the older European players went

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WASHINGTON -- Not a single member of the current Washington Capitals roster is from Washington. In fact, Jeff Halpern remains the only player born-and-bred in the area to make the local NHL team, and hes come and gone twice in his 13 seasons in the league. So perhaps Jason Chimera, a native of Edmonton who has been with the Capitals only since 2009, could be forgiven for his response when asked Thursday about the collective public angst over the teams latest blown lead in the playoffs. "I dont know why people keep bringing up pasts, or people keep bringing up stuff that happened," Chimera said. "Its different teams every year. Its not like its the same individuals every year." If Chimera were a live-long Capitals fan, he would feel differently. He would bear the scars from rooting for a franchise that has lost eight -- yes, eight -- playoff series when holding a two-game lead. Nobody collapses in the post-season quite like the Capitals. 1985. 1987. 1992. 1995. 1996. 2003. 2009. 2010. All series that Washington led either 2-0 or 3-1 -- and went on to lose. All were seven-game series, except for a five-gamer in 85. Even more startling, the Capitals historically are more likely to lose than win a series after taking a 2-0 lead. Theyve won four, lost five. They are trending that way again. They were up 2-0 on the New York Rangers. Now its 2-2 headed into Fridays Game 5 in Washington. While theres room for plenty of discussion for the technical and strategic reasons for the two losses in New York, one fact remains indisputable: The doubts are inevitably growing among the paying customers, and the players have to make sure those doubts dont seep into the locker room. "We need to get some momentum back," forward Troy Brouwer said. "Theyve got a lot of it with their two wins in their building. Weve been able to get wins at home, and were relying on that and have confidence in that going into Game 5." Take away the weight of the Capitals history, and the teams plight doesnt look so dire. If they keep holding serve at home, theyll win the series. If they can take fewer penalties and be less sloppy, and if Alex Ovechkin can find more space to make an impact after getting shut out in Games 3 and 4, they should be in good shape to turn the tide. But then theres this: The Capitals are have a 10-20 all-time record in Game 5s. Thats a massive skeleton to have in the closest, but its a closet the players are trying to keep shut. "Everyone likes to make things bigger than it actually is," defenceman Karl Alzner said. "The fans like to panic a little bit sometimes, but were not panicking, and everyone will see that tomorrow." Thats not to say that emotion wont play a part from here on out. Setting aside the history, both teams say that confidence and momentum could be as important as line changes and power plays in the next few days. "Our resiliency has really shown in these past two games, and we are going to need that when we go to Washington," New York coach John Tortorella said. "They are going to surge there, and we just need to find a way to keep our heads above water and find a way to win a game." Nevertheless, if the Rangers do win Game 5, the Capitals will have to work a bit harder to keep the angst of history at bay. "Theres always momentum swings," Washington goaltender Braden Holtby said. "Its just whoever can keep the levelest head, and keep thinking about the long-term in the series, and not worry about those momentum swings, is usually the team thats going to win." Notes: Capitals RW Martin Erat is likely out for Game 5 with an upper body injury suffered in Game 4. Washington recalled RWs Joey Crabb and Tom Wilson from Hershey of the AHL. Wilson, 19, is a 2012 first-round draft pick and made his professional debut last week in the AHL playoffs. ... Washington F Brooks Laich, who hasnt played since April 4, said his recent surgery was a "small procedure that was groin-related." He is skating again but needs to improve his conditioning before he can play. AP Sports Writer Ira Podell in New York contributed to this report. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . Jordan Lynch, the all-purpose Heisman Trophy finalist from Northern Illinois, failed to make it into that exclusive club. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . Pierce was ejected in the third quarter of Indianas 103-86 win Monday. George Hill stole a bad pass and was going in for a layup, and Pierce hustled back and appeared to be trying to wrap him up. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . Radwanska, making her debut in the Seoul tournament, hit eight aces in a match that lasted 1 hour, 4 minutes at Olympic Park tennis stadium. "It was definitely a very good match -- I was playing really good tennis," Radwanska said. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . -- Brandon Jennings made the most of his first game with the Detroit Pistons on Sunday night. Зарегистрируйтесь, чтобы увидеть ссылку! . Just as Montreal was settling into the first full working week of a new year, the Impact announced the appointment of their new head coach. SINGAPORE -- The WTA Finals ended on a surprising note, with Dominika Cibulkova beating top-ranked Angelique Kerber?6-3, 6-4 for the title. The Slovakian ended a remarkable season by Kerber, who won two Grand Slam trophies and reached the final of a third.With the win, Cibulkova moved up to the No. 5 ranking in the world and showed she will be a legitimate threat moving forward. Heres what else we learned during the weeklong year-end championships:1. Womens tennis has never been more exciting: Yes, its more exciting and unpredictable than the ATP. These WTA Finals were a roller-coaster ride from start to finish because of the competitiveness between the players. Svetlana Kuznetsova only qualified by winning the Kremlin Cup final the day before the WTA Finals kicked off in Singapore, and both she and Karolina Pliskova had to save match points to win their opening round-robin matches. Cibulkova snuck into the semifinals despite losing two round-robin matches, but it could just as easily have been Simona Halep or Madison Keys in her place. From start to finish, the WTA Finals were filled with exciting, topsy-turvy matches.?2. Despite the loss, Kerber could be a long-term successor to Serena Williams: Despite losing the final to an inspired Cibulkova, Kerber only enhanced her growing reputation. Oozing with confidence and comfortable with her new status, the 28-year-old navigated her way to the final with clinical efficiency, dealing with everything that came her way. Even in the final, when Cibulkova played the match of her life, Kerber almost pulled it out of the fire, saving three match points before Cibulkova got a lucky break with a net cord that ended the contest.3. The days of wunderkinds winning Grand Slams could be a way off: Serena may have won herr first major as a teenager, but her biggest legacy may end up being inspiring older women to stick at it for longer.dddddddddddd Although the grueling round-robin nature of the WTA Finals should in theory benefit younger players, it instead favored the more experienced brigade. The four youngest players in the tournament were all eliminated after the round-robin phase, and the four semifinalists were all 27 and older.4. Madison Keys is a work in progress, but the wait could be worth it: Still just 21, she was the youngest player to qualify and clearly has all the weapons to dominate her opponents, with a thunderbolt serve and ferocious groundstrokes. The trick for her now is to get her temperament right, but she appears to have a good head on her shoulders. She admitted that her nerves got the better of her at times in Singapore but was mature enough to recognize thats an area she needs to fix. She also took note of what was happening on the other side of the net, watching how the older European players went about their business and consoling herself in the knowledge they also took their time before breaking through.5. Theres still a place in the game for smaller players: At 5-foot-3, Cibulkova could be riding in the Kentucky Derby if she werent such a good tennis player. But what she lacks in height she makes up for with sheer tenacity, with aggressive groundstrokes and never giving up, fetching more balls than a golden retriever. Hers was a win for the sports romantics, overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds to win the biggest tournament of her life at a time when most everyone is resigned to thinking that big is better. ' ' '