This Puck Buddy was at the game with a hot hockey pal, who, though a lifelong Flyer fan, knows the nuances of the game better than moi, has the NHL Season pass on cable and whose prized possessions include a photo with Bernie Parent on the Flyers team plane during the Broad Street Bully era. I’ll call her “FlyGirl.” A onetime Caps season ticket holder, she worked the internet to get us tickets, and has a knowledge of arcane referee and linesman hand signals deep enough to make you think Marcel Marceau once played for the Quebec Nordiques, so I’ll give her a pass on her allegiance to her hometown team.

The Caps had a 6-day layoff after winning their first round handily, but that may have spawned a bit of rust — I think the last time they had even close to this much time off between games they fell to the Rangers 6-0 in February.

The Lightning scored 2 minutes in on an ugly scramble in front of the net that ultimately saw Mike Green slide between the pipes, never a good sign. Meanwhile, the snoozing goal judge never turned on the red light, which apparently meant he either took Sting’s advice in “Roxanne” or was moonlighting from a gig as an air traffic controller. Nonetheless, a “1″ appeared in the Bolts’ column on the scoreboard about 10 seconds later.

Caps got it back a couple minutes later when Tampa turned the puck over in their end, which was gobbled up by Semin, who fired a shot that spurted through Roloson’s 5-hole and dribbled across the crease.

A tense moment for the Fly Girl came a few minutes later when the Bolts’ Simon Gagne crumpled after a check by Hannan in the Caps end, hit his head on the ice and didn’t get up. Gagne spent 10 years and scored 259 goals with Philadelphia before being traded last year, and managed 40 points with Tampa this year. Gagne, who has a history of head injuries, eventually eschewed the stretcher and left the rink with assistance, but between the blow to the head and an apparent favoring of his leg, he’s clearly day to day at best.

The Caps lit the lamp at the 13 minute mark, but the boys in Toronto went to the videotape, and it was ruled that Brooks Laich kicked the puck in on a rebound to Roloson’s glove side. Didn’t get a good angle on the replay on the Jumbotron, but the Caps didn’t put up too much of a fuss. It did, however, fuel a growing animosity in the crowd toward the officiating crew.

Caps scored early in the second on a nice tic-tac-toe from Johansson- Chimera – Fehr off a faceoff, but the elderly Roloson, who looked beatable earlier, found a fountain of youth and started making some stops, including on one drive from Ovie. Roloson also got some help from the goalposts on a subsequent Caps rush.

There’s been some “hot goaltender” buzz around Roloson, who’s had his moments in a long NHL career, but keep in mind this elder statesman is also a journeyman now on his eighth team and is one degree of separation, through the provocatively named Randy Cunnyworth on Buffalo in 1998, with the great Gilles Meloche, who tended the twine thanklessly but masterfully for the likes of the California Golden Seals and the Cleveland Barons almost 40 years ago.

Tampa tied it up at the 16-minute mark, and then Steven Stamkos, not to be confused with John Stamos, knocked in a death-blow rebound with 30 seconds left that deflated the crowd and the Caps faster than a cigarette burn on one of those blow-up Thundersticks. Caps took several penalties in the second, and the Verizon Center crowd again voiced their displeasure with the officiating crew.

Not much shaking in the 3rd period, other than the Caps being repeatedly called for offsides, generating more crowd hatred of the officials, and a couple more unrealized power plays — they went 0-5 on the night. Game two is Sunday at 7, Caps need to bring their A game, this Tampa team has some first-rate players — Stamkos, Martin St. Louis, Vincent Lecavilier — these guys are pros and no pushovers.

With a reality-check 4-2 loss in the books, the highlight for me turned out to be hitting PS7 after the game on FlyGirl’s suggestion for tuna sliders and a couple of much-needed and well-made cocktails. As we left, we saw a flaccid Thunderstick discarded on the sidewalk at 9th and G. There’s a metaphor in there for game 1 somewhere.

Pittsburgh had a 1-0 for the first 16 minutes, and the Bolts didn’t even have a shot on net for the first 10 minutes. But Teddy Purcell scored on a wrister to set up the pivotal second period. Sorry Penguin.

TB took the lead on a beauty goal by Sean Burgenheim, who took a nifty backward pass from Dominic Moore to beat Fleury on his glove side. This came moments after Chris Conner, not to be confused with ’50s & ’60s cool jazz chanteuse Chris Connor, had a shot at an open net from the slot deflect off the twig of Victor Hedman. Sorry Penguin.

Conner had a chance for redemption on a penalty shot later in the second stanza that would’ve tied the game, but he failed to even get a shot off, apparently terrified by the grizzled visage of 41-year-old TB netminder Dwayne Roloson, who’s increasingly resembling a guy you might see hitchhiking a couple miles from a county workfarm. It was the culmination of 20 minutes of futility that saw Pittsburgh blow three power play opportunities. Sorry Penguin.

