It is January 1st. And while we are in the middle of a fluke warm snap and it is raining, that means the day of the Winter Classic is also upon us. Although the start time has been moved to 8 PM, to avoid the rain, the game will apparently still go on at Heinz Field here in Pittsburgh.

It will be the second game of the season between the Washington Capitals and the Penguins when the puck drops this evening. It will be the second meeting of the season between His Sidness and Ovechkin once the blades of the skates dig in and players start to grind for the puck.

Sidney Crosby leads the league in goals (32) and points (65) and unlike previous years, Ovechin is not right there with him. Ovechkin has just 14 goals and 42 points this so far this season and although the Capitals are 22-12-5 and 5th in the East, they are getting it done without riding Ovechkin as hard as in the past.

This Winter Classic, unlike those in the past, will not feature snow which will undoubtedly have some crying foul. Some people have thought, and complained loudly, that Pittsburgh was too far south to hold this event. This was mostly because they wanted to keep it in their own cities almost exclusively (such as Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, etc.) But the fact is that according to weather forecasts for today many northern hockey cities would be in the same predicament.

Buffalo – 51 and rainy
Boston – 49 with rain moving into the evening
Detroit – 49 and rainy
New York – 44 with rain later in the day

Yeah, none of these cities would have been better so unless you want to keep the game in Canada where you will be pretty much guaranteed snow every New Year’s Day, complaining about the weather is just bad sport.

None-the-less the game will go on. And most of the complainers will go away at 8 PM as we watch two of the league’s best teams take to the ice.

O Canada! What has happened? Many people thought that a Canada – Russian match up would be for a gold medal in Vancouver not in an elimination game where the loser goes home without any medal at all.

Tonight the Canucks take on the Ruskies and Sid takes on Geno … and Ovechkin … and Gonchar. With the likely starter for the Canadians being Luongo, who has never risen to the challenge of being a big time goaltender and an entire team of “potential” on the ice, the guys from the Great White North are going to need a miracle.

So far the Canadians have not played up to what people have seen as their potential. They struggled in the preliminary round and their only two easy victories have been against teams that could probably be beaten by a good college hockey squad.

Thus my prediction is a Russian victory tonight when this bloodbath ends.  The Canadians will scratch and claw with all their might to not go quietly into the night. But what we have seen to date is a team of aged talent that hasn’t been able to prove itself. Crosby is their ace in the hole by Russia holds the trump in a pair of stars named Malkin and Ovechkin.

In order for this prediction to turn out wrong Luongo would have to have the game of his life. Either that or the Canadians would have to swallow their pride and get over the fact that Fleury lost a big game and disappointed his countrymen in World Juniors. Much has changed for the Penguins net minder since then and I think a Stanley Cup should be more than enough to get the stubborn forces of Canadian hockey to give the man who should be in goal the chance he deserves and his team more than a long shot chance to win tonight.

But that will not happen. So Canada had better pray for that miracle.

The Capitals are reeling. Although they won’t admit it, they know that they were lucky to be up 2-0 in their series with the Penguins as they headed back to Pittsburgh for game 3. And that luck came in the form of a goal tender named Varlamov. Sure, the Capitals have played hard in every game so far, but the Penguins have, by in large, been better both offensively and defensively.

Last nights victory by the Penguins without Gonchar in overtime completely changed the complexion of this second round match up. And it did so in more ways that one. First, it broke the curse of the team who scores first losing the game. Second, it put the Capitals down for the first time in the series. Third, it continued to show that there is a tried and true way to beat Varlamov – throw the rubber at him.

After a scoreless first period, the Penguins struck first in the second just over five minutes in. Jordan Staal (1) found the far post on Varlamov to break the ice. But then Ovechkin answered less than a minute later. Seemingly tired and hounded by Brooks Orpik as he entered the Penguins zone Ovechkin stopped up just inside the blue line and ripped a shot that found the only opening Fleury had allowed high to his glove side to tie the game. It was another soft goal allowed by Fleury who, after stopping twelve first period shots would go on to allow two on ten in the second to send the Penguins into the third down 2-1. The score first and lose curse seemed to be coming to fruition again.

