President Barack Obama recently expressed his support for same-sex marriage, becoming the first president to ever do so. Obama’s announcement was all-but-expected after Vice President Joseph Biden declared his support for marriage equality on NBC’s Meet the Press, yet it still resounded heavily across the nation.

With the presidential election a sheer seven months away, taking a firm stance on what is considered to be a controversial issue was an undeniably risky move, but a move nonetheless. Although Obama’s support for same-sex marriage may cost him the votes of the more socially conservative democrats, it will undoubtedly gain him approval from members of the LGBT community.

This approval is vital since, according to MSNBC, some gay and liberal donors were threatening to withdrawal their financial support from Obama’s campaign due to his “refusal to sign an executive order barring discrimination of gays and lesbians in federal contracting”, making Obama’s timing in announcing his support for marriage equality opportune.

Throughout his campaign, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been relentlessly criticized for reversing his opinion on several issues, yet Obama is now doing the same. Simply because he uses euphemistic terms like “evolve” does not change the fact that Obama’s current support for same-sex marriage is a complete reversal of the position he took during the 2008 campaign.

Politicians are allowed to change their position on an issue, but those changes should be acknowledged, not ignored or passed off as something else (evolution, perhaps?). If Romney is a flip-flopper, as many claim him to be, then so too is Obama and any other politician who has ever experienced a change of heart. 

I completely support Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage; however, what I do not support is the time and manner in which he chose to disclose it.

Jake Dziubla-Round Table sports editor

Now that game six is in the books, we Caps fans can take a breather and enjoy these next two days off, a rarity in playoff hockey. First, let’s take a look at what the Caps accomplished in game six.

First and foremost, the Caps’ “young guns” stepped up when they needed to. Forward Alex Ovechkin scored on the power play 1:28 into the first period with assists coming from fellow hockey stars defenseman Mike Green and center Nicklas Backstrom. The Caps went 1-for-3 on the power play last night, and are now 21.1 percent on the power play this series. Overall, the Caps now have a power play percentage of 18.4 for the entire playoffs, the fifth best amongst the 16 teams that competed in the playoffs. The Caps’ penalty kill also shut down several potentially game-changing Ranger power plays. The Caps’ penalty kill is now 82.6 percent, killing off 19-for-23.

One of the more impressive statistics of the game was that the Caps held a lead for 58 minutes and 32 seconds. That lead is the longest lead held by any team in the Caps’ playoff run so far this year. They held a two-goal lead for 28 minutes and 10 seconds in game six, after forward Marian Gaborik of the Rangers stole Caps goaltender Braden Holtby’s shutout from him. Speaking of Holtby, the young goaltender has been a gem. While many of the Rangers shots were poor in quality, Holtby swallowed the puck from most rebounds. Holtby stopped 30 of the Rangers shots and frustrated the Rangers by disallowing any second or third chances from occurring. Holtby, who is 22 years old and a rookie, owns a .935 save percentage and a 1.95 GAA. He also leads most remaining playoff goalies in ice time with 863 minutes. He has now started 29 straight games without losing consecutively.

As far as game seven is concerned, the stats between the two teams reveal that the next game will be about the best man winning. The Rangers are an intimidating 4-0 at Madison Square Garden in game sevens. The Capitals are 1-1 on the road in game sevens. However, the Rangers are 2-0 when facing elimination this year; so are the Capitals. The Capitals will need to quell a generally rambunctious New York crowd early and take away the momentum. As I have reiterated in my previous columns, it is imperative that the Caps score first. In 2009, the Caps beat the Rangers in game seven of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal, the same type of series that the two teams are in right now. That game has been the only game seven, since the lockout, that the Caps have played on the road.

Take a breather, Caps fans.

Jake Dziubla-Round Table sports editor

Here are your top five keys to game six of the Capitals-Rangers series. Enjoy.

1.  Score early, score often-In the Caps’ 12 playoff games so far, the team that scores first is 11-1, 5-0 in this series. What better way to start off a crucial game then by having the Caps score early on home ice?

2. Get Lundqvist to work for saves-Sure; the Rangers outshot the Caps 33-11 even strength in game five. Most of those shots, however, were from areas with low potential for goal scoring: far from the goal, or from bad angles. The Caps may not have had as many scoring chances, but those chances were more about quality over quantity. The Caps’ chances were from quality scoring areas. Those chances probably won’t be as easy tonight, however. The Caps need to bury their goals if they want to score at all. The Rangers’ defense should most likely be tighter than in game five. Washington is only 3-4 when scoring less than two goals in these playoffs.

3. Convert on opportunities-In game five, the Caps had numerous odd-man rushes against the Rangers. They failed to even get a shot on goal on any of them, however. In order to find these same chances, the Caps must be patient. Under Dale Hunter’s new system, the Caps must wait for these opportunities after committing to solid defense.

4. Score on the power play-The Capitals have just six goals on the power play so far in the 2012 playoffs, with Alex Semin leading all Caps with two of them.

5. Resiliency-The Caps have not lost back-to-back games at all during the playoffs this year and have shown some impressive resiliency when playing after tough losses, most notably after winning game four after losing in triple overtime in game three. Neither team has been able to win consecutive games in this series as well, a stat that should be in favor of the Caps. In order to win this monumental game, it is imperative that the Caps start the game off strong and use the din of the Verizon Center to their upmost advantage.