how they wound up in the record books.

Montreal coach Jacques Martin should be commended for even getting his team to believe they had any kind of realistic chance of winning this series. Motivation and attitude are paramount in coaching at the NHL level and Martin did a masterful job at both. Game 7 was truly a masterpiece, as the Habs, though outshot 42-16, severly limited the Caps' true scoring opportunities, while taking full advantage of the few they themselves had. Their play in the neutral zone, and shot-blocking in their own zone was a thing of beauty.

This is all still sinking in for many of us. This is why the NHL playoffs are the beat in all of sport.

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