Penguins Draw Canadiens In Round 2 After Their History-Making Series Upset Over Washington

When in doubt, always listen to a Pittsburgh-guy.

Columbus Blue Jackets forward -- and Plum native -- R.J. Umberger caused a stir around 6-8 weeks ago when he publicly spoke about how, essentially, the Washington Capitals were overrated.

As brazen as that may have seemed at the time, the theory had some life going into last night's game 7 at the Verizon Center in Washington as the Capitals were in a win-and-take-all contest just days after blowing a 3-1 series lead to their opponent and the worst team to make it to the playoffs this year (on the last day of the regular season, no less) -- the Montreal Canadiens.

Undeniably, the pressure on Washington in the Nation's Capital was palpable going into the game last night, and one need look no further than here for evidence of that:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/27/AR2010042704750.html

Now, after the Caps fell to Montreal 2-1 in game 7 last night and became the first team in NHL history to blow a 3-games-to-1 series lead as a #1 seed -- let alone the runaway President's Trophy winner as the league's best team in the regular season -- to a #8 seed in the process, the agony in Washington is virtually indescribable.

And, for those who enjoy the misery of Washington Captial fans -- like I do -- you'll surely enjoy all the headlines and articles here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/capitals/index.html?nid=roll_capitals

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2010/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=5146185

I confess to the jumping-up-and-down joy I had last night in seeing the Captials fall. They are now 1-3 in 7th games under their coach, Bruce Boudreau, who was very plain with the media after the game last night in saying that he thought his team had a great chance to win the Stanley Cup this year.

Uh, no.

He should have listened to Caps' fan Rob Darnell, who had this to say before last night's game:

"When it really, really counts, they just don't get it done."

And so it was for the Capitals last night.

Again.

Anyway, with Washington's pain comes a date in the second round for the Penguins with a determined Montreal group, beginning with game 1 tomorrow night at Mellon Arena.

As the Penguins' Canadian playoff tour continues, here's the series schedule:

Game 1 -- at Pittsburgh, Friday, 4-30 (7:00 PM, VERSUS)

Game 2 -- at Pittsburgh, Sunday, 5-2 (2:00 PM, NBC)

Game 3 -- at Montreal, Tuesday, 5-4 (7:00 PM, FSN PITTSBURGH)

Game 4 -- at Montreal, Thursday, 5-6 (7:00 PM, VERSUS)

Game 5 -- at Pittsburgh, Saturday, 5-8 (7:00 PM, VERSUS)

Game 6 -- at Montreal, Monday, 5-10 (7:00 PM, FSN PITTSBURGH)

Game 7 -- at Pittsburgh, Wednesday, 5-12 (TBD, FSN PITTSBURGH)

The NHL certainly didn't do the Canadiens any favors in not giving them any rest before the next round.

On the other side of the equation, they'll certainly be in full playoff mode, and Pittsburgh will need to get into things quickly after having 6 days off following their game 6 overtime victory in round one over the Ottawa Senators.

The good news is that Pittsburgh is getting healthier. Somewhat.

Defenseman Jordan Leopold -- out since game 2 of the Ottawa series with a concussion -- was cleared to skate with his teammates yesterday. He has not been cleared for contact, however. Still, assuming no setbacks as he gets back into the full practice routine, he should be able to return to the lineup sometime in the upcoming series.

RW Tyler Kennedy's situation is a bit cloudier. He skated informally on Monday, but missed each of the last two days of practice, so his right knee is clearly still bothering him.

His status for game 1 is uncertain.

LW Chris Kunitz also didn't practice the last few days while he gave his sore shoulder some additional rest after the physical first round against the Senators, but he should be ready to go for game 1.

The Penguins will also have their full taxi squad with them now, as 7 additional players from the Baby Penguins joined them yesterday -- forwards Eric Tangradi, Mark Letestu, Nick Johnson, Tim Wallace and Dustin Jeffrey, defenseman Steve Wagner, and goaltender John Curry.

One more thing ....

Don't think Pittsburgh will roll over the Canadiens and have an easy series. It's simple to look at them as a #8 team and think that the Penguins should beat them handily. That's what the Capitals thought they would do and the Canadiens proved to be a difficult opponent. The Pens will need to work hard against Montreal and wear them down.

More on how they can do that in my series preview/breakdown tomorrow.