Engraving
the Stanley Cup in #ALLCAPS is a real possibility this year.
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| Photo courtesy of the Toronto Star |
When the Washington Capitals
took the Madison Square Garden ice on October 9, 1974 for the first time in
their history—merely two months after President Richard Nixon resigned—few would
have ever thought of mentioning the team’s name and Stanley Cup in the same
sentence.
They lost their opening game to
the Rangers 6-3, en route to winning only 8 games of 80 in that miserable
inaugural season. It shouldn’t have come
as any surprise that the Capitals chose as their number one overall pick in the
NHL amateur draft a player by the name of Greg Joly.
Remarkably, they improved the next year with a
whopping 11 wins out of 80 games played.
There was a degree of success in
the 1980s as the Caps were frequent visitors to the playoffs and even reached
the third round. It continued through the
1990’s and made their only Stanley Cup finals appearance in 1998 only to be
swept by the Detroit Red Wings 4 games to 0.
The early 2000s saw the Caps
return to league doormat status, and then the franchise changed dramatically
with the signing of Alexander Ovechkin—clearly no Greg Joly who scored a whopping 9 goals in 98 games for the Caps—in 2004. A lockout cancelled the 2004-2005 Season, and
Ovechkin began his storied career with the Caps in 2006.
The Caps had a slew of
outstanding players to this point though their post-season even with some
dramatic moments did not bear fruit. Dennis
Maruk, Mike Gartner, Peter Bondra, Dino Ciccarelli, Scott Stevens, Kevin Hatcher,
Mike Ridley, Bengt Gustafsson and Olie Kolzig, were among the best in the
league. But Ovechkin’s addition to the team was a franchise turning point.
Not that any post-season success
had been realized by the perennial division champs. In the 2009-2010 Season, the Capitals won
their first President’s Trophy—best record in the NHL—but faltered in the
playoffs. They led the eight-seed
Montreal Canadiens 3 games to 1 but couldn’t close it out.
Each year failure in the
post-season whether it be the first or second round became a cloud hovering
over the team regardless who the general manager or coach may be. The Pittsburgh Penguins were the quintessential
villains for the Capitals having won 9 out of 10 mostly tightly contested
playoff series over the years.
All that changed this year as
the Caps eliminated the Pens 4 games to 2 in the second series (following a 4-2
series win over the Columbus Blue Jackets) and for only the third time, the
Caps qualified for the third round.
Optimism is running rampant
among Caps fans as they took the first two games of the third round against
Tampa Bay. Can this be the year the Capitals
break through and even take the Cup?
I believe so and here’s why.
Winning on the Road.
The Caps 7-1 record on the road
in the playoffs so far is astounding.
They took all 3 in Columbus, 2 out of 3 in Pittsburgh and is 2-0 in
Tampa. To win a Stanley Cup, a team has
to win outside their home rink (as well as winning on home ice).
Defense First.
The Capitals defensive style during the post-season is much tighter than the
regular season. Players are more
responsible and committed to defense; there is a good structure to their game;
and they are bottling up the ice between the blue lines—similar to the style
the New Jersey Devils employed over the years to great success. The Caps have also blocked more shots than
any other team in the playoffs this go around.
Goaltending is key.
A team cannot capture the Cup unless the goaltending is stout. Braden Holtby was plagued by injuries and a
lack of focus that resulted in a relatively disappointing regular season. Too many games were lost after having leads
in the third period. Of course, that’s
not all attributable to Holtby but some of it was. Accordingly, Philipp Grubauer, normally the
backup goalie, started the first two games of the Columbus series and lost both—at
home.
Holtby started game 3 and has
not looked back. His performance during
the Penguins series was world class. Most of the few goals that were scored
against him were as a result of deflections or shots that changed directions
after hitting a player. He stopped
virtually everything else. His Goals
Against Average stands at a stingy 2.04 with a Save Percentage of .926—very impressive
numbers.
Balanced Scoring. No one seems to talk about it but the
balanced scoring in the Capitals attack—should it continue—will likely result
in a Cup win. During the regular season, Alex Ovechkin scored 49 goals to earn
his 7th Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophy for the most goals scored in
the league. Only Bobby Hull had that
many Richard trophies. Ovechkin scored 19 percent of his team’s total goals.
During the playoffs, Ovechkin
hit the net 10 times and still accounts for 19 percent of the team’s total
goals. But in only 14 games played so
far, the Capitals have 16 players who have scored at least 1 goal with 12 of
those scoring at least 2. Moreover, 20 different Capitals have at least a point
during the playoffs.
Those statistics are imposing given
that teams tend to key on the number 1 line of Kuznetsov-Ovechkin-Wilson line. With
so many other players chipping in, opposing coaches will be having nightmares
trying to figure out match-ups.
Intangibles. The Caps are playing with a chip on their
shoulders, which has been well-earned from all their post-season
disappointments. The Caps’ incredible edge on odd-man breaks has showcased the
team speed and ability to finish. They can still use some improvement in
certain areas, however, but their overall performance should overcome them. Though
the penalty kill has faltered the past few games after an outstanding start, the
power play continues to click.
Remember, Niklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson and Andre
Burakovsky have missed significant time during the playoffs. Wilson and Burakovsky have returned, and
Backstrom is day-to-day.
The Caps are playing with poise,
confidence, grit and skill. If they keep
their focus, I expect the Cup to be hoisted by players wearing lower-case “capitals”
on their jerseys. In these playoffs, it’s been #ALLCAPS.
