Not so different after all

Although the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins have remained rivals for years, never have the two franchises been so similar.

A precocious but sublimely talented core? A drastic improvement from the season before to end a lengthy postseason drought? A team chock full of players experiencing the NHL playoffs for the first time? A season of promise dashed in the first round — an unfortunate end but one leaving a suddenly renewed fan base contemplating future greatness?

If all of those traits sound like they describe the 2007-08 edition of the Washington Capitals, it is because they do. And all of the same things could be said about the 2006-07 Pittsburgh Penguins.

“I do see similarities — we each had poor records, drafted well, added a couple of key veterans, have great team chemistry and passionate fans,” Caps owner Ted Leonsis said.

Added Penguins’ radio analyst Phil Bourque: “There are a lot of similarities. They have young superstars in [Alexander] Semin and [Alex] Ovechkin. They have this Mike Green kid coming into his own. What they went through this year, to overcome so many hurdles, I know it stung. It hurt them to lose the way they did. Those are the things you need to become better. Look at what this team did last year, and then they had the stinger against Ottawa.”

And though the animosity felt by Caps fans toward their rivals 250 miles to the Northwest surely won’t subside anytime soon, they can hope by watching this year’s Penguins march through the Stanley Cup playoffs they could catch a glimpse of what the future holds for their own heroes.

The Penguins raced through the first two rounds, sweeping the same Ottawa Senators who bounced them in five games the year before and then finishing off the New York Rangers in five. Pittsburgh plays host to the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals tonight at Mellon Arena.

Last season the Penguins, buoyed by Hart and Calder trophy winners (Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin) and a Jack Adams Award finalist (Michel Therrien) made a quantum leap forward from a disastrous 2005-06 campaign to earn the franchise’s first playoff berth in five years.

The excitement that began to build when the team selected Crosby in the 2005 draft was capitalized upon both on the ice and at the box office. As the team finished with 105 points, Mellon Arena was once again full every night toward the end of the season, including 13 straight sellouts to close the season (a streak that remains intact).

Heading into the playoffs, the Penguins were the “it” team, a group of exciting kids looking to make their first splash on the postseason stage. But it was far from a storybook ending, as the seasoned Senators dispatched them and many of the youthful players struggled.

This season the Caps, led by the likely Hart Trophy winner (Ovechkin) and finalists for the Calder (Nicklas Backstrom) and Jack Adams (coach Bruce Boudreau) made the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

The franchise capitalized on drafting Ovechkin at the box office as well. Attendance started to swell as the team began to turn its fortunes around with Boudreau in charge and after Ovechkin signed a 13-year, $124 million contract extension.

The final four regular-season games at Verizon Center were sold out as well as the four playoff contests, and the building rocked at decibel levels not heard in a decade. A team spokesman said nearly 3,000 new season-ticket packages have been sold and 90 percent of the previous ones have been renewed.

As these playoffs began, the Caps were the new “it” team as fans from across Russia, Sweden and even Canada adopted Washington and its exciting brand of hockey. Even though the Caps erased a 3-1 deficit to set up a Game 7 at home, they didn’t survive against the Flyers and a magical run came to a sudden halt.

“I think they didn’t have enough experience going into the playoffs similar to us last year,” said Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who played in Washington for nine seasons,. “Obviously, both teams have a lot of talent — great forwards, lots of offense. It is just a matter of getting that experience. That is the biggest difference between us last year and this year.”

This season that experience has begun to pay off for the Penguins. With the maturation of their young superstars and a few key additions, Pittsburgh in the NHL’s final four for the first time in seven years.. The biggest difference has been the play of its young core, guys like Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury whose first foray into the postseason was a flop.

“I figured that out last year. It is a little different game,” Malkin said through an interpreter. “Playoffs is a different game, different hockey. It is much harder.”

Caps fans can take solace that their team’s learning curve may have taken shape a little quicker. Although the Penguins were dispersed from the playoffs before most of their young stars tasted any success, the Caps’ youthful core found its collective postseason legs in Game 4 against the Flyers and translated it into wins in Games 5 and 6.

Clearly, guys like Ovechkin, Semin and Backstrom figured out how to play at the extra level the NHL postseason demands. Now it is up to Leonsis and general manager George McPhee to fill the team’s holes so the franchise can continue to build on the season’s final months.

A deep postseason run is not out of the question as early as next spring — and the Penguins may have shown the way.

“[This] year we learned how to win, which is the first step,” Leonsis said. “We have some work to do this summer, but we are already looking forward to next year and continuing the momentum and unprecedented fan support we received.”

Added Bourque: “I even go back to our team [in 1989-90], when we lost the last game of the regular season in overtime to Buffalo [to miss the playoffs by one point]. That was crushing, but we went on to win the Stanley Cup the next two years. Sometimes you have to feel the pain of losing before you can feel the sweet taste of success.”