All posts in hockey

(photo by Clyde Caplan)

After last night’s come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in overtime, the Washington Capitals have 15 games remaining on the schedule.

It was great to see the spirited effort by center Marcus Johansson in the late stages of regulation to force overtime and watching captain Alex Ovechkin’s game winner during the final minute was obviously thrilling for everyone involved.

But it’s still troubling for anyone hoping that Caps can make a playoff run that it took a second-intermission tirade from a normally reserved Dale Hunter to kick these players in the pants and get them to take more than three shots in a period.

“His message was just to man up,” said defenseman Karl Alzner. “Play hard and play as a team. He yelled at us pretty much for one of the first times that he has ever yelled at us and the guys just snapped out of it.”

It’s safe to say that the final 20 games of the regular season will go a long way towards determining how management proceeds. A hot streak to close out the campaign might be enough to convince management to keep the band together while faltering down the stretch could be enough to trigger sweeping changes.

And yet, the team continues to lack any sense of urgency even though the players openly admit this was a “must-win” game. Why these players continue to fall asleep at the wheel for long stretches each night is beyond comprehension and the fact that it took a tirade from their frustrated coach to give this group of grown men a much-needed wake-up call is absolutely troubling.

The win improved Washington’s record to 2-2-1 during their five-game home stand, which again isn’t exactly putting your best foot forward. Maybe if the Caps weren’t completely atrocious on the road (11-18-3), the situation wouldn’t be so maddening. But they are, so it is.

For better or worse, we’ve reached the defining stretch for these players. Local fans are about to find out if Ovechkin and friends have the mental toughness needed to overcome adversity or if they really do wilt under pressure as opponents have claimed in the past.

Last season, the Capitals went 16-3-1 over the final 20 games of the regular season.

In 2009-10, the Caps went 13-2-5 over the final 20 games of the regular season.

In 2008-09, the Capitals went 11-6-3 over the final 20 games of the regular season.

In 2007-08, the Caps went 15-4-1 over the final 20 games of the regular season.

That’s good enough for a combined record of 55-15-10 over the last four seasons, so clearly the Capitals are capable of getting hot at the right time. But they’re going to have to pick up the pace and do better than the 2-2-1 record they’ve strung together thus far.

Picking up five out of a possible 10 points isn’t exactly ideal, but Washington still resides in the eighth place in the Eastern Conference this morning. So they’ve got that going for them, which is nice.

Of course, the theme of the season is this team’s refusal to do things the easy way, so it’s fitting that the Caps will need to find their stride while playing nine of their final 15 games on the road.

Critics like me feel the only way to fix this mess is to make radical changes to an obviously flawed roster this offseason. Obviously, the players are hoping to avoid that route.

Now is the time for them to “nut up or shut up.”

(photo by Clyde Caplan)

My biggest point of contention with the Washington Capitals these days revolves around the organization-wide identity crisis currently saddling the team.

The majority of the players who have been here for any length of time are a shell of what they once were. And while production has floundered across the board, most of these same players have struggled to adapt.

Since the day teams started playing them differently — for example, defenses now aggressively attack Alex Ovechkin as soon as he enters the offensive zone to take him out of his comfort zone and force the captain to settle for a bad shot — Caps players have seemed lost.

The style of play that made the Capitals one of the NHL’s most exciting teams no longer works and too many players have been unwilling or unable to make the much-needed changes to their game.

Too often this season, Washington has looked disinterested and/or genuinely baffled as opponents continue to take away their bread and butter. It’s as if these players never even contemplated that at some point opponents might try to defend them differently.

Apparently these players thought they could get by on sheer talent and intimidation for as long as they graced the league with their presence and the fact that someone — anyone — actually had the audacity to get in their way caught them completely off guard.

So the product fans are “treated” to this season involves a roster completely devoid of chemistry, passion and mental toughness.

Much like the reputation that forward Alexander Semin has built in the league, the Caps have become a team that shuts down as soon as the going gets tough. Just punch them in the proverbial mouth in the early stages of a game and watch them wilt.

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what one of the best players in hockey thinks of the Capitals these days.

“They have a good team, but in the NHL it doesn’t matter how many stars you have, what matters is how they interact,” said New Jersey Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk. “It’s really down to the coach. I guess they sacked [Bruce] Boudreau too soon.”

Kovalchuk wasn’t done though.

“They were a more interesting opponent under their previous coach,” he continued. “They were open, attacking and let the opponent play. They’d expect to win 7-5 or 8-6. Now their coach wants them to pay attention to the defense, but they just don’t have the players for that kind of game. We’ll see what they are like next year.”

Wow. Just wow.

Read more →

(photo by Clyde Caplan)

The Washington Capitals are done. Stick a fork in them, because their season is over.

Sure, there will be those delusional fans who will attempt to sugarcoat the situation by praising a bunch of millionaire athletes because they actually decided to put forth an honest effort against the Philadelphia Flyers Sunday night (as opposed to the beatdown they suffered against New Jersey in their previous game).

