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(photo by Richard Wolowicz)

“You think you can win on talent alone? Gentlemen, you don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone.” – Herb Brooks

When we said we hoped the Washington Capitals went deep into the playoffs, this wasn’t exactly what we had in mind.

Thanks largely to too many players thinking and playing individually rather than as a team, the Capitals will now host the Montreal Canadiens at the Verizon Center Wednesday night for a seventh and deciding game.

It’s do or die. Win or go home. Get it together or join the San Jose Sharks as a great regular-season team that falls apart in the postseason. This is the part where Tony Kornheiser, if he still wrote, would bust out the “Choking dogs” label.

That’s what happens when the Capitals go up three games to one against the eighth-seeded Canadiens and fail to put away a lesser opponent. The Caps are clearly the more talented team. Anyone who compares the regular-season statistics and accomplishments of the two teams can see that.

But the reason this series is still going and the reason Montreal has all of the momentum is that they’re the ones playing as a team. Every player on the Canadiens’ roster is on the same page. They’re all working together and doing the little things that matter in the playoffs – namely, finishing checks and crashing the net.

And then there’s the Capitals. While top-line players such as Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Knuble have led by example and role-players like Boyd Gordon, Jason Chimera and Eric Fehr have earned their keep, too many other guys are missing in action.

Look, we fully understand why Caps coach Bruce Boudreau feels compelled to stand by his players as they try to work through a slump. Guys like Alexander Semin, Mike Green and Tomas Fleischmann played a huge role in one of the most successful regular seasons in franchise history, so it makes sense Boudreau isn’t in a hurry to turn his back on the talented trio.

But it’s a completely different situation when Boudreau continually marches out those three in key situations. That’s not honorable, it’s foolish.

Take for example the powerplay. If you haven’t noticed, everything about the powerplay is broken. During the regular season, the Caps converted more than 25 percent of their extra-man advantages.

Against Montreal, they’ve been painfully pitiful on the man advantage – scoring just once in 30 chances, largely because guys like Semin and Green are out there every time a Canadiens player heads to the penalty box.

As a unit, the Caps are passing too much and settling for long-range, low-percentage shots on the powerplay. Sure, it sounds great to have 50 or more shots in a game, but how many of them truly challenged Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak?

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(photo by Brian Murphy)

In a record-breaking season full of “firsts,” the Washington Capitals had a chance to once again reach a new milestone in Game 5 against the Montreal Canadiens last Friday.

That game presented this incarnation of the Capitals with their first opportunity to close out an opponent. Sure, they’ve won playoff series before, but in each of the last two seasons, those series wins have come with Washington battling back after facing elimination.

This time around, the Capitals led three-games-to-one and had the chance to send the Canadiens back to Montreal while also earning a few extra days of rest before advancing to the second round.

Unfortunately, the Capitals came out flat at home (once again), fell behind early (once again) and did more to lose a game than their opponent did to win it (once again). The Caps fell behind 2-0 in the first seven minutes and never battled back, losing to the Habs in frustrating fashion 2-1.

Now, the series heads back to Montreal for a pivotal Game 6 tonight.

After Game 5, Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau was seething. Sure, the guy has worn his heart on his sleeve on previous occasions, but this seemed different.

“We’re not getting 20 guys playing,” Boudreau said in his post-game press conference. “We’re getting 13 and 14 guys every night, rather than everybody coming to play. Tonight we had five or six passengers again.”

Boudreau backed off that stance the following day.

“That was the coach’s frustration,” he said. “My assistants were coming up to me and saying, ‘Relax’. I was a little too hot-headed last night.”

But here’s the thing – Boudreau is right. There are definitely a handful of players who simply aren’t carrying their weight right now.

The biggest bull’s eye falls on enigmatic forward Alexander Semin. We often joke that Semin is the NHL equivalent of Two Face of Batman fame, with his Good Sasha/Bad Sasha act.

