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head coach: Ron Wilson

roster: C - Adam Oates, Dale Hunter, Andrei Nikolishin, Michal Pivonka, Mike Eagles. LW - Esa Tikkanen, Chris Simon, Jeff Toms, Joe Juneau, Todd Krygier, Jogi Svejkovsky. RW - Peter Bondra, Brian Bellows, Craig Berube, Kelly Miller. D - Calle Johansson, Brendan Witt, Mark Tinordi, Phil Housley, Jeff Brown, Sergei Gonchar, Joe Reekie, Ken Klee. G - Olaf Kolzig, Bill Ranford.

injuries: Michal Pivonka, c (shoulder, indefinite); Pat Peake, rw (torn ankle tendon, out for season); Steve Konowalchuk, lw (sprained wrist, out for season); Jeff Brown, d (post-concussion syndrome, day-to-day).

transactions: None.

game results:

First Round vs Boston: Caps won series 4-2

4/22 Boston     W 3-1
4/24 Boston     L 4-3 2OT
4/26 at Boston  W 3-2 2OT
4/28 at Boston  W 3-0
4/30 Boston     L 4-0
5/03 at Boston  W 3-2 OT

Second Round vs Ottawa: Caps won series 4-1

5/07 Ottawa     W 4-2
5/09 Ottawa     W 6-1
5/11 at Ottawa  L 4-3
5/13 at Ottawa  W 2-0
5/15 Ottawa     W 3-0

Third Round vs Buffalo: Caps lead series 3-1

5/23 Buffalo    L 2-0
5/25 Buffalo    W 3-2 OT
5/28 at Buffalo W 4-3 OT
5/30 at Buffalo W 2-0

team news:

by Jason Sheehan, Washington Correspondent

Capitals Take Commanding Series Lead

[Note: Due to tight deadlines, this article was written prior to Game Five, which was played Tuesday night at MCI Center. For a recap of the game, read Michael Dell's game report located at the top of the page. Will he use ALF? Who knows.]

Caps fans, it does get better than this. But in Capitals history, nothing this extraordinary has ever happened to the Capitals. Washington traveled to Buffalo and won both games. The Capitals now lead the Sabres three games to one and are within one game of advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff has tried to spark his team by reaching into the bottom of his bag of tricks and pulling out the same card that was used by Boston Bruins coach Pat Burns. It's the choking card. The one that has failed to work this season but worked oh so well in the past. You read that correctly. Ruff thinks he has brought back "the demons" that have plagued the Capitals since 1974. He apparently hopes his harsh words will cause the Capitals to think about all the three-games-to-one leads they have blown in the past and lose their composure. He's certainly a desperate man seeking desperate measures.

Joe Juneau by Meredith Martini

And why shouldn't he be desperate? The greatest goaltender in the world, Dominik Hasek, appears to be crumbling before his very eyes. In Game Four, a 75-foot shot from the other side of the blue line off the stick of Joe Juneau deflected off Hasek's glove and into the top corner of the net. His glove also failed to save the Sabres in Game Three when Peter Bondra unleashed a blistering slap shot from the top of the left circle 9:37 into overtime.

What began with a billing of "The Dominator vs. Godzilla" has quickly turned into "The Olie Kolzig Show." But don't tell that to Kolzig. He just wants to concentrate on his game.

"Time and time again I keep saying I don't think it's me against Dominik Hasek," said Kolzig, who has four playoff shutouts, tying him for the most all-time blankings in a playoff season. "I play the Sabres and he plays the Caps. I knew I was going to have to step up my game tonight, and when it came right down to the third period, we eventually won."

Kolzig was the difference in Game Four. Besides stopping all 30 shots, Kolzig gave his teammates a chance to win, which after all, is the goaltender's job and sole responsibility. Many of those shots were from close range, but to the Capitals' credit, Buffalo did not get many rebound chances.

"Basically, I got a pretty good look at everything," said Kolzig. "They started jamming the net early in the first period and sometimes I didn't see it and the guys did a great job of clearing the puck out. If there was a rebound, the guys got a stick on it and cleared the rebounds."

Another huge reason for the win in Game Four was Washington's penalty kill. Ranked first during the regular season, the Capitals snuffed all seven Buffalo opportunities. And to make matters worse for the team that calls the Marine Midlands Arena home, Juneau's goal came at the tail-end of the seventh Sabres' power play.

"It (penalty killing) has been our strength all year long," said Adam Oates. "It really has. Tonight was great, especially in the first period on the road, in the big game, three power plays in the first period. As a player, when you get three power plays in the first period, it's frustrating. They (the Sabres) were a little bit behind the eight ball tonight like we were in Game Two, and it becomes very frustrating."

