LOVERRO: Rock the Red fades to black

It hurts. I know it hurts. You were all worked up about Game 7 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night. Everyone was. The whole town was buzzing.

And now… thud!

A 6-2 beatdown.

The daily grind had taken a back seat to passionate playoff hockey. It’s time to resume your life.

Those bills you had neglected are waiting to be paid. You now can start looking for a summer camp for your kids. And you finally can take care of your dog’s fleas.

You Rocked the Red on Wednesday, and instead your dreams Faded to Black.

The Washington Capitals had suspended life in and around the District and replaced it with dreams of a Stanley Cup. But reality landed hard on the Caps and their fans early at frenzied Verizon Center. On Pittsburgh’s first power play, Sidney Crosby took a puck that had bounced off his back skate and slipped it past Washington goalie Simeon Varlamov for a 1-0 lead.

You could see the goal coming. Once Shaone Morrisonn was called for slashing at 11:29 of the first period, Crosby parked himself in the corner of the net with little resistance, waiting for his chance.

It came a little more than a minute later. Sergei Gonchar, back on the ice for the first time after suffering a knee injury in a collision with Alex Ovechkin in Game 4, took a shot that bounced off the skate of Crosby, who put in the rebound.

It was disappointing but not deflating for the fans at Verizon, who had been talking about this game, this moment, and how great it was going to be.

Eight seconds later, that was deflating.

That’s all it took for the Penguins to take a 2-0 lead when Craig Adams scored the first playoff goal of his career.

Now all the hyperbole about this great series and the final showdown between these two exciting teams and their two superstars, Crosby and Ovechkin, was melting away.

It was slush by the first minute of the second period, when 38-year-old Bill Guerin put in Pittsburgh’s third goal of the game. Two minutes later, Kris Letang put the Penguins on top 4-0, and the storybook playoff run had turned into an ugly Grimm Fairy Tale.

Washington coach Bruce Boudreau pulled the rookie Varlamov in favor of Jose Theodore, the veteran who had been the No. 1 goaltender most of the season. Theodore had been replaced by Boudreau after giving up four goals in a 4-3 loss to the Rangers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

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