Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear...

...From out of the past come the thundering slapshots of the men in red. The Washington Capitals skate again!

OK, so this isn't The Lone Ranger. But we will, for a moment, look back to yesteryear and to another series that started in Verizon Center, two games that kicked off the Eastern Conference quarterfinals...

The Capitals split two games against a sturdy goaltender (2.24 GAA, .914 save percentage for the year while pitching six shuouts and winning 30 games), the loss -- coincidentally enough -- by a 4-3 margin.

After splitting those first two games at home, the Caps went on the road and swept their opponent in their rink. The adventure wasn't over, though ...the Caps came home and lost -- again -- at home. But then they went on the road once more and won the game and the series.

The opponent...the Boston Bruins

The goalie...Byron Dafoe

The year...1998.

You remember what happened that year, don't you?

OK, the Caps don't have Olaf Kolzig standing on his head in goal like they did then. But then again, that team didn't have Alex Ovechkin, either.

Even if you want to go back further -- to 1988 and what a lot of Caps fans think is the signature playoff series in franchise history -- the Caps lost game 1 to the Flyers at home in the Patrick Division semifinals. They went down 3-1 in games after losing both games in Philadelphia. But then they pounded the Flyers in two games before setting up a Game 7 -- where they found themselves in a 3-0 hole. The Caps came back to finish the game like this...“…Murphy starts the rush… he hits Hunter…he’s in alone…a shot…and a goal!!!!!"

The point is, there are many minutes to play and many shifts to skate before this series is over. Who knows where they will lead?