Tribute to the Instant Replay Line

They move so, so slow, but they get the job done. Bang! Bang! Bang! Two players - one young and one old - with Native American heritage and an old farmer from Canada. Sounds like a mix of Ben-Gay and Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo. In reality, though, it's Chris Simon, Dale Hunter and Craig Berube doing all the work.

Overall the Instant Replay line - penned by LCS Hockey for slow speed and amazing accomplishments - has set the tone for this series, beginning each period with ferocious hits complete with a kamikaze-like attitude.

The Sabres have even admitted to tightening up when they see Chris Simon's long hair flying in the wind. Simply put, for those that don't have a degree in steel (not that there is one), this line rocks.

Craig Berube by Meredith Martini

It rocked so much in Game Four that Berube, the only player in Stanley Cup playoff history to play in more than 50 games and not score a goal, lit the lamp for the game-winner early in the third period. Maybe hearing his name intertwined with Bobby Hull's prior to the game by his teammates injected a dose of game-winning magic into his stick?

"I took a shot in practice, and it tore Bill Ranford's mask right off, so everyone started calling me Bobby Hull," he said. "I've scored some big game-winners throughout the season, but nothing like this."

Without hesitating, Berube took off his Hull facade and turned into the Chief that fans know and love by saying, "I'm not used to all this attention. You guys are cutting into my beer time." Ah, that Chief. You gotta love him.

Quote Corner

A quote is a quote is a quote is a quote. If your head hasn't begun to spin, listed below are quotes made by Capitals players from Games Three and Four.

Don't worry. Like many of you, we at LCS Hockey fear change. But in our quest for World Dominance (no, not Hasek), we will follow the same format used last week. Since most quotes used above are from Game Four, this section will rely heavily on the words spoken by the Capitals from Game Three. Nothing like working backwards and reading a book from back to front. Anyway, enjoy the quotes.

Game Three

Ron Wilson
On Bondra: "Peter is starting to skate better and work harder away from the puck. I think Dominik throwing the glove at him [in Game Two] snapped him out of a lethargic state. He may not have been passionate about the playoffs. He scored a nice goal in going hard to the net the other night, but he still wasn't involved until - I am talking vocal on the bench and into it - until Dominik threw his blocker at him. He sort of got all excited and upset about that, and I think it makes him a better player. This late in the season, you got to have passion in your game, it is not just skill. And if you have skill to go along with it, you are in the driver's seat."

More on Bondra's passion: "Someone asks me what is wrong with Peter, is he going to be able to play? I say, 'Yeah, he certainly is.' Somebody thinks, 'Uh-oh, that must mean something else.' There has never been any question with Peter here. He played with a sprained ankle and with a concussion. He played three or four games, when he honestly shouldn't have played any. We coaxed him into playing and he wasn't comfortable and he helped us out in those games.

"I think Peter understands now the importance of his presence in the lineup. The other team doesn't know if he is 10 percent or 100 percent, and might make changes in the lineup just because of Peter Bondra being in the lineup or not."

Peter Bondra
Explaining his overtime goal in Game Three: "I took a pass from Tinordi, was going full speed and I heard from the bench 'Shoot it.' So I kind of closed my eyes and ripped it on the net. It was a little bit lucky. It caught Hasek's glove and drifted in. It was a big goal for us and gave us a lot of confidence."

On linemate and fellow countryman Richard Zednik: "I told him the game was being televised back in Slovakia, and he didn't believe me. I tried to pump him up and get him ready for the game. Maybe it was, I am not sure. For sure it helped Zednik and for me to have a good game. He was unbelievable tonight and he scored big goals."

Thoughts on Hasek throwing his blocker pad at him in Game Two: "I wasn't affected by it. Those kind of awkward situations - I tried to go left and Dominik tried to go back to the net and we hit each other. It's part of the game and I didn't try to do anything stupid. It was a situation where Dominik got mad. I didn't see him throw it at me until I saw the replay. It was kind of funny."

Game Four

Adam Oates
Thoughts on Juneau's 75-foot blast: "I'm sure he (Hasek) wants that one back. We never expect that one to go in, and at two goals that is kind of the ball game."

Phil Housley
Pondering goaltenders' duel: "When we came in here if we thought that we were going to be in a situation that it was going to be 0-0 in the fourth game going into the third period we would take it. We knew how desperate they were going to come out and they (Buffalo) played hard for two periods."

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