We’re about two hours from the drop of the puck tonight in Pittsburgh for game four of the Caps-Penguins second round playoff series, and some 26 hours from the drop of the puck in Washington tomorrow night for game five. It’s a less than ideal situation, playing these back-to-back games; and like the majority of bad things in life, it’s all Yanni’s fault.
I do not like Yanni — or John Tesh, or Kenny G, or any combination of the three. I do not like his ripped-from-a-frieze-at-the-Acropolis haircut. I do not like the even-Sgt.-Andy-Sipowicz-kept-it-cleaner mustache. I not like his let’s-remix-Bach-for-the-ride-between-the-34th-and-47th-floor style of music. I do not like the way he makes me abuse the hyphenated phrase.
But today, I have a new reason to dislike Yanni. Per the AP:
PITTSBURGH — Yanni is forcing the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins to play two playoff games in as many nights, and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis doesn’t like it.
Three events in eight days at Mellon Arena required the NHL to schedule the Capitals and Penguins to play Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series in Pittsburgh on Friday night and Game 5 at the Verizon Center in Washington on Saturday….
The teams are playing every other day during the series except for the back-to-back games. Normally, the teams would have played Friday in Pittsburgh, Sunday in Washington and Tuesday [if necessary] in Pittsburgh, but the concert conflict ruled out Tuesday.
Instead, Game 6 would be played Monday night in Pittsburgh, the third game between the teams in four days.
A WWE wrestling event this past Tuesday and a Dane Cook show on Thursday in Pittsburgh also factored into the NHL schedule.
But any Caps fan worth his imitation Peter Bondra jersey remembers the 2000 Caps-Pens playoff series. Let me fire up Lexis Nexis and take you to the Apr. 11, 2000, edition of The Washington Times. “First-round schedule leaves many Caps fans angry,” the headline reads.
To say Washington Capitals fans were upset yesterday with the team’s first-round playoff schedule would be putting it mildly. Irate might not even do it justice….
A series of scheduling conflicts at Mellon Arena, home of the Penguins, forced a change from the traditional NHL playoffs that gives the higher-seeded team home ice for Games 1, 2, 5 and 7.
Instead, the Caps will have home ice for Games 1, 4, 5 and 7. A Washington loss in Game 1 would give the lower seeded Penguins a decided advantage with the next two games in Pittsburgh…
The NHL originally wanted to have Games 3 and 4 in Pittsburgh on April 16 and 18. But Mellon Arena is booked with the World Wrestling Federation on April 16 and the Burn the Floor dance show on April 18-19.
And so the cycle repeats. In 2000, WWF and a tango spectacular called “Burn the Floor” took home ice away from the Caps due to a Mellon Arena scheduling snafu. In 2009, WWF — since renamed WWE — plus Yanni and Dane Cook have forced an unorthodox back-to-back schedule.
Interestingly, the Caps chose to give essentially give up home ice in 2000, saying “this was the best thing we came up with and still not have to play back-to-back games.” In 2009, they kept home ice, but they’re forced to play back-to-back.
The 2000 Caps lost their first game of the series in a remarkable 7-0 loss. They lost games two and three in Pittsburgh. They eventually lost the series, 4-1.
One more thing worth noting. Caps owner Ted Leonsis — who was also the owner during the 2000 season — wrote on his blog recently:
It is a shame that both teams will have to play back to back games later in the series because the Pittsburgh building – against NHL rules – booked a series of concerts and forced the league to alter the playoff schedule. This is bad for the league, both fan bases and for the players.
But then there’s this quote from the 2000 incident:
“It would be irresponsible of me to sit back in November and block everything between early April and June for hockey,” said Hank Abate, general manager of the Mellon Arena. “I set aside some dates for the Pens, but it’s completely impossible for me to know back in the fall which specific dates were good. What usually happens is that we book the building and the NHL works around us.”
Apparently, not much has changed.