That leaves anyone the Washington Times has so far got on the horn to speculate. Officially, of course, there's no comment other than, "We'll get to the bottom of this."

But Caps enforcer Donald Brashear has weighed in: "We get tested two, three times a year and there's never been anybody who's tested positive....Was [Thomas] supplying this year? Was it a few years ago when there was no testing...to tell you the truth, if there was, I didn't know. There's no sign of anybody I know who used steroids."

Former Cap and current Panther Steve Eminger is similarly incredulous his former teammates doped up. "No, never, not once—[steroids were] never talked about once...I don't know, you see guys. Guys aren't extremely ripped or anything."

So who's got the Florida hookup then?

In what the Post this morning says "will likely go down as one of the best playoff games in Capitals franchise history," D.C.'s scrappy hockey team went up 2 games to none in their playoff series against Pittsburgh. That means they've won their last five playoff games, their longest post-season streak to date. It took the Verizon Center staff three minutes to clear the ice of another sort of caps—the hats kept coming after Alex Ovechkin's third goal of the night, his first hat trick in in the playoffs. The Pens' Crosby got one of those, too (and a lone hat thrown onto the ice), but in this chapter of the "showdown for the ages," Sidney went home a loser. Final score: 4-3. Money quote from Ovechkin: "If I was a Capitals fan, I'd be really happy right now."

Crosby, of course, not a Caps fan. What a player. But what a whiner. Last night it was about the hats: "I was just asking if he could make an announcement to ask them to stop," Crosby said of the fans. "I mean, the first wave came, and then I think they were all pretty much picked up, and then more started coming." Earlier this season, he piled on the chastisement for Ovechkin's 50-goal celebration/failed joke. And even this pro-Pens blog thinks Crosby's bellyaching about a hit he took from Ovechkin in January is just a bit much. But trust a CBCer for a measured response: Let's not debate who's a better player. Let's like them both! Whatever, Elliotte Friedman with your extra letters in your name.

The must-read, as McKenna pointed out in this space yesterday, is Mike Wise's A1 Sunday profile on Caps enforcer Donald Brashear. Does his sad life excuse breaking a guy's orbital bone? No. But is it sad? Oof.

Lest one think Ovechkin and Brashear are the only Caps worth writing about, Canada's National Post has a rundown on the rationale to give goaltender Simeon Varlamov his shot after Jose Theodore's implosion. Seems like a no-brainer now, but Bruce Boudreau says he "lost hair" over the decision. Who knew hockey coaches could be so funny? But can you sportswriter-types please stop writing about how to pronounce Varlamov's name? Yeah, we get it. Sim-YON Var-LAHM-ov.

Game 3's in Pittsburgh tomorrow. The Philadelphia Inquirer says, "historians of the Pittsburgh-Washington rivalry will say the Penguins have the Capitals right where they want them."

Flickr photo by Wyfurasko.