But the Penguins answered less than a minute into the third. Malkin pushed deep into the Capital’s zone and dropped the puck to Fedotenko trailing the play. Fedotenko (4) beat Varlamov from long range to tie the game. Then at 6:27 of the third the Penguins third line struck again. Pressuring the Capitals net, the line had Varlamov scrambling when the rebound came out to his left. Both Kennedy and Cooke simultaneously jumped on the puck and it was Cooke who found it a fraction of a second before his line mate and tickled the twine for a 3-2 lead.

All the Penguins had to do was hold on from there. But they could not as late in the third the Capitals rushed the Pittsburgh Zone. Green fed Backstrom in front of the net who then fed Ovechkin (10) on Fleury’s left. Fleury was too far out of the net to seal off the post and the game was tied 3-3.

To overtime …

Both teams had golden opportunities in the opening minutes of play but both Fleury and Varlamov stood tall. That was until 3:28 of the OT frame. Killing a penalty, the Capitals pushed the puck into the Penguins zone and the Penguins gathered the puck and broke out. Capitals fans are still moaning that there should have been an interference on the play but, like the previous game when a Penguins was leveled from behind in an obvious piece of interference that led to a goal, there was no call. The Penguins stormed down the ice and Malkin carried the puck. He threw the puck to the net and it deflected off the stick of a sprawled out Capital and into the net behind Varlamov. The final score was 4-3. The series is now 3-2 Penguins.

But it is not over. The series resumes Monday at 7:00 in Pittsburgh. That is still a must win game for the Penguins because they do not want to go back to Washington for a game 7 on Wednesday. And with as good as the Capitals have played, they are bound to potentially have a better game than the Penguins. So the Penguins have to come ready to play.

Then of course, there is Varlamov. If he has a great game he could singlehandedly send the series to a seventh game.

It was bound to happen. Honestly it was. The Penguins, despite any thoughts by the Washington Capitals, their fans and the media, have consistently outplayed the Capitials in this best of seven series. Yet despite that fact, the Penguins returned to Pittsburgh down 0-2 in the series. Varlamov, Washington’s rookie net minder, was the only reason for that.

However, after another dominating effort on Wednesday the Penguins followed up with yet another last night seeming to finally have solved the riddle of Varlamov and putting five pucks behind him to win Game 4 of the best of seven series 5-3. Just like every other game so far, it could have been much, much worse. Only Varlamov stopped it from being a slaughter – again.

Marc-Andre Fleury again allowed a goal on the first shot he faced barely a minute into the game. It was a soft goal and one he should have never allowed. But with the team scoring first loosing every game of the series so far, perhaps it was all part of the plan. Sergei Gonchar (2) opened the flood gates by ripping a power play goal through Varlamov at just 3:55 of the first to tie the game up. Gonchar would later be hurt on another one of Ovechkin’s famous head hunting missions later in the game and would not return. The exact status of Gonchar’s injury is still unknown but it looks like his status for Game 5 tonight is doubtful.

Capital’s fans will never admit it but Ovechkin has a history of taking runs at players in vulnerable situations. He has done it repeatedly to Crosby, although that stopped after Crosby jumped out of the way of a couple causing Ovechkin to slam into the boards hard and he has done it repeatedly to Malkin prior to this season. But again, Malkin has toughened up and Ovechkin has learned that headhunting Geno is not a safe bet any more. Ovechkin will never get a suspension for his antics because the NHL does not want to force a marquee player out of an important game in an important series no matter how justified it would be to do so.

Bill Guerin (3) and Fedotenko (3) also added goals in the first to send the Capitals into the intermission down 3-1. Clark (1) would get the Capitals back to within one late in the second period but Crosby (9) made the lead two again early in the third.

Two minutes late the refs put their whistles away. While on the power play, the Penguins were in their own end and an obvious bit of interference on Kris Letang went uncalled. The Capitals then scored short handed to make it 5-4. However it was Talbot (2) that iced the game late in the third beating Varlamov for the Penguins fifth goal.

Fleury made 19 saves with a few goal saving stops to help anchor the victory.

The two teams turn around and head to Washington for Game 5 tonight with the series now a best of three games. The Penguins need a win on Washington’s ice and if they don’t get one tonight, Game six on Monday night in Pittsburgh will be do or die.