Courtesy: Marcia Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
The Washington Capitals stole 5 of a possible 6 points in their California road trip last week. They squeaked by the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks and just lost to the L.A. Kings in a shootout, and, more importantly, they still have a shot at the playoffs.
I still my doubts on whether or not they will actually pull off a miracle, however, the way they played over the last three games it is very possible they can do it. As I have said for almost three years now, the Caps have needed a calming, veteran presence in net, and with Halak they seem to have found it. He hasn’t been extraordinary, but he has made some key stops and calmed the Caps defense enough for them to actually get the puck out of their zone (sometimes). There were still some very goofy and clumsy plays by Mike Green that lead to goals, and it still baffles me that he gets the amount of ice time that he does. He’s just terrible on defense.
However, Halak has brought a new element the Caps system – a goalie that can be consistent. So far, Halak has been steady, and while he has let in a few questionable goals, he hasn’t let in goals that have been problems for the Caps earlier in the season.
Offensively, the Caps have been pretty brutal. They’re playing with the puck too much and not shooting when they should. Ovechkin has been non-existent and only ever seems to do anything when the Caps get a power play oppurtunity. He just isn’t a factor, and a lot of that, I’m sure, has to do with the fact that he’s playing with Jay Beagle. The Caps have lost Brooks Laich for a good while after his aductor surgery, and MIkhail Grabovski has been out for almost 20 games now. The Caps are starving at the center position, but have still managed to pull off three great road games against three of the NHL’s best.
A lot of the credit goes to Joel Ward, Jason Chimera and Troy Brouwer who have been excellent down the stretch. They’re battling and getting to loose pucks and finding ways to score because no one else seems to want to do it. Rookie Evgeny Kuznetsov has actually been a solid contributor. He hasn’t scored yet, but he does have 5 assists and has elevated the play of whoever he is playing with. He has made a lot of mistakes, however, but that’s to be expected. If you really watch him AFTER he distributes the puck, you can see him watching the play and observing his pass instead of getting back into the play. He is a talented kid, and it will be interesting to see him fully adjust to NHL play.
In the game against the Sharks, it was nice to see Braden Holtby play well in relief for Halak, who sat out due to an injury he sustained in warm ups. Rookie Chris Brown, who the Caps got in the Erat trade, scored his first NHL goal to tie the game and send it into overtime. The Caps were completely overrun with shots against, but played like they had everything to lose. That’s the kind of hockey they need to play.
The Caps have 12 games left and they need to win just about every game to slip into a playoff spot. They’re not getting much help from other teams either. Washington sits in 9th place in the East, one point behind Toronto. If the Caps can leap frog the struggling Maple Leafs this week and maintain the kind of desperation game they have been playing, they could salvage a pretty uninspired season.
The Caps have killed off 23-25 penalties going back to March 8th, and have killed the last 19 straight. While the number of kills is great, the real number to look at is the amount of times they have been short handed. 25 in the last 8 games. That’s a hair over 3 times a game. The Caps are playing more disciplined hockey right now, and that is key for their survival.
While their PK units are doing well, the Caps still need to find a way to score even strength. The PP is still tops in the league, but they cannot rely on that going forward, and it’s amazing they have relied on it this long.
Mikhail Grabovski has been practicing and he’ll hopefully be back very soon. Grabo will have a huge impact on the lineup and will fun to watch with Kuznetsov, if they play together. Halak sat out the last game against the Sharks with some sort of tweak in his lower body, but is expected to play Tuesday night.
More to come…
