Camp convened with perhaps only one roster spot genuinely open and available among the top nine forward spots (second line center) (or is it first?). It was pursued by a small assembly of center ice men who came to be known as ‘The Bubble Boys.’  But even with this storyline the drama didn’t build greatly, as Mathieu Perreault emerged early and decisively as the top performer. He led the Caps in scoring during the preseason. And after Sunday night’s camp-concluding exhibition game against Chicago, Bruce Boudreau said of no. 85, “I think our best player all of camp was Perreault. I think he played with energy every night.” On the radio last night, Mike Vogel was similarly impressed: “He’s been consistently good throughout the preseason regardless of which line he’s been on.”

The forward ranks offered this camp its exclusive intrigue, and that was muted drama. On the blueline, the top six were set before camp started, and likewise, the Capitals’ net was set before training camp’s first conditioning whistle blew.

This drama-free state of affairs was by design. In the middle of the offseason the GM overhauled his roster heavily for size and grit and experience up front on the wings, some character and a former captain’s experience and leadership to center the fourth line, and then the ultimate offseason coup — Tomas Vokoun. Offseason changer, that.  Training camp quickly became more a dress rehearsal than an audition.

Camp’s top storylines:

• As important as McPhee’s offseason roster moves were, it was what the GM did at his office keyboard while the wounds of another short postseason were still raw that likely set in motion the business-like tenor of this training camp. At camp’s dawning the Washington Post reported that early in the offseason that Capitals’ players were issued a written warning about changed expectations for fitness for duty come September:

” . . . players received letters early this summer warning them to expect an Albert Haynesworth-like timed fitness test with controlled recovery intervals at the start of camp.’

That was George McPhee the enforcer enforcing a culture change for his hockey club. Overdue, in my opinion. May it be the last time Albert Haynesworth’s name is evoked in connection with the Capitals.

• More on the conditioning/work ethic/maturation front: Ben Raby, writing for the Toronto Star, got captain Ovechkin to concede that his 2010-11 showing wasn’t up to par on a number of fronts. He approached last season looking past its regular season toward the postseason, and sacrificed his conditioning in the process. His owner took note:

“He tried something different,” Caps owner Ted Leonsis said. “He wanted to work his way into shape so that he would peak during the playoffs.”

Indeed, Ovechkin admitted that all year he “just wanted to be ready for the playoffs.

“I was starting, like, in the middle (of the season) to be in shape.”

• Vitally important testimony attesting to the Capitals fall-time fitness arrived at the dawn of training camp, from team strength and conditioning coach Mark Nemish.  “I already know [Ovi's] in shape; I can tell. “We’ve worked several times on the ice and, without a doubt, he’s in the best shape I’ve ever seen him.”

• The kiss or death . . . or well considered wooing?: The Hockey News tabbed the Caps as 2012 Stanley Cup champions.

• The GM sure likes his hockey club. At CapsCon, he told the assembled thousands that this year’s squad reminded him very much of the ’97-’98 club — the one that advanced to the Stanley Cup finals. “It’s going to be a hard team to play against. Maybe not as offensive, but more physical.” Superb coverage of CapsCon from the Examiner’s Michael Hoffman here.

• If the Caps hoped that Vokoun would inspire Michal Neuvirth it appears early on to have worked. Neuvy was especially strong this preseason. There may not be the 60-20 split in games between the two that a lot of folks thought about three weeks ago.

• McPhee also chimed in on realignment, all but stating that 2011-12 would be, mercifully, the final season for the Southeast division. What it’s looking like now: two 15-team conferences with 8- and 7-team divisions within. Apparently a popular plan would see the Capitals reunited with the New York clubs and the Flyers in a division. I say, why go halfway — get the best rivalry in all of hockey, and one of the best in all of sports, rekindled as well. Anyway, when it’s official, OFB I think will host a realignment party in town, where we’ll give away NASCAR posters and coupons for Waffle House. And certainly we’ll have a Gary Bettman pinata.

• Netgate.