When he’s on his game, few players in the entire league are as talented as Semin. But when he’s having an off night, Semin is also a game changer – but not in a good way.

Usual indicators that Bad Sasha is in the house include getting overly cute with the puck, selfish penalties in the offensive zone and a steadfast refusal to go anywhere near the net for fear of physical contact. During this postseason though, Semin has added a new wrinkle – happily forcing low-percentage shots on net from bad locations.

Through five games, Semin has just one assist. He’s got no goals, even though he leads Washington in shots fired with 29 and currently ranks 13th on the team in points.

If Boudreau wanted to minimize Semin’s negative impact without making radical changes to the lineup, he should consider pairing him on a line with center Brendan Morrison and forward Tomas Fleischmann. If nothing else, it would put all of the underachievers on one line to keep them from bringing down the guys who are actually earning their paychecks in this series.

Boudreau won’t take Semin out of the lineup, but he should strongly consider inserting scrappy forward Scott Walker and gritty center David Steckel into the lineup in favor of Fleischmann and Morrison.

Who knows? Walker and Steckel could very well provide the jolt needed to close out this series while a night off might be exactly what the doctor ordered for Fleischmann and Morrison.

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(photo by Brian Murphy)

You might not believe this, but Bruce Boudreau knows more about hockey than we do.

Shockingly, we came to this conclusion during the second period of Game 4 as the Montreal Canadiens turned up the heat on the Washington Capitals and spent the bulk of the frame on the offensive as they peppered 21 shots on net.

The only reason the Habs didn’t explode for four goals in the middle stanza like the Caps did one game earlier was because of the stellar play by netminder Semyon Varlamov.

If not for the 21-year-old’s repeated robbery with his catching glove, the series would now be tied at two games a piece. Fortunately for Caps fans, Boudreau is the coach and not us, which means Washington is now one game away from Round 2 after a convincing 6-3 win in Montreal.

You might remember that Capitals goalie Jose Theodore was yanked from Game 2 after allowing two goals on the only two shots he faced. With the Caps already trailing in their opening-round series, Boudreau didn’t feel like there was time to wait for Theodore to get his act together, so for the second postseason in a row, Jose was benched.

You might also recall that we firmly believed Boudreau HAD to go back to Theodore, if for no other reason than to show he still had faith in his veteran goaltender. Upon further review, maybe we’ve seen too many sports movies, where a down-on-his-luck veteran battles back against all odds to an improbable victory.

Maybe the thought of everything Theodore has faced in his personal life or the fact that he had a chance to face his former team was too much of a juicy storyline for us to resist. But the reason those kinds of subplots make for such an enjoyable movie-going experience is because life rarely plays out that way. If it did, then there’d be no need to go see Miracle, The Blind Side or any other Hollywood production.

What we’ve finally learned is that Boudreau clearly doesn’t get attached to a goaltender. Think back to when he first took over the Capitals. The team stunk and was in need of major upgrades across the board. Caps owner Ted Leonsis and general manager George McPhee openly spoke of the plan to get younger and of building their franchise “the right way.”

While everyone agreed it was a necessary change, fans still had a fit when long-time Capitals such as forward Peter Bondra and goalie Olaf Kolzig were shown the door. It was as if we were saying, “We like your plan in theory, but can’t you make these two exceptions?”

We all watched Kolzig’s diminishing play in net and gave him a pass because of everything he’d done on and off the ice for his team and his city. It didn’t matter that Kolzig was no longer the goalie who could backstop a run at the Stanley Cup. He was a local icon, so he deserved the rose-colored glasses treatment.

Boudreau, who had only been around for a matter of minutes, wasn’t nearly as attached to the situation, so if he felt someone other than Kolzig gave his team the best chance to win, he played someone else.

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(photo by Francois Lacasse)

We fully admit the only thing casual sports fans know about the Washington Capitals is that they have superstar Alex Ovechkin.

