When adversity strikes

The Washington Capitals place on top of the Eastern Conference by nine points could not have come at a better time. The season is nearing its mid-point at 38 games and key injuries are piling up for this team. The Caps wins have come in a variety of ways, but they have also benefited from Goalie Braden Holtby’s Vezina contending season to get them on top and keep them there.  Now, with key players out the Caps get to display how they react when adversity strikes.

The injury roundup:

• The veteran leader of the defense and for the team as the assistant captain, Brooks Orpik played his last game on November 10^th and the up and down nature of his recovery is not encouraging.
• John Carlson, the blue liner having a strong year and picking up for Orpik’s absence, got injured in Montreal on December 26^th.
• Jay Beagle, the faceoff and penalty kill specialist, had hand surgery today and is out for six weeks. The Caps are 21-0-5 when he scores. Beagle scored in his last two games and was the first star of the game twice against the Montreal Canadiens and the Carolina Hurricanes. He is the hardworking checking line forward that always puts his heart and soul on the ice. According to his Coach Barry Trotz, he is also the practice guy, motivated to practice like he is motivated to play. That help to the accountability culture will be missed.

The Caps lost their past two games to the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Carolina Hurricanes. This is the first losing streak of the season for the Caps. The competitive NHL means that 9 points is nothing and can vanish in under a week. The team behind them is the Florida Panthers and the Caps recent performance against that team is not encouraging with a 1-4 loss on December 10^th and a 2-1 overtime win at the end of October. The Caps need to deal with the adversity and get back to winning with a new mix of line combinations and defensive pairings.

The best news of the day is that Carlson and Orpik are traveling with the team. Neither is expected to play, but the fact that they are on the trip is encouraging.

Let’s go Caps!

A worker on every line

Coach Barry Trotz’s stated strategy to beat the Florida Panthers on Saturday night, after a sluggish start by the Caps, was to “put a worker on every line.” The Caps looked like they were skating in quicksand after playing the Columbus Blue Jackets the prior night.

To create a spark, Trotz broke up his hardest working trio of Jay Beagle, Tom Wilson and Jason Chimera and spread them among the top three lines. Those are not the only line changes he made as that spark happened early in the 3^rd period when Beagle tied the game assisted by Alex Ovechkin and Justin Williams. The Caps won that game in overtime, thanks to the continued magic and hard work of Evgeny Kuznetsov’s offense, assisted by his fellow Russians Ovie and Dmitry Orlov. The Caps responded to their coach and won the game. That is encouraging.

Trotz is all about accountability and effort and that has been evident since he arrived in Washington last summer. He increases ice time when players play well and sends them to the press box when they are not playing the game the right way. That is polar opposite of the Coach Bruce Boudreau country club atmosphere days when the Caps players were more concerned about their activities off the ice.

The additions of T.J. Oshie and Williams this season and Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen last season show how serious General Manager Brian MacLellan is about fixing the problems the Caps have had getting past the 2^nd round of the playoffs in the Ovechkin era. He has brought players to Washington that understand how team effort and team play are the most important qualities for winning championships in any professional sport. This group did not bring just their offensive and defensive skill to the Caps, which was also sorely needed, but they brought the leadership intangibles that teams need.

These recently acquired Caps, along with homegrown prospects like Tom Wilson, who is already exhibiting leadership qualities in his play and the words he says, and Kuznetsov, who is so humble in his interviews bodes well for the Caps. It take all of these parts, in addition to the highly skilled players, to make it work. With a couple of exceptions, it has also made the Caps fun to watch.

Let's go Caps!

Holtby, Ovie, and Lucky Bounces

Braden Holtby and number one star last night, stood on his head to help the Caps win a 1-0 game to take a 2-1 series lead over the New York Rangers. Holtby, Ovie, and lucky bounces have helped wipe out slow starts that the Caps are notorious for and have not avoided in either of their playoff series against the New York Islanders or Rangers. This includes the 12:30 debacle on Saturday and the first period in game three, after the Rangers came to play and pressured early. This team cannot seem to wake up for games that start before 1:00 p.m. or come out pressing in the first period even when the games are this important. Baffling.

After complaining about their lack of heart, the Caps pulled out a tight series versus the Islanders with a seesaw performance. They pounded the Islanders 5-1 in game 5 only to fan on the opportunity to close out the series in game 6. Instead, they lost and had to go to a game 7, which they eventually won 2-1 with goals from playoff hero, Joel Ward, and the young wizard with the puck, Evgeny Kuznetsov. The heart comes easier when the Caps are desperate, which is not how teams win the Stanley Cup.