• Camp standout: Dmitri Orlov. Still with the team partially because of John Erskine’s rehab, but also because he’s played with poise and impact that belie his years this preseason. Stock seriously on the rise.

• Camp standout, on the air: John Walton. If you haven’t given much thought to following Caps hockey on the radio in recent years, you should now.

• One of the biggest stirs in camp perhaps came with the team in Chicago for a game, and when red, white, and blue old timers returned to Kettler for the organization’s first-ever alumni game. Old timers Alan May and Kevin Kaminski drew blood from dropped gloves. I got a good chuckle from learning that Killer had earned the first-ever Alumni Game’s first-ever first star of the game designation.

• Don’t overlook this sidebar to the new season: the trading of Semyon Varlamov delivered to the Caps Colorado’s first-rounder next June. McPhee really likes the ’12 draft — it’s much stronger than this past June’s, he intimated at CapsCon. You might want to take a look at where Adam Proteau has the ‘Lanche finishing out West this season.

What might this season’s lines look like?

Ovi – Backstrom – Brouwer

Semin – MJ90/Perreault – Knuble

Chimera – Laich – Ward

Hendricks – Halpern – Beagle

Love those third and fourth lines.

Some notes on the final game and where it takes the Capitals going into the regular season:

–Boudreau said overall he felt the game was ‘pretty sloppy.’ The power play, after a solid performance Monday, certainly seemed to regress, with the Capitals going 1-6 on Sunday and the one tally coming on a 2-man advantage. We’ll see what adjustments the team makes (if any) before Saturday. “We didn’t play like Stanley Cup champions all preseason,” Boudreau said after Sunday’s game, but added, “We got through it.  I think they’re in shape, they’re game- ready, and we don’t have any major injuries or suspensions.”

–Brooks Laich tried his hand at center between Jason Chimera and Joel Ward on Sunday. Laich got a goal early in the game with Ward and Chimera assisting, though Laich followed it up with a penalty that gave Chicago exchanged for a goal on its power play opportunity. Laich finished+2; his linemates finished +1. Laich also had a 69% faceoff percentage and took 16 total, five more than Nicklas Backstrom. Overall, Laich seemed comfortable, although Boudreau had a longer answer as to whether this is the strongest Laich has looked in the preseason: “I would say this game…I thought he played pretty good in the last game against Buffalo, but you could see he was starting to ramp it up. Definitely better than the first two that he played.”

–Out of all the buzz surrounding weight, conditioning, and who really cares about playing well, it’s beyond a doubt clear that Michal Neuvirth, the guy who innocently suffered the biggest loss over the summer – a starting job—came ready to play. Monday and Sunday, he was a brick wall, and let in only one goal per game. Boudreau was so pleased that he called Neuvirth a “number 1A” goalie on the roster and said he’d be playing a lot of hockey this season. Tomas Vokoun is still the undisputed #1, though, according to the coach.

–Saving the best for last: watching guys crack the NHL roster thanks to stellar training camp and preseason performances is always exciting, and this year’s two most likely candidates didn’t disappoint. Jay Beagle topped off  a hardworking preseason with this tally Sunday in which, despite it being an empty netter, he had to fight for ice every stride he took.

But the real hero of the preseason was Mathieu Perreault, who finished with 5 points, tied for highest on the team with Troy Brouwer. It’s not secret that Perreault has been on OFB’s radar for awhile, and to  hear the hardworking centerman get called by Boudreau the “best player” in camp is definitely a welcome  quote to add to OFB pixels.  Perreault missed out on a regular roster spot last season in part due to the emergence of rookie Marcus Johansson, who spent much of this preseason playing on the top line between Alex Ovechkin and Troy Brouwer. Ironically, Boudreau ended up moving Perreault to that position at one point in Sunday’s game, explaining afterwards, “He was creating things … so we wanted to see if Matty could handle playing with those guys, ’cause sometimes it’s intimidating.” Boudreau said the key for Perreault is still finding consistency. It’s looking more and more like he will find it as a full-fledged member of the Capitals this season.