But my advice for those optimistically-minded individuals would be to save yourself the embarrassment. It’s clear these players aren’t nearly as invested as the local fanbase, so why on earth would you want to lose sleep over such a soft team?

In case you missed it, the Capitals offense took the night off in a 1-0 loss to a vulnerable Flyers squad.

I’ve been on record for a while now emphatically stating that there’s little reason to believe these players are capable of anything remotely special, and Alex Ovechkin and friends are dead set on proving me right.

With a chance to make up ground on two of the teams directly above them in the Eastern Conference standings, the Capitals failed to score a single goal in back-to-back home games.

If that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about the composition of this team, then I don’t know what will.

The defining characteristic of these Capitals has been their inability to respond to adversity. When the tough gets going, too often these players pack it up and call it quits.

This final 20-game stretch of the 2011-12 season is easily the most pivotal moment for this franchise as presently comprised, and yet, these players couldn’t be bothered to even show up against New Jersey and failed to get a single puck past one of the shakiest starting goalies in the entire NHL against Philly.

The Flyers had given up the first goal in nine-straight contests prior to Sunday. Clearly it didn’t matter though because Washington wasn’t interested in taking advantage of the situation.

You might remember the Caps rallying back against the New York Islanders to steal two points and push their winning streak to three games.

Well, looking back now, it appears that what was really going on was these players put together five minutes worth of actual effort against the Islanders followed up by back-to-back duds against the Devils and Flyers.

Can the Capitals still backdoor their way into the postseason? Of course.

Should fans hold their breath or rush to take out a loan to pay for playoff tickets? Probably not.

Read more →

(photo by Clyde Caplan)

Fans of the Washington Capitals are still riding high after the team’s thrilling come-from-behind 3-2 victory in overtime Tuesday night.

Seeing the Caps rally back to defeat a New York Islanders squad that had owned them all season long* was absolutely a welcomed surprise.

*The Islanders, in fact, were the only Eastern Conference team the Capitals had failed to beat this season.

The week might have gotten off to a rocky start when general manager George McPhee failed to make any moves at the trade deadline, but games like this will go a long ways towards helping disgruntled fans to quickly get over the front office’s inactivity.

And while Caps captain Alex Ovechkin was critical of his own performance against New York — saying he didn’t think he had a very good game outside of his overtime tally — he was able to elevate his game when his team needed him most.

“I had a lucky goal,” Ovechkin said. “I got the screen and I think I tried probably three times today to get that shot through.”

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. And Ovechkin’s self-proclaimed “lucky” goal just might be the spark this team needs to get going for the final 19 games of the regular season.

“I’ve been struggling a little bit lately,” said forward Troy Brouwer, after netting two goals in the game’s final four minutes. “It’s nice to break out in such dramatic fashion but two big points by the team is what’s most important.”

As of this morning, the Capitals sit in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with 69 points. They trail Florida by three points for the third seed and there are a total of four teams trailing Washington by five points or less. Needless to say, every game between now and the regular season finale counts.

Fortunately for the Caps, even though they’ve won just four out of their last 10 games, Washington is currently enjoying a three-game winning streak.

Momentum appears to be in their favor and the schedule makers were kind enough to give the Capitals 10 of their final 19 games at home.

If that’s not enough, the next two opponents — New Jersey and Philadelphia — currently sit in seventh and sixth in the Eastern Conference. So two more timely wins could really help Washington’s cause down the stretch.

If Ovechkin and friends can’t get motivated to play these two games, then there’s no reason to even bring up anymore postseason talk. But if they’re able to carry over the effort from the Islanders game, then the final month of the regular season might not be so bad after all.

(photo by Clyde Caplan)

I firmly believe that hockey, more than any other sport, is a game of momentum.

When it’s in a team’s favor, anything is possible. When it’s not, one hot goalie or one unlucky bounce of the puck can can single-handedly end a team’s playoff hopes.

While I continue to believe Washington Capitals general manager George McPhee made what could amount to a monumental mistake by not trying to get something in return for the players he’s set to lose in free agency, I’m happy to turn my attention to another topic today.

Watching the Caps rally back in the final three minutes of regulation in a game they trailed 2-0 to a New York Islanders team they had yet to beat in three tries this season easily ranks among the team’s highlights for the season.*

*Off the top of my head, the only other game I’d put in the same category as last night’s edge-of-your-seat 3-2 overtime victory would be the surprising 5-3 win over the  Boston Bruins. Watching a shorthanded Caps team trade blows with the defending Stanley Cup champion and come out on top would be my other favorite game of this otherwise depressing season.

Speaking of shifts in momentum, it was great to see forward Troy Brouwer finally get back on the stat sheet.

After failing to tally a goal in 13 consecutive games, Brouwer made up for lost time by beating Islanders goalie Evgeni Nabokov twice in the final three and a half minutes of regulation.

How did Brouwer finally snap out of his slump? By getting back to basics and simply crashing the net.

Even though Nabokov had stonewalled the Caps for 56 minutes and there was little reason to believe Washington could mount such a comeback, the Caps just kept hustling and doing the little things that make a big difference.

Read more →