ANALYSIS/OPINION
In between the second and third periods of Saturday night’s playoff game at the Verizon Center, somebody must have convinced the Washington Capitals that it was December — not May.
You remember the December Washington Capitals, don’t you? The group of players who won 20 out of 29 games that month — including a 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins?
It was the December Capitals that emerged from the locker in the third period down 2-1 to the Penguins in this Stanley Cup Eastern Conference semifinals.
It was those Capitals who took the game over Saturday night, with goals from Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kutznetsov and, of course, Alex Ovechkin to give Washington a 4-2 win in Game 5 and send the series back to Pittsburgh for Game 6 Monday night, with the Penguins leading the best-of-seven series 3-2.