Believe it Arnott

I loved the sign that said that in the phone booth last night.  I also love Jason's remarks in today's Washington Post talking about how the Caps eased up a bit in the third period of their 2-0 victory over the New York Rangers Friday night.  He mentions that even with all the positives they have to address the negatives, like being lackadaisical in the third period.  Awesome, just what the Caps need to hear.  Jason's angry goal look is worthy of love, too.  Let's face it, I love this guy.

Arnott is the leader the Caps have needed in the locker room and on the bench for a long time.  He's constantly talking to Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and all the boys on the bench and they listen to him!  Arnott is the one that will make damn sure the Caps don't slack off, which has been their downfall more times than I can count in the Ovie era. His attention to detail and making sure they do all the little things right is so important if this team is going to progress in the playoffs.  And, it's the little things that have killed them in the past (lousy defense didn't help either, but that's a subject for another post since it's not a problem right now).

Arnott is on a mission and he's arrived at the right place at the right time.  Players don't waive their no trade clauses to play for a losing team.  They waive them to compete for a Stanley Cup. Arnott saw a situation in Washington where he could be a contributor and a leader and compete for a Stanley Cup again, so he became a Cap.  He didn't want to waive his no trade clause to go anywhere else.  He wanted to come here.  I'm thrilled he's here.

That doesn't mean I'm etching the Caps players names on the Stanley Cup because I'm far from that.  There's too much history, too many playoff failures and too many blown 3-1 series lead for me to remotely be optimistic about this team making it to the finals, much less competing for the Cup.  I have to take it one game at a time.

And tomorrow's one game at a time game is in Madison Square Garden.  If they win, I'm already dreading the deadly three game lead even though I have tickets to game 5.  My hope, since this series began, is that I don't get to use them.

Let's go Caps!