Ghosts? How else would you explain consecutive playoff games against a weary foe in which pucks deflect off of Capitals’ rearguards and behind their netminder and into the cage, playing pivotal roles in consecutive upsets? And as our friend JP notes, those are only the two most recent such self-inflicted wounds this postseason. That sh*t just doesn’t seem to happen to the Wings, does it?

We love our hockey players, they are wonderful talents, they are to man exemplary civic figures in our community, and in just about every respect they make us proud to be fans. But they’ve an ultimate obligation in their profession — to get it done when it counts. To date, they’ve failed in that obligation. Given their accumulated postseason experience wearing our sweater, it is fair, beginning this spring, to hold them to a heightened accountability.

Ted Leonsis is right in suggesting that postseason prosperity involves, to a degree, having Lady Luck smiling on your side. And the Tampa Bay Lightning are a worthy adversary. But in year six of the Era of Ovechkin, with so many key roster ingredients in place, and with the sting of last spring still fresh, with Sidney and Geno and the Pens already golfing, this hockey club simply can’t author again yet another underwhelming showing in the NHL postseason.

The ramifications are enormous. Washington aches for a sports winner, yes, but Washington hockey specifically has a competitive mandate. Alexander Ovechkin was a lottery winning, and he knows what his role here is: to change our hockey culture. He’s done that just fine October through March. He’s had help along the way the last six years, and the reddening-out of our town — the conspicuous affection thousands of Washingtonians shower upon Ovi and his sport today is extraordinary — but it’s not enough. Nowhere near enough.

The durability of Mr. Leonsis’ business model requires a postseason breakthrough as well. Just take a look at all the upper deck empties at FedEx Field the past couple of seasons. There’s a social contract between a sports organization and its fans. Great dates ultimately have to lead to a kiss. Or we go find another girl.

This hockey club has the requisite skill and experience to rise to the challenge. What we don’t yet know is if it has adequate leadership. It’s a point that’s been debated with some robustness for more than a year now: Did the Caps get it right in stitching the ‘C’ to Ovi’s sweater? Failure this week in Tampa will bring fresh and heated scrutiny to that question. 2010-11 has not been a year to remember for our captain; its premature conclusion would intensify the evidence against his leadership. And the late-season arrival of Jason Arnott only adds fuel to that fire.

This is a postseason tailor-made for Ovi to ascend, but to date, we don’t have that breakthrough performance suggestive that he’s ready to seize that moment and lead his club. Tonight is one such opportunity.

Behind the bench, there is the obvious subplot related to Bruce Boudreau. All seemed reasonably well for Gabby a week ago, but when his club was gifted a lengthy break with which to rest and repair, they came out of it unable to meet the underdog’s challenge. That story is growing old here. Boudreau’s beaten an under-manned John Tortorella set of Ranger clubs twice in the postseason over the course of four springs . . . and no one else. Losing to the rookie, Guy Boucher? At some point (potentially soon) Capitals’ fans are going to ask: where is our Bylsma, our Tortorella, our Babcock, our . . . Boucher?

The team’s power play futility is a flashpoint in this discussion of tactical leadership. Its cumulative results last postseason and this are beyond nightmarish and nauseating: four for sixty. That’s four goals . . . in 60 opportunities. Tampa would bank in 9 or 10 off our dmen with 60 extra man opportunities. The power play personnel is a mish-mash of a mess, their attack ethos uncertain. Confusion and hesitancy reign supreme. The team had all of last week to work on it and get it fixed. Instead, it’s regressed. The head coach has to get it fixed, pronto. The Capitals will either achieve a competent power play this series or they will lose it. Tampa took out the Pens by achieving a glaring special teams discrepancy.

We also don’t know if in Nicklas Backstrom the Capitals have an elite talent centering the no. 1 line who can get it done when it counts. Great in games one through four versus Montreal last April then AWOL thereafter. Through seven games this postseason Backstrom has tallied merely two assists and is skating a -1. He looks anything but elite and dynamic. His scoring drought adversely impacts the team in both 5-on-5 play and power play production. His linemate Ovechkin seemingly senses the slump his center is experiencing, because he’s carrying the puck an awful lot in transition and attempting to make plays by himself. The result is a highly individualized attack by the first unit, which plays perfectly into Tampa’s trap. It’s gotten so bad with Nick that Boudreau bumped up the rookie Johansson to no.1 pivot duties. That’s no recipe for durable contention this spring. No contending team can have its no. 1 pivot merely along for the ride.

