It has been a season-long project for Capitals coach Dale Hunter that had already begun under his predecessor, Bruce Boudreau.
How do you turn a formerly run-and-gun roster into a group that thinks about defense first? Boudreau’s first attempt came during an eight-game losing streak last season and worked well enough. Washington rallied to finish first in the Eastern Conference before a second-round Stanley Cup playoff exit. Hunter took things to the next level when he arrived on Nov. 28 with a 1-3-1 trapping system. That’s nothing new in the NHL, but certainly a departure for a team that led the league in goals scored by a massive margin in 2009-10.
“Bruce was here 20 games and Dale’s been here 60 and it’s taken every bit of that to get everybody to buy in,” forward Mike Knuble said. “Guys adjust. Some guys, the first day they’re drinking the Kool-Aid. Other guys it takes a couple of months to get them to do it. It’s an interesting challenge to change tendencies and to change habits.”
But a team that fluctuated wildly during the regular season has steadied late in the year with a 10-4-2 record over the final 16 games and a dead even series through six playoff games against Boston in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. Game 7 is on tap Wednesday night at TD Garden in Boston.
“We’re making sure that we’re falling back on our systems and we’re doing the right things to create turnovers and get opportunities that way rather than trying to do things by ourselves and making things worse,” forward Troy Brouwer said. “We’ve been good staying patient, staying structured and getting opportunities off of that.”
That means far less freelancing and taking fewer risks. Even offensively gifted players like Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin have lately been dropping to the ice to block shots. You have to pay a price to win in the postseason and, so far at least, the Caps have done so.
“You’ve got to play playoff-style hockey,” Hunter said. “That’s hard hockey, grinding it out. Limit your turnovers, and you’ve got to go to the net hard.”
