A Painful Lesson, but Perhaps an Invaluable One

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Game 4 Audio Recap

The Washington Post's Jason La Canfora breaks down the Capitals' 4-3 double-overtime loss to Philadelphia in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

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They were chasing this game from the opening shift, and never could pull free.

The Capitals yielded a goal in the opening minute of play, triggered by a horrible turnover by defenseman Shaone Morrisonn -- whipping an already crazed crowd into a frothy boil -- and another in the final 90 seconds of the first period, a playoff sin. They faced four power plays in the first 20 minutes, including two five-on-three situations, and killed them all off -- including the game's first too-many-men penalty.

They turned over the puck with abandon throughout the first period, gifting it to the Flyers, living dangerously, still prone to some novice retaliatory penalties, but always somehow surviving, largely on guile and desire. It wasn't textbook, far from it, but an admirable display nonetheless.

"We were into it," Boudreau said.

Boudreau's tinkering with his lines and power-play personnel looked savvy, as the Capitals struck twice on the man advantage in the opening period, on well-placed shots by Semin and Backstrom, and they withstood their misdeeds, tied at 2 after 20 minutes.

"We lost, but it was a pretty positive game for us," defenseman Steve Eminger said. "It was the hardest we've battled. If we can do that again, we're going to do well."

The second period might have been Washington's most sound of the series. The Capitals made pragmatic decisions with the puck, kept the Flyers away from the net and seemed more poised and at ease with the task at hand. The least-likely goal scorer stepped forward nearly six minutes into the period, and for quite some time, Eminger, a longtime pariah, appeared to be the hero.

But such a story line would be too sanguine an outcome for this franchise. Except for a miracle run to the finals in 1998, Washington's postseasons are heartbreak city. Rallying for three straight victories likely is too much to ask, too, but even in cold defeat this feels much more like a beginning than an end, a fresh-faced group experiencing growing pains en masse.

Thursday night's effort left the Capitals just short of a series-altering victory, but that much closer to fully grasping all that playoff hockey encompasses.