Along with my blogger buddies Ed Frankovic and Ted Starkey I was seated in Giant Center late last spring when the Hershey Bears dropped the first two games of the Calder Cup finals to the Texas Stars. The next three games were in Austin, and all looked bleak for the Bears against the Texas trap. Even in game 3 the Bears fell behind 3-1 after 20 minutes. But that Bears team had a warrior leader in Bryan Helmer, among others, and they banded together behind their coach who preached patience with the puck. Michal Neuvirth was in net for the entirety of that series, incidentally, and a fair number of those Calder winning Bears of course are wearing red this spring.

Late Sunday night, addressing the media, Alexander Ovechkin said that his team was traveling to Florida on Monday on a mission to win two hockey games. They really need to. The Capitals this spring need to find their Bryan Helmer. Here’s hoping he’s Russian.

It’s simultaneously exciting and a potential curse: everybody’s picking the Caps to win this series versus Tampa.

But there’s a reality this spring that can’t be ignored: Two teams among 16 this postseason distinguished themselves for the efficiency with which they plowed through the first round — Detroit and Washington. It’s interesting that the Caps are being heralded as prime Cup finalist contender while the Coyote-mauling Wings are, comparatively speaking, an afterthought. That may have something to do with this: Detroit must navigate San Jose and likely Vancouver to emerge from out West. Have fun with that.

And Vancouver, our reigning President’s trophy winner . . . has had its sails clipped a bit by virtue of surviving a serious first-round scare with the Hawks, coughing up a 3-0 lead in the process. Someone between Philly and Boston is required to take stand as obstacle in the Eastern conference finals. Neither will cause Bruce Boudreau to lose sleep. More than a few observers believed that the Rangers potentially offered the Caps their most difficult challenge in the Eastern conference.

Two weeks ago, Michal Neuvirth was something of a question mark, if only by virtue of his age and NHL postseason inexperience. Today, do you think the Flyers might like to have him in place of their three-headed monster of ineptitude between the pipes? (Or might not the Canucks for that matter?) He’s competed in 15 professional hockey postseason series and won all 15. Nifty, no? And if for some reason Neuvirth suddenly becomes average, look what’s positioned immediately behind him as stand-by, quality depth. To scan the forecasts of the second round in the East is to see consensus that the Caps prevail over Tampa in either 5 or 6 games. All such forecasters presumably are steeped in the grotesque Capitals’ postseason shortcomings of the past, but among them there seems a recognition that this spring is different. And that’s telling.

No one seriously posits that any GM had a better late February than George McPhee. Marco Sturm has been a good fit; Jason Arnott an all-time good fit. In this second round versus Tampa, the Capitals are likely to see the returned services of Dennis Wideman. What if he looks 75 percent as good as he did at the time of his injury? Then this happens: some defenseman who’s played well for the Caps this spring will be required to sit. A player the caliber of Scott Hannan could be in the Capitals’ third defensive pairing. Exactly when did that last happen with a Capitals’ blueline in the warm weather months?

On the face of things, the Capitals and Lightning were separated by just four points in the Southeast this season and therefore ought to engage in a lengthy and highly outcome-uncertain Eastern semifinal series. I’m not so sure. Leave in place all of the notable and prolonged injuries the Capitals endured during the regular season, but grant them this back in autumn: the roster additions they made at the trade deadline. And give the ‘Bolts Dwayne Roloson all season as well. This is a fair point to raise because after all theses are the rosters the Capitals and Lightning are competing with beginning tonight. Add Wideman to the blueline and eliminate the five months of second line center by committee carousel the Caps perpetrated — Jason Arnott centering Alex Semin all season long. The verdict I come up with is a solid double-digit division triumph for the Caps. Again.

