The Capitals head to Pittsburgh trailing 0-2. The worst thing they can do is panic.

The hockey description of playoff panic involves the grip on a hockey stick, and it’s a wonderful metaphor. Players paralyzed by postseason pressure are said to be gripping their sticks too tightly. Those who thrive inside that absurd vice of tension, on the other hand, are said to have a gentle, caressing touch. They hold their sticks like, I don’t know, like delicate wheels of Humboldt Fog, playing freely and joyfully without denting the cheese. “The majority of guys in the league squeeze it in the playoffs; you know, they get a little bit too tense,” Washington Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner once told me. “They still play good, but you don’t make those really nice plays, plays that are maybe