Two Good Games in a Row, Wow

I didn't watch the game on Friday, but I did hear the last ten minutes on the radio.  After listening to that, reading the hockey news and the Caps message boards, it's clear that the Caps came to play against the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Nice to hear Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom racking up points with Jason Chimera on their line.  I watched Sunday's 3-0 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins and both these games were great efforts by the Caps.

Does that mean there is hope for this team in April?  I've got to see a consistent effort for many more games before I'll believe that.  I get that the Caps have been implementing a new defensively responsible system these last twenty games (that time period started with a win against Ottawa at the end of the eight game losing streak in December).  They've won 50% of those games with a 1.7 goals against per game.  The goals against is astounding for a team that has played run and gun offense for the past several years and last year had a 2.77 GA/G.

However, implementing that new system doesn't excuse lack of effort which is still evident all too often with this team. The game a week ago against Montreal when the Caps went up 2-0 and then sat back until they lost the game in a shootout is a perfect example of how that lack of effort creeps in with this team.  The players, like Scott Hannan, said the same thing.

So, when and where will this team finds its consistent killer instinct?  In April?  I can only hope.

Let's go Caps!