Posted by Scott Burnside
ARLINGTON, Va. -- Someone suggested Alex Ovechkin had answered questions about Sidney Crosby with a blank stare, and an even grin, but that came as no surprise to Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau.
"He says everything with a blank, even grin on his face. I think Alex cares only about the team. And that's what he cares about," Boudreau said.
Boudreau was asked whether he was concerned about the prospect of rookie netminder Simeon Varlamov playing in back-to-back games in this series, as Games 4 and 5 are scheduled for next Friday and Saturday.
"He's only played 13 games this year, so I've got to believe he's as rested as he's going to be," Boudreau said. "And if you have to play Games 4 and 5 in the second round of the playoffs and you're complaining of fatigue, you're in the wrong business."
How about the notion that the Caps, having advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs for the first time since they went to their only Stanley Cup final in 1998, will be satisfied and let down in this series?
"We've accomplished one round win," Boudreau said. "If that's our bar that, OK, now we feel like we've had a successful year, then we've all had the bar too low and I think our goal is to be the best team in June. Obviously, it's a very tough opponent in our way, but I mean, we'll try and muster up the energy and beat them."
One of the interesting subplots to this series is the playoff history that exists between these two teams, which doesn't favor the Caps. The two teams have faced each other seven times in the postseason with the Caps winning only one series in 1994, when they beat the Pens in six games in the quarterfinals.
Does any of that matter to the players?
"Not to us," Boudreau said. "Maybe to you guys and maybe to the fans. But all winning streaks have to come to an end and usually all grief-stricken fans have got to be excited one day, so hopefully we can turn it around."
Update on the captain
Captain Chris Clark returned for Game 7 of the first round against the New York Rangers after missing 47 regular-season games and the first six postseason games with a wrist injury. This is the second straight season Clark has missed considerable time with injury (he played in just 18 games and missed all of the playoffs last season), so he was a happy man to be talking about being involved in a second-round playoff series.
"It's been a long time," Clark said. "I missed all of last year's playoffs and six out of seven this year, so it's something I've been gearing towards for the past two summers to really want to get back into the playoffs.
"I got the glory part of it [Game 7], so I didn't have to go through the battle, all the other scars that everybody else got. So I'm fortunate, but I'm still, I think, maybe a little more fresh than some of the guys and hopefully the guys in Pittsburgh."
A reporter asked if he was planning to take the first six games of this series off and Clark laughed. "We'll have to talk to Bruce about that," he said.
How's the kid holding up?
There is, of course, much discussion about the play of rookie Varlamov, who celebrated his 21st birthday on April 27 and boasts a .952 save percentage and 1.17 goals-against average after taking over in Game 2 of the first round for Jose Theodore. The fact he speaks essentially no English makes the young man all that more mysterious. For instance, Ovechkin insisted he hasn't spoken to him in the hopes of not upsetting the groove Varlamov is in.
"I didn't talk to him at all, so I don't want to talk to him about it right now," Ovechkin said.
Has anyone spoken to the native of Samara, Russia?
"Well, [Alexander] Semin, you can ask Semin, but Semin don't talk to you guys, so it's going to be hard for you to know what's going on," Ovechkin joked.
ESPN.com Stanley Cup playoffs blog
