The Narrative: Down in a Hole, ‘V’ is for ‘Vanishing Act’, and Bettman and Robin

1. Down in a Hole

What started off with promise ended in despondence on Friday night as the Caps turned in a second poor performance in two games and now find themselves in an 0-2 hole in their first-round playoff series.

Through two games, the Caps have been pummeled in just about every stat that matters, but a picture is worth a thousand numbers (or something), so take a gander at this one, displaying five-on-five shots and goals:

via Natural Stat Trick

That’s an awful lot of dark blue in the “homeplate” area (from the goal to the faceoff dots to the top of the circles), and not all that much quality or quantity at the other end of the ice.