Even as the Washington Capitals are doomed to walk the earth dragging a dusty ox cart loaded with every last volume of their tortured playoff history, not one of them thought to stop and pronounce the end of an error when they acquired Brooks Orpik at the start of the hockey season before this.
Orpik, a splendid American defenseman who had spent parts of 11 seasons with the Penguins helping to write that very history, would now presumably enable an inspiring re-write, the kind where one day the Capitals would vanquish their Penguins oppressors, spring Alexander Ovechkin into a conference final and beyond, maybe even win a Stanley Cup.