Ducks 2, Caps 1 (OT)
Just focus on the positive. That’s about all the Caps can do at this point. They again hit a crossbar. They again passed up some pretty nice open looks – especially early. They gave up just one goal in regulation and still couldn’t find a way to win. And, really, that’s epitomized this entire seven-game losing streak. Wait, Bruce Boudreau just threatened to unleash an HBO-style tirade on me. Sorry. I swear I meant to write “this 0-4-3 streak.” Anyway, check the game story here.
But seriously, the common thread throughout has been finding different ways to lose. The Caps go 0-for-8 on the power play one night. They blow a 4-1 lead another. They play one decent period in New York and then fall apart in a 7-0 loss. They have a game-tying goal waved off in Dallas in the final seconds. They do their best to repeat the playoff debacle against Montreal in a 3-1 loss to Atlanta where they fired 46 shots on goal and had another 20 blocked. At this point we might be headed for an 8-7 loss in Boston on Saturday night. What other ways to lose are there?
But let’s break down the seven-game losing streak to its smallest parts. Washington has played the right way in two of its last three games. You could probably throw the first period at New York in there, too, where the Caps only allowed eight shots and one fluke goal. This is the way they “need” to play, according to the team’s many critics. So – they’re trying to change on the fly. It’s just not working yet.
“Everything that we did out there tonight was what we had worked on, what we wanted to do,” said defenseman Karl Alzner. “This is one of those games that sometimes happens when you play really well and it just doesn’t go your way. We hit a few posts, we had that one real great chance in the second. More than half the time those usually go in for this team.”
No question the Caps had the “you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me” vibe going in the second period after Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller robbed Nicklas Backstrom on a 3-on-1. Yes, maybe there was a pass too many in that sequence also involving Mike Knuble and Mike Green. And replays showed Backstrom’s shot may not have actually hit Hiller’s stick. Either way, a golden chance is a golden chance and Washington didn’t finish. But Boudreau noted that his team did not react as it had last Thursday against Florida when a last-second goal – literally, with one second left in the second period – led to them coming unglued in the third.
“There have been several games during this streak that have been okay, that we can live with,” Alzner said. “Dallas we were pretty decent, too. There were probably three games where we can lose normally and be okay with it. But we didn’t win those other games in between [one-goal losses to Dallas, Toronto, Colorado and Anaheim] and that’s why it’s so frustrating right now.”
Caps Notes
» Yeah – this David Steckel quote happened: “I thought New York was the doldrums, but this stings just as much as that ass-kicking.” Most underrated quote on the team, in my opinion. And if he gets enough air time maybe a sneaky bet for breakout star of the HBO 24-7 series. Going with Stecks or Matt Bradley on that one.
» Boudreau: “Sometimes you play very good and lose. But we got a point, which I think for the psyche was very big.”
» Not sure fans at Verizon Center needed to see Ducks forward Joffrey Lupul score a goal again. The seven-game losing streak – five of them, now, at Verizon Center – is bad enough. His goal was just gratuitous and mean.
» Boudreau on the Caps playing a more defensive style of hockey: “If this is the way we have to play to win then this is the way we have to play. We have to win the 3-1 games, the 2-1 games. It might not look as pretty and we might not have a 60-goal scorer – even thought I think we’ll still at least have a 50-goal scorer. And [Ovechkin] played tonight. He’s still going