This opponent, however, is not one to be taken lightly. Steven Stamkos is a game-breaking talent — if playoff unproven. Martin St. Louis is aging like fine wine. Roloson is proving to be the reliable backstop Steve Yzerman dreamed of.

The ‘Bolts’ blueline is big but lumbering — the Capitals can exploit that unit if they gain puck possession with numbers beyond the trapping Tampa forwards in the neutral zone. But these burly blueliners also block a lot of shots (Eric Brewer had 27 in round one; Mattias Ohlund and Victor Hedman will well clog life in front of Roloson as well). The Capitals made a commitment to blocking a lot of shots against a shot-blocking Rangers club in their opening round. That needs to continue.

Tampa can’t match the Caps in offensive depth, but they’ve a bevy of wonderful role players up front. No forward impressed me as much as Nate Thompson against Pittsburgh. Gifted skater, courage coming out of his ears — he reminds me of Brooks Laich a bit. Ryan Malone, too, is a gamer, and Sean Bergenheim is highly versatile and effective in all areas of the ice. And somewhat quietly, Simon Gagne picked up 7 points versus the Pens. Neither Gagne nor Vincent Lecavalier possess their game-breaking great status of five years ago, but they’re both grizzled playoff veterans who’ll help in key situations.

It’s likely we’ll see a lot of New Time ugly hockey in this series. The Caps are a defensive minded club these days; Tampa will try to score a game’s first goal and make a mess of the neutral zone thereafter. Bruce Boudreau seemed amused by Tampa’s 1-3-1 setup at times during the regular season. It will be interesting to see how he attacks it this spring (having Dennis Wideman back soon would help).

Series keys:

• There’s a bit of a Mendoza line for the Capitals when it comes to penalties in this series, I think, and I peg it at the number 4. Four or fewer power plays for Tampa each game and the Caps’ magnificent PK group ought to be ok. But beyond that, the Caps flirt with serious danger. The brilliance of the Tampa power play — it’s operating at 29 percent effectiveness this postseason — is a potential series-changer. The Caps need to be a disciplined club in this series especially.

• Get shots through to Roloson, and get on the board early against him. A heavy workload is an excellent strategy against a forty-something goaltender who saw a heavy workload down the stretch of the regular season and seven games in the opening round.

• Be patient against Tampa’s 1-3-1. Seams for stretch passes in it can be found — and the Caps often found them well in regular season matchups with Tampa.

• Get the puck on Alex Semin’s stick in this series as often as possible, in time and space, preferably. In four regular season games against the ‘Bolts Sasha was very good: 7 goals and 2 assists.

Caps in 6.

Besides, more postseason Preds likely means more television screen time for the only country music performer I’d try and purchase front-row seats to see.

Poile I guess is regarded as a “builder” of NHL franchises as opposed to say a guider of one to glory. I’m not sure that’s fair; he’s only worked in two “small” markets in the NHL, though Washington today certainly can’t be regarded a small market any longer — thanks in no small part to Poile’s work here. He surely built the Caps up from laughingstock to contender. He has also answered the management call of our country for the World Championships on a number of occasions. Did you know that Poile has the word ‘Caps’ tattooed on a discreet region of his frame? So out West it’s easy for me to root for the Preds.

* * * * *

I left the Caps-Rags series with a heightened appreciation for John Tortorella. It was Torts’ Tampa club that took out a Jagr-led Capitals’ team in the 2003 postseason after the Caps won the first two games in Tampa by a combined 9-3 tally, the Bolts winning that series’ next four games. In 2009, Torts’ underdog Rags club pushed the Caps to seven games. And while this year’s Caps-Rags matchup lasted just five games, they were wars, all of them; only in the middle portion of game 5′s third period did you genuinely have a sense that one team was clearly going to get it done comfortably. Totorella seems to me to be a coach who knows not only how to maximize the talent of his roster but tailor his strategy to close talent gaps in series like we just witnessed.