But if the Caps are going to achieve anything this postseason, it’s going to have just as much to do with his supporting cast as it does The Great 8. Take, for example, Game 3.

The Capitals took to the road and steamrolled the Montreal Canadiens 5-1 in front of a sellout crowd at the Bell Centre Monday night not because of a superhuman performance by Ovechkin. They cruised to an easy victory on the backs of such unheralded players as Boyd Gordon, Eric Fehr, Jason Chimera and Matt Bradley.

Call it the Blue Collar Hockey Tour.

And if you’re a Montreal fan, you better hope and pray that their show was a one-night only engagement.

That’s because Ovechkin might be one of the select few hockey players with name recognition, but anyone who follows the Capitals know that this team cannot win unless more than the captain is contributing.

This isn’t basketball, where Kobe Bryant or LeBron James can wave four of his teammates aside to post up an opponent. Ovechkin can have an off night. Opponents – especially if they have home-ice advantage – can use matchups to their advantage to shut down one player.

But when the Caps have steady secondary scoring from guys not named Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin or Mike Green, there’s not a team in the league who is going to hold them down. All eyes were on the Washington goaltending situation when Game 3 started, but Gordon took the pressure off his goalie and his coach by scoring a shorthanded goal barely a minute into the second period.

A little over seven minutes later, the Capitals were up 3-0, thanks to goals by Brooks Laich (assisted by Green and Fehr) and Fehr (assisted by Laich and Morrison). Just like that, Montreal goalie Jaroslav Halak was sent packing and suddenly, the Capitals goaltending situation wasn’t the only subplot of the series anymore.

During his abbreviated evening, Halak stopped just 10 of 13 shots (.769 save percentage), so he was replaced in net for the Canadiens by Carey Price – the fourth netminder to see action in this series.

Price was better than Halak, and likely earned himself the start for Game 4, but it was the young man on the other end of the ice who rose to the challenge.

Capitals goalie Semyon Varlamov made coach Bruce Boudreau look like a genius for the second-consecutive postseason. He looked much more like the athletic youngster Caps fans rallied behind during the first two months of the season rather than the sometimes erratic version of the 21-year-old we’ve seen more of in recent play.

Varlamov is now 3-0 lifetime with a 1.63 goals against average and a sparkling .940 save percentage at Montreal. In related news, Varlamov will no doubt continue to backstop the Capitals postseason run for as long as he keeps up his stellar play.

And just like that, order is restored and the Capitals have reclaimed their home-ice advantage. Lets take a closer look at the blue-collar workers who helped Varlamov earn his second-straight win.

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(photo by Nick Wass)

Admit it, when the Washington Capitals were down 4-1 midway through Game 2 against the Montreal Canadiens, you thought they were done. Honestly, you might have even thought all hope was lost.

Capitals goalie Jose Theodore giving up two goals on the only two shots he faced was the worst possible start for the goalie and the Caps.

Couple that with the offense’s apparent decision to settle for long-range shots with little presence around Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak and no one would blame you for thinking the worst – for the second time in as many seasons the Caps were about to give away home-ice advantage and go down two games to none against a lesser opponent in the opening round of the playoffs.

No one will blame you. No one will think less of you (unless, of course, you’re one of the “fans” who threw trash onto the ice during the game. You gentlemen, can burn in hell, or worse, become Penguins fans.)

After all, there wasn’t much reason for you to think things would get better … unless, of course, you’ve seen the Capitals play this season.

While Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau and Caps fans with a weak heart might prefer the team to cut down on the degree of difficulty, they’re actually pretty damned good when they find themselves in such a precarious situation.

For those who aren’t aware, the Capitals actually had the best winning percentage in the NHL of teams trailing after two periods (.364). More than any other team in hockey, the Caps find a way to win games without playing a full 60 minutes.

