Quick Caps-Bolts Game 4 Preview

Green is doubtful, Fehr is probably out, and Boudreau has stated that he does not plan on plan on changing goalies. The Caps are down 3-0 against an indisputably lesser team, and Coach does not want to answer questions about his job. Nothing bodes well. In NHL history, only four teams have come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the series. Last year's Flyers did it against the Bruins, so that possibility may seem plausible... but it is not. The Caps' locker room might as well read "Abandon all hope ye who enter here." We've all been down this road before, some longer than others. Some, like my father, for the past 35 years, since the team's inception.

With the strong possibility of Neuvirth in net and an AHL defenseman replacing one of the league's best, combined with what appears to be near constant ineptitude on the ice and behind the bench, I will not allow myself to dream a little dream and be crushed again. My prediction: Caps lose 3-0, Laich gets injured, Semin doesn't play the third period, and the team doesn't reach 25 shots on net. Your three stars: (3) Roloson (2) Stamkos (1) St. Louis.

After tonight, Bruce Boudreau will likely join about a tenth of the country in being unemployed. Fans will feel pain. Some for a while, some for a day or two. NBC execs will smash computers and scream "Never tell me the odds" while some pencil pusher continues to rattle off the odds that any money will be made on either the conference or Stanley Cup finals (May the Fourth be With You). And we will look to next year. Again.