Joe Starkey: Penguins torture cursed Capitals yet again

WASHINGTON — You know what they say when it comes to Penguins-Capitals: The more springs change, the more they stay the same.

What went down Thursday night at Capital One Arena was so believable that it was utterly UN-believable.

How many new methods of torture can the Penguins devise?

How much more can the Capitals take?

One school of thought pegged these Caps as different from previous iterations, coming into the series as they did on a four-game roll, a bit under the radar and with a resurgent goaltender in Braden Holtby.

When they scored 17 seconds into the game and watched Holtby brilliantly protect that lead for the next 39 minutes, 43 seconds, the theory gained momentum. When Alex…