Courtesy: WUSA-9
WASHINGTON — When your team is more known for blowing leads than pressing the foot on the gas pedal in trying to increase the cushion, there should be cause for concern in that respective locker room.
The resounding answer from Capitals players and coaches alike Sunday following Washington’s 5-4 defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers on national television was an abridged or lengthen statement of “I don’t know” or “I don’t have an answer.”
Washington has now surrendered 11 two-goal leads throughout the 2013-14 campaign, three of which have come in their last three games since returning from the three-week long Winter Olympics hiatus. Two came in the same game against the Florida Panthers Feb. 27 — Capitals surrendered a 2-0 and a 4-2 lead only to prevail 5-4.
This is the microcosm of what this season has been for the boys in red all season long. One minute, they are up on a team and it appears as if they will seal the deal in due time. The next minute, they are playing on their heels just hoping to escape with two points or take the contest to overtime.
And this is why the Capitals haven’t had staying power as a playoff contender. Having trouble escaping the early rounds usually can be traced back to a few recurring issues. For Washington, it’s not playing a full 60 minutes and failing to play a complete game at even strength.
If you watched the first 20 minutes of the contest Sunday, you would have thought most teams in Washington’s case would have been either a) blowing out the Flyers by much worse or b) spurring an offensive charge that leads to a lop-sided outcome.
Neither happened as even a two-goal lead can’t be considered a comfortable margin knowing the mantra of this team.
Courtesy: Jeff Kryglik TSC
Eric Fehr told reporters the honest truth Sunday. He and the rest of his mates can’t seem to figure out why such occurrences have happened this season, but the results speak for themselves.
“We almost don’t want two-goal leads the way we’re playing with them right now,” Fehr said. “I don’t know what it is, if we shut our brains off for a little bit or think the game’s over.”
The game is more often than not over for the Capitals when they blow such a lead as they are 4-3-3 in games where they’ve held and surrendered a two-goal margin.
So, what can be done to correct this?
Or better yet, can it be correctable?
When playing lackadaisical when up with what usually is a comfortable margin, it can be expected for teams to dip a little in their production. But Washington looks like a different club when they are “comfortable”. Perhaps they are too relaxed and it leads to their demise.
It’s about playing smart for 60 minutes and at this stage of the season, head coach Adam Oates has a right to be concerned.
“That’s the first thing I wrote down,” Oates told reporters. “Having a two-goal lead going into the third period for sure. You expect the other team to have a push, but let’s not give them the push. To me, they’ve got nothing going on. We started the [third] period short; we get into a rhythm and a five-minute board is obviously not what we want. You give them life. You give their good players life. Tire ourselves. They score one on it and they figured out a way to get one at the end.”
Mistakes made on the ice are clearly more mental than physical as the formula for grabbing two-goal leads must mean the scouting of the opposition was effective as the product is coming to fruition on the ice. But as forward Marcus Johansson said Sunday, there shouldn’t be a lot of changes going on when a two-goal lead is garnered.
“We’re up two goals… there’s no reason to change anything when [we’re] up two goals,” Johansson said. “I think [we] should play the same way if it doesn’t call for anything else. When it’s that much time left, if we had kept playing like we did in the first half of the game, I think it would have been a different ending.”
Many will point back to defenseman Dmitry Orlov’s five-minute boarding penalty as the gift wrapped from the hockey gods from the Flyers and while that is true, Washington was getting caught up in Philadelphia’s style of play after period one.
It’s no secret that both of these teams don’t like each other, but the Capitals gave in to a lot of silliness on the Flyers’ end. Prime example is the two-minute roughing penalties dealt to Flyers forward Steve Downie and Capitals defenseman John Erskine midway through the third. While it remained 5-on-4 for the Flyers and not a 4-on-3 advantage, Washington was now down two defenseman at that point in time and reduced the Capitals to just four defenseman on a crucial kill. One of those defenseman was inexperienced Connor Carrick. Big-time situations like yesterday’s third period theatrics may be too large a stage for a teenager.
And the Capitals know this, but can’t seem to find the answers.
There is no method in fixing a team that struggles with playing ahead other than effort. That is not something Oates can coach.
Courtesy: Washington Times
It starts at the top with Alexander Ovechkin and the example he sets for the rest of the club. While the forward lines of the Capitals feature veteran presences like Brooks Laich and Jason Chimera — two of the better forecheckers on the roster — when Ovechkin is seen cherry-picking or puck-watching in his own zone as the Flyers are pushing the pace at the blue line in, what kind of message does that send to the rest of the team?
This isn’t solely on Ovechkin, but he isn’t excused from performances like yesterday where he attempted 15 shots and none of which lit up a lamp. It’s a team effort.
Part of the reason as to why Braden Holtby performed admirably yesterday was his defensive prowess in front of him was lacking yet again. Highlight reel save after highlight reel save leads to a few of those opportunistic chances to go in every once in awhile.
Even with the trade deadline looming Wednesday, no one player can turn this issue around. It’s something the team has to do by looking within themselves and digging deeper.
But a locker room full of “I don’t know” and “I don’t have an answer” explanations is never a recipe for success if a team wants to diminish the notion that they are a pretender.