Tortorella’s post-series press conference Saturday evening was chock full of commendably dispassionate analysis and frank introspection. He acknowledged, for instance, his club’s inherent shortcomings: “I don’t think our team is fully built. The Washington team was, for a number of years. You look at how that team is built with their draft picks . . . we’re not there yet. We have to play a certain way [because of limited talent].”

The coach correctly lauded the sacrifice and effort made by Dan Girardi, who was I thought the series’ finest performer.

“His finger was all over the place,” Torts acknowledged of his brutally beat up no. 1 rearguard, who had a finger dislocated above the knuckle. He also had an ankle X-ray-ed Saturday evening, the coach reported.

* * * * *

The Philadelphia Flyers may well survive the first round. Game 7 against Buffalo is tomorrow night in Philly. But this team will not see a follow-up Stanley Cup finals this spring, as its goaltending is, even by Flyers’ standards, shockingly horrific. (Ryan Miller hasn’t been much better, incidentally.)

* * * * *

With no small trepidation I’ll pick the Canucks in game 7 tomorrow night, mainly just cause of home ice and a sense that the odds are so overwhelming against seeing a second consecutive spring with a team overcoming a 3-0 series deficit to prevail. My new media colleague Ed Frankovic was the first I’d heard positing that Roberto Luongo isn’t 100 percent, and may even have yanked himself out of game 5 because of his condition. If you watched game 6 last night in Chicago you saw Cory Schneider get dinged up on Michael Frolik’s penalty shot. So the ‘Nucks appear to be a mess in net. Still, winning four straight over the President’s Trophy winner? If it happens, will any club ever accept that trophy again?

The Hawks’ fortunes have changed dramatically largely because Corey Crawford has been solid in net and the impact return of center Dave Bolland. The Sedins have a combined 12 points in the series’ 6 games, which is nice, but are skating a combined -6. Bolland, in just 3 games, has 7 points and is skating a +6. One man wrecking crew.

* * * * *

In the first four games of the Pens-’Bolts series Steven Stamkos had a lone assist. Game 5′s 8-2 Tampa drubbing saw Stamkos pot 2 goals and an assist. If he’s achieved some comfort in his first NHL postseason after the rough start I think he’s the difference in the remainder of the series.

With a little bit of luck we could witness the two Pennsylvania teams eliminated in game 7s on consecutive nights this week. It doesn’t get much sweeter than that.

* * * * *

Antero Niittymaki’s only had two games between the pipes for the Sharks, so I don’t put his stats on par with Michal Neuvirth’s, yet. If you look at goalies who’ve worked most or all of first round series, Neuvirth’s at the top of all key categories: .946 save percentage, 1.38 goals-against, 4-1 record. His most impressive stat, though, for me: he’s now 15-for-15 in postseason play in his North American professional career. Wow.

This Rangers club doesn’t possess the skill level up front to threaten the Caps. They badly miss Ryan Callahan, but Chris Drury is skating limited minutes, invisibly, Marian Gaborik hasn’t been a consistent scoring threat all season, and early on Friday night Artem Anisimov blocked a shot up high and seemed hampered by a bum arm thereafter (he skated under 11 minutes on the evening). Through nearly 140 minutes of hockey in this series the New York Rangers have merely a single goal against Michal Neuvirth. And just 47 shots. Friday night they mustered just 3 shots on Neuvirth in the second period, and staring at a 2-0 hole on the scoreboard and in the series, managed just 6 in the evening’s final 20 minutes.  The Rangers through two games seldom enjoyed sustained offensive pressure around Michal Neuvirth’s cage, and when they did earn good looks at Neuvy, he thwarted.

Rangers coach John Tortorella had no complaints of his players after Friday night’s 2-0 loss — “We got hurt by a [second period] surge tonight,” he suggested — but what may ultimately prove insurmountable for Tortorella’s offensive-starved squad is an inability to match up defensively with three strong Capitals’ forward lines. The Capitals in the series now have goals from their first three forward lines, and after Dan Girardi and Marc Staal, there’s a big dropoff in Blueshirt defensive reliability. On Friday night, it was the Capitals’ line of Jason Chimera, Marcus Johansson, and Brooks Laich that was the best on the evening. The unit had been coming on strong toward the end of the regular season. Friday night they announced themselves a force to be reckoned with this postseason. They are blinding fast, fiercely competitive for the puck, slick and slippery and sturdy down low. They are going to draw second and third pairing defensive units the remainder of the postseason. They could do real damage.