Pittsburgh tied it up early in the 3rd but Fleury surrendered a goal a minute later and TB sewed it up on a Ryan Malone breakaway with 10 minutes left to ice it for the Bolts. Tampa Bay really outworked Pittsburgh behind some intense coaching by Guy Boucher. Through the miracle of HDTV, I noticed that Boucher has a cool, right-angle scar under his right eye, which was either a hockey injury or the result of a knife fight on a Marseilles dock. Sorry Penguin.

My thanks to the Capital One commercial featuring Alex Ovechkin firing pucks off a DC roof (appears to be around Judiciary Square) and hitting various bank branches in the metro area. When he turns his sights on Capitol hill, he nails Pittsburgh’s mascot, drops him like “Ironside” during the opening credits, and muses, “Sorry, Penguin.”

Game 7 of the series is Wednesday.

Since the Rangers were playing for their postseason life after fumbling a 3-goal lead Wednesday night in a double OT loss to send the Caps up 3-1 in the series, pregame chatter Sunday was along the lines of “nothing is more dangerous than an injured animal.” Turns out a mortally wounded Ranger isn’t especially threatening at all – they just sort of look up from a supine position, grunt and expire.

The Rangers did come out smoking the first minute with a furious rush at Michael Neuvirth, but that was followed by 58 minutes of uninspired play before a Phone Booth crowd intent on outshouting a Boudreau-baited MSG mob Wednesday. Amid a barrage of 36 first-period shots in the vicinity of the New York net, Mike Green scored 7 minutes in on a power play. In the second, Ovie took it in from the red-line and scored on a dazzling backhand, blowing by a tired Marc Staal, and the speedy Johannson, who’s going to be a great one, fed Sasha on a two-on-one in the third headmanned by Sturm for goal number 3, more than enough to send the punchless Rangers packing. I’ve seen most of the Caps games this season one way or another, and this was to me one of their most complete, smoothest performances of the year, just a pleasure to watch.

Early in NBC’s telecast, Chicago’s own Ed Olyczek noted that handsomely paid Ranger superstar Marian Gaborik had better step it up a notch on offense, or else the Rangers would be “playing golf on Monday.” Well, book those tee times. Gaborik hasn’t been nearly as productive in New York as he was for the Minnesota Wild, and his name was dangled in trade talks near the deadline. Should be noted he suffered a concussion in February, which likely hampered his postseason production. Might not explain why he coughed it up in the second overtime Wednesday to hand the Caps Jason Chimera — whose success this year is no illusion — the winning goal.

Obvious standouts for the Caps were Neuvirth, who made several acrobatic stops among his 26 saves and missed a shutout by 30 seconds; and Ovie, who had a goal and an assist, played D and was just generally awesome while on the sheet. His deke on a shot before dishing off to Green for the first period goal was a superstar play. Ovie also had an entertaining post-game interview, describing how the Caps had persevered through setbacks and injuries, including a player he said had “lost an arm,” which I assume was a bit of funny hyperbole, I took it that way. Ovechkin’s defense to a ref of a Semin infraction on an episode of HBO’s “24-7” where he claimed blood was drawn because the opponent had “sensitive skin” was my single favorite hockey moment of the year.

Random Notes: Ranger coach John Tortorella bears a striking resemblance to Men’s Wearhouse founder George Zimmer. This was reinforced during the Rangers timeout late in the 3rd period, when alert lipreaders in NBC’s TV audience could discern him assuring his demoralized charges:“You’re gonna like the way you look.” Tortorella will now move on to become a limited-time entree at Olive Garden.

A friend had to this to say on Facebook about Rangers C Brandon Dubinsky after Saturday’s game: “‘Boogie Nights’ called. They want their mustache back.”

Scary moment in the first period when Mike Green, bending to block a drive from Matt Gilroy, took another puck to the head that dropped him to the ice and literally knocked a couple of screws loose from his helmet, which got the Zapruder treatment from NBC. Greenie was back on the Caps bench by the end of the second period, but didn’t play, although he didn’t have to, either. Late word was that he’s fine and that the visor did its job. Nonetheless, Mike may want to look into borrowing the thankfully now-unused lid once sported by the “Capstronaut.”

I’ve had trouble all year pronouncing Michael Neuvirth’s last name so have been calling him “Bob Newhart.”

Sitting on the bench after being pulled with 3 minutes left, overtaxed Henrik Lundqvist, head buried in his glove and blocker, reminded me of that guy in the Sistine Chapel painting who realizes he’s going to hell, or at least an Ingmar Bergman interpretation of it. Lundqvist didn’t really help his cause by creating more rebounds than Butler’s ice-cold shooters in the NCAA hoops final.

Caps now get some well-deserved time off and will wait to see who they get for round two, either the Sabres, Canadians, Penguins or division rival Tampa Bay. While it would be fun to slap the Penguins around again, the best bet is for the Caps shuffle off to Buffalo.