The above video, featuring Comcast SportsNet's Capitals reporter Lisa Hillary suffering a highly entertaining, if ultimately non-life-threatening, heart-attack while being terrorized by a Verizon Center rat, represents our first exposure to playoff hockey in years.
(Rick Tocchet's still playing, right? Or at least dating Elisha Cuthbert?) But maybe there's a lesson about reeling in more casual fans for the NHL in the shrieking horror-dance: perhaps the league can drum up more interest in the playoffs by releasing wild animals in the arenas to spice up the coverage. We'd tune in to every damn game if we knew Barry Melrose and an alligator were going to face-off at rinkside before they dropped the puck.
Lisa Hillary Sees a Rat, Gary Starts Tweeting [WaPo DC Sports Blog]