“We said before that we thought we had a good line and we could make a difference,” Chimera said in the victors’ locker room Friday night. “You look at all playoff series in the past and you always see third and fourth lines stepping up . . . We felt we played well in game one.”

It’s no great secret that one-line scoring is a recipe for a short stay in the postseason, and that the Capitals’ establishing two quality scoring lines — diversifying their attack — is the best recipe for preventing opponents from ganging up on Ovi and the top line. But what if this hockey club is witnessing the emergence of three quality, productive lines? Isn’t that a game-changer in the overall prospects for this postseason?

And on the back end, Scott Hannan is being Scott Hannan, John Carlson is being John Carlson, Mike Green is sharper than anyone reasonably could have forecast, and Karl Alzner is . . . emerging as a force. In the regular season he was Mr. Steady; early on this postseason he is a difference-maker in the Capitals’ end. He suddenly looks like an impact lottery pick blueliner.

Early on Friday word arrived of Dennis Wideman taking the ice at Kettler for a brief skate, after being hospitalized for fully two weeks. His head coach intimated that the much-missed rearguard could potentially play again in this series. Three dynamic lines . . . the likes of Mike Green, Scott Hannan, Wideman, and the dynamic duo guarding the back end and deftly distributing the puck out of harm’s way . . . and in Neuvirth, an early front-runner for Conn Smythe . . . dare I say it? . . .

No way.

Let’s worry about Sunday first.

But oh so suddenly, there is a mischievous vibe settling in about postseason possibilities. Philly and Pittsburgh have already lost home ice. Carey Price took battle one against Tim Thomas. Just sayin.

Washington through two games is skating with urgency and cohesion and selflessness — very winning traits in the postseason. The Caps are also taking care of the puck, especially in the neutral zone, limiting turnovers, and getting pucks deep and grinding the Rangers down with a commitment to taking the body. It’s impressive. And more and more, it seems as if this winning moment in money season is a grand culmination — of playing lots of tight hockey games in 2011, of adding astutely at the trade deadline, and most especially of getting every guy wearing a red sweater to buy into what Gabby’s preaching.

“They’ve been buying in since the middle of December,” Boudreau said of his team’s embrace of a defense-first system. “They just want to win. The important thing is that they get success. We’ve got a lot of guys who’ve won a lot of awards and that doesn’t mean anything to them now.”

Nailbiters fairly defined the Capitals’ body of regular season work in the season’s second half. The upside to all that 9:00 hour mania is how lethally composed the Caps look in tight games in April.

“It goes back to the games we played in the regular season,” Mike Green noted in Friday’s postgame, alluding to the success the Caps are having protecting leads in tight affairs. “We’ve been in this position a lot this year. It hasn’t been blowout games . . . So it’s been comforting to know that we’ve played in enough games to know what to do now.”

Green has also taken note of the change in the Capitals’ room.

“I think there’s just a different atmosphere in the dressing room compared to last year, and it goes to show on the ice.”

The Rangers need the Capitals’ help to get back into this series — Neuvy needs to let in a softie, the Caps have to start turning pucks over. Even that likely won’t be enough. It’s not an enviable position. Meanwhile, Boudreau’s disciplined believers keep reminding themselves of the futility of feeling good prior to lining up for a handshake line, smiling.

Sudden death overtime playoff hockey — truly there is nothing else quite like it in all of sports.

The New York Rangers Wednesday night, backstopped by a game-stealing performance from Henrik Lunqvist, skated just the type of game head coach John Tortorella likely hoped they would. They survived an opening-frame surge from the hosts, watched luck guide some Capitals’ shots into the iron behind Lundqvist, again successfully stymied Alexander Ovechkin by matching their minutes-gobbling Girardi-Staal defensive pair against Ovi (more than 65 minutes of ice between the Rags’ top pair defenders), and were poised to deliver a deflating defeat to a delicate Capitals’ psyche. They had the Caps just where they wanted ‘em. And 18,000 in red in the building knew it, too.