The Caps took that victory and stunned the Rangers with a 2-1 win, to open their second round series, led by a possessed Alex Ovechkin and steady in the net Braden Holtby. The captain flew around the ice with purpose, scoring the first goal of the series on the power play from his usual spot. That the Rangers practiced defending that play and could not prevent the laser shot that went in the top of the net and back out in a flash before goalie Henrik Lundqvist even knew what happened is testimony to Ovie’s power as a sniper. In game 2 of the series, Ovie’s highlight reel goal in the 3-2 loss made fools of Ranger defenders, Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh, by splitting them and knocking a puck in top left corner as he fell to his knees, a vintage Ovie goal. Ovie is playing on another level and the Caps need that to continue.

Holtby’s been strong and getting stronger since the playoffs started, even if he occasionally lets in softie goals. He’s calm and focused as he bails out his team more often than he lets in softies. His game last night was probably his best of the season. His .949 save percentage shows leads the league among the remaining goaltenders. The Caps need that to continue, too.

The lucky bounces were two game winning goals, noteworthy, because lucky bounces do not find the Caps. Joel Ward’s game winning goal off of Alex Ovechkin’s impossible pass across the body and in front of the net to the waiting Ward with 1.3 seconds left was lucky. Jay Beagle’s hard working second attempt to get the puck in the net deflected off Keith Yandle or Lundqvist and became the game winner. Beagle demonstrated how hard work creates luck and nobody deserves it more because he always toils on the ice. Keep working hard Caps and keep making luck.

Let’s go Caps!

Beagle Centering Ovie

The Caps gained 5 out of 6 points on their California road trip. I didn't think they had it in them, but stronger goaltending helps. Jaroslav Halak saved 45 shots in Anaheim. They're a team teetering on the edge of making the playoffs or going home. Sometimes they play like it. Sometimes they don't, but they surprised me on this road trip so I'll take it one game at a time.

Capitals Coach Adam Oates road trip strategy continued with some recently used and surprising line combinations, like Jay Beagle centering Alex Ovechkin. Some of his line shuffling is due to injuries to centers and two-way players Mikhail Grobovski and Brooks Laich and some of it is due to the Caps desperate needs for wins and points. On this road trip, the strategy worked from the perspective that Ovie ended up even in plus/minus versus -2 for each of his two prior games against Toronto and Vancouver.

Read more here.

Let's go Caps!

The Caps got lucky

In staying with my "thinking positive" theme, I'm not going to talk about game 1 against the Rangers in the second round of the playoffs.  It's better that way.  Instead, I'll focus on what I liked about tonight's game, starting with the fact that the Caps got lucky tonight.  They don't often get lucky.

They got lucky when John Carlson's "what just happened here" moment, at the end of a power play, almost cost the Caps a goal as Carlson lost the puck to the rookie Chris Kreider (the one that got the GWG for the Rangers in game 1 coming out of the box.  Instead Braden Holtby made a great save and then the puck went back the other way.  Matt Hendricks got the puck, put it between his legs and tried to slide it past Henrik Lundqvist.  Lundqvist lost the puck, Jason Chimera shoved at it as he's draped around the goal post corner and it deflected off a Ranger's skate into the net.  That happens against the Caps not for the Caps.

The Caps got lucky because the Rangers hit a goal post and a crossbar.  On the last scoring chance near the end of the third period, the puck bounced off the underside of the crossbar and popped back out.  I watched that slow motion replay and thought, wow, that is usually a goal against for the Caps.

They also got lucky despite some early officiating that went against them.  How Marian Gaborik doesn't get a penalty for slamming Matt Hendricks into the boards headfirst by the team doors continues to make me shake my head. But, I'm getting used to this kind of officiating in the NHL.

Other efforts to applaud:

• Old man Mike Knuble winning the foot race and stretching out his stick to prevent the icing very late in the third.
• Mike Knuble/Joel Ward connecting again for the first goal on a pretty passing play by Ward.  He's earning more of his paycheck with every playoff game.  
• Alex Ovechkin blasting a beautiful game winning power play goal past Lundqvist.  
• Jay Beagle bringing it every night and getting rewarded by Dale Hunter with the highest forward TOI tonight.
• Karl Alzner burning out time on the clock at the end of the third by trapping the puck during a scrum with the Rangers behind Holtby.  Awesome.

It's an interesting strategy Coach Dale Hunter is using, but I'm willing to see where it takes the Caps.

Game 3 returns to the phone booth on Wednesday.

Let's go Caps!