Caps-Pens Reaches a Game 7 Crescendo

As somebody who has been blogging for close to eight years, there are few moments when I find myself at a loss for words. Still, I'm afraid that I've just about reached that point when it comes to the second-round Stanley Cup playoff series between the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins, a battle that has not only lived up to the hype, but exceeded it.

Heck, when ESPN talking heads complain that the games aren't being played on their network, you know we're dealing with the big time.

Time and again, all the big names -- Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin -- have proved they're worth every last dollar they're being paid, while regular-season bit players like Washington's David Steckel and Pittsburgh's Mark Eaton have had their moments in the sun, too.

The series has even helped the hockey world discover a budding superstar in Washington rookie goalie Simeon Varlamov, who has refused to wilt even in the face of an unrelenting Penguins attack, as he has consistently outplayed his counterpart, Marc-Andre Fleury.

And as I mentioned last week, there's been more than enough drama between games to keep everyone who has been watching on edge.

Just how close has this series been? The Capitals blog, Japers' Rink, crunched the numbers and came up with these compelling stats:

-- Through six games, the Pens have outscored the Caps by just a single goal
-- 92% of the series has been played with the teams either tied or with one team holding a one-goal lead
-- The Caps have had a one-goal lead for 89:11, the Pens for 87:25
-- Neither team has ever held a three-goal lead.

So what can we expect tonight, in a series that has seen too many momentum shifts for us to count? One thing to watch has been the possible return of defenseman Sergei Gonchar to the lineup for Pittsburgh. Gonchar, who has been out of the lineup since a knee-to-knee collision with Ovechkin in Game 4, isn't just key to Pittsburgh's success in this series, he's key to any chance the Penguins have if they manage to advance. I don't expect to get confirmation that he'll play in Game 7 until just a few minutes before the puck drops in Washington.

But the biggest consideration going into Game 7 has to be the goalies. As I mentioned above, Varlamov has been the superior performer through six games, and it's safe to say he was a difference maker in Game 6, when he stopped 38 of 42 shots, while Fleury allowed five goals on just 25. If Fleury can tighten up his game, while his teammates continue to generate the sort of consistently suffocating forecheck we've seen through the first six games, I like Pittsburgh's chances.

Then again, as I've discussed with a number of my colleagues in the hockey blogging world, this Capitals team continues to find ways to win, even when they aren't playing their best hockey. That was the case down the stretch in the regular season when they overtook a slumping Devils team for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, and it's been the case in this series as well.

Which means that in the final analysis, I just don't know. Guess I'll just have to watch the game to find out.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.