A first-frame of overtime appeared poised to head into a second. The puck was on the trustworthy blade of Marc Staal. He just had to lift a clearing pass up past 6-foot-5 Jason Arnott, stationed hard on the nearside boards at the blueline, defending against the hard-around. He didn’t.

Jason Arnott — he the veteran of 106 postseason games — grasped error and in an instant authored victory with it. He had a game-deciding moment in his glove there at the Rangers blueline. You could just tell, somehow, that Arnott would make a play — the play — in that moment. It’s who he quickly has become for this hockey club. Way up high above the proceedings I was part of a new media contingent seizing one another’s shirt sleeves for emphasis as Arnott corralled Staal’s suicide outlet and instantly recognized Semin’s sniper stationing. The big pivot quickly directed a centering pass to the unchecked Semin, some 20 feet in front of Lundqvist, and good Sasha turned and rifled a laser-blazer past the standout netminder.

Oh but ain’t it grand that Sasha’s signed for next season! 18,000 of the Red Army unanimously thought in their screams and hugs at that moment, looking down as the Russian winger became engulfed in the jubilant embrace of his teammates.

And ain’t it grand that Lou Lamoriello accepted that trade deadline day phone call from George McPhee — and that Arnott agreed to waive his no-trade clause to come to D.C.?

I’m naming my next dog Lou Lamoriello. Really: Where would this team be this postseason were it still competing with second line center by committee?

And what a difference a year makes. Almost a year to the day that the Montreal Canadiens came into Verizon Center as prohibitive underdogs for game 1 against the President’s Trophy winners, with a goalie named Halak standing on his head, forcing a tight game into overtime, and winning it thanks to Tomas Plekanec, the Caps and 18,000 clad in red Wednesday instead left Chinatown breathing an oh so elusive sigh of relief in spring.

We in Washington live to have our dreams not vanquished another day. More than perhaps we care to admit it, we needed that W last night. The Capitals may or may not be delicate of psyche this spring; they’ll certainly allege they’re not. We the spring-scarred on the other hand most assuredly are.

And through 53 minutes of action Wednesday, the Capitals gave the Verizon faithful every reason to suspect the onset of additional dread. They were scoreless, the Rags had a marker early in the final frame, and Lunqvist had the look of invincible.

So Bruce Boudreau went last resort — shifting Semin away from Arnott and placing him alongside Backstrom and Ovechkin. The Uber line struck on its first shift together. That it was a “dirty” goal was its innate beauty. Undone by a perimeter attack against the Habs last April, these revamped Caps got it done with the clock running down with their pretty boys going ugly.

Arnott and Semin were primary heroes last night, but add Michal Neuvirth — competing in his first-ever NHL postseason game — a poised Marcus Johansson, and most especially a no-rust-on-his-game Mike Green (26:30 of ice) to the list of do-gooders in this big game. Michal Neuvirth couldn’t have had a better introduction to the Stanley Cup playoffs than he did last night. He stopped 24 of 25 shots, many in key situations down the stretch. He fell on pucks and stopped play at all the right times. He looked very much like the right guy to get the call. He’s never, ever lost a playoff series in his professional hockey career.

It was a big game. The winners of game 1s in the Stanley Cup playoffs go on to win series nearly 70 percent of the time. That’s a telling stat, but trumping it last night in importance was the pervasive sense in this town that we just couldn’t watch another hot goalie for another underdog team lead his guys to a tone-setting upset at the start of a playoff’s opening round. Not in this postseason of referendum.

Saddle up, ye of springtime scars and grey-hair-from-overtime and just-below-the-surface doubts. Wednesday night strongly suggested that we’re in for another war on our nerves this April. Jason Arnott can’t shorten the journey of hard work and good luck required of a prosperous postseason, but it sure looks like he can lead it.