Defense disappointing in Game 1
The Capitals reverted to some old, bad habits in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
For a ragged stretch late in the second period and early in the third against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington looked more like the team that flamed out of the postseason the last three years than the disciplined group that become one of the NHL’s better defensive teams in 2010-11.
That can’t happen again if the Caps hope to advance to the conference finals. Thanks to that 4-2 loss on Friday, they trail the best-of-seven series 1-0 entering Game 2 on Sunday night at Verizon Center. But sticking with a game plan against Tampa Bay is easier said than done.
| CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS |
| Capitals vs. Lightning |
| (Tampa Bay leads series 1-0) |
| Game 1 » TB 4, WAS 2 |
| Game 2 » Sun. at WAS, 7 p.m. |
| Game 3 » Tue. at TB, 6:30 p.m. |
| Game 4 » Wed. at TB, 7 p.m. |
| Game 5 » Sat. at WAS, 12:30 p.m.* |
| Game 6 » May 9 at TB, TBA* |
| Game 7 » May 11 at WAS, TBA* |
| Notes |
| » Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals is at 7 p.m. on Sunday at Verizon Center. The game will be broadcast locally on Comcast SportsNet. |
| » Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said he was “hopeful” that defenseman John Carlson would play in Game 2. Carlson took just two shifts in the third period Friday thanks to an undisclosed injury. |
| » When trailing a playoff series 1-0, Washington has an all-time record of 7-5 in Game 2. |
“It maybe seemed like we run-and-gunned a little bit, but they play such a patient [style] and they play that 1-3-1 [defensive system] and they just sit back,” Caps defenseman Mike Green said. “We dumped the puck a lot, but there’s a lot of times where we were dumping it and they were just getting it back and making plays into the other zone. I think at that point we tried to do a little more.”
Tampa Bay took advantage and quickly turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead with goals by Steve Downie and Steven Stamkos that came just 3:11 apart at the end of the second period.
It didn’t help that Washington went 0-for-5 on the power play. The Lightning have killed off 39 of 40 penalties in eight Stanley Cup playoff games so far. It’s early, but that is one area the Caps need to be better. They had registered three power-play goals in the first round against the New York Rangers.
“They did a good job, no question. But we have to get more shots,” veteran center Jason Arnott said. “We’ve been trying to be too fancy and just not getting pucks to the net or having guys around the net. We got away from that a little bit. … They did a great job keeping us on the perimeter. But we’ve got to do a better job of attacking better and getting more shots against this team.”
The Caps have been in this position before. They also lost the first game at home to the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of last year’s playoffs before winning the next three games. They ultimately lost that series in seven games. They actually lost the first two at home to the New York Rangers in the first round of the 2009 playoffs before rallying to win in seven games. But losing again on Sunday would put their season in serious jeopardy with back-to-back games at Tampa Bay on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“It’s not always going to be good times,” forward Marco Sturm said. “It’s about working hard every night, coming in every night and getting prepared too. So there are going to be bumps in the road. But that’s playoff hockey. We know we can play better and we will play better, but we have to show it [Sunday] night.”