When forward Eric Fehr scored on a 30-foot blast halfway through the first period, Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin said he noticed something. It had nothing to do with how the goal was set up by a great outlet pass by forward Tomas Fleischmann or where Fehr beat Halak (blocker side). No, the Capitals captain picked up on something after the goal was scored that stood out to him.

“I watched the replay when Fehr scored the goal and his arm was like shaking when he drank water,” Ovechkin said of Halak after the game. “So, he’s nervous. He knows all the pressure is on him and that’s a good sign for us.”

You ever hear what happens when a shark senses blood in the water? Yeah, that’s a fitting comparison.

Unfortunately, things had to get worse before they could get better for the Capitals.

Canadiens forward Andrei Kostitsyn picked up his second and third goals of the game and as we said at the top, the Caps were down 4-1.

Here’s why the game changed – the Capitals, led by their top line of Ovechkin, center Nicklas Backstrom and wing Mike Knuble – decided to focus on finishing their checks and crashing the net.

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(courtesy photo)

Tonight officially kicks off the Washington Capitals quest for immortality … or at least the right to sit at the grown-ups table.

Since 1974, the Caps have been a likeable bunch. But they’ve also been fairly harmless. If that perception is to change, it’s going to have to start tonight as the Capitals host the storied Montreal Canadiens in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

From a historical perspective, these two teams shouldn’t even be included in the same discussion. The Canadiens, with more than 100 years of hockey tradition and 24 Stanley Cup championships to their name, are the industry standard. Conversely, the Caps claim to fame is being swept in 1998 by Detroit in the finals. So yeah … these two teams are from different planets.

And yet, none of that matters anymore. Once the puck drops and Game 1 is underway, both teams are on level footing. The fact that the Capitals scored more goals than any team in hockey over the last 13 years? Irrelevant. The fact that Montreal allowed more goals than they scored this year? A nonfactor.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life … or at least your postseason life. The Caps have continued to steadily improve over the last few seasons and if that streak is to continue, they’re going to have to make it through, at a minimum, to the Eastern Conference Finals. Honestly though, with the way this season has played out, most folks around town won’t be happy unless this team is one of the last two standing.

That’s because the Game 7 loss to Pittsburgh a year ago has clearly left a feeling of unfinished business with both the team and Caps fans. Everyone knows what the Capitals are capable of, but ask the San Jose Sharks what “being capable of” gets you in the playoffs. Talent alone doesn’t cut it.

With that in mind, here are the five keys to a prolonged postseason run for the Capitals:

1. Spotlight on the secondary.

The Capitals scored an average of 3.82 goals per game, easily tops in the NHL, and forward Alex Ovechkin finished with at least 50 goals in a season for the fourth time in five seasons. But goals are much harder to come by in the postseason. Teams play tighter and coaches are less likely to take chances, so one mistake can truly spell disaster.

For the Capitals to survive in the playoffs, goals need to be scored by players not named Ovechkin.

Handsome forward Brooks Laich paced the Capitals with three goals and two assists for five points against Montreal this season. Defenseman Mike Green and forward Tomas Fleishmann each had a goal and four assists versus the Canadiens. Forward Eric Fehr had four goals in four games against the Habs. This is a good thing.

Hockey, unlike basketball, is a team sport. Staying on the ice for more than a minute is considered a long shift, so there’s only so much time Ovechkin can be in the game. The season finale – a 4-3 shootout loss to Boston – showed what happens when the team stops playing Caps hockey and starts forcing pucks to the captain.

Ovechkin had a chance to claim the goal and point scoring titles with a strong final outing. Obviously his teammates knew this and wanted to do everything in their power to help him get there. Unfortunately, the Caps looked disjointed, lacked their typical offensive flow and Ovechkin missed out on both fronts.

In the playoffs, personal achievements are meaningless. There’s only one thing that matters. The Capitals know this, but they also better know that getting there is going to take more than Ovechkin – even if he’s widely considered the best player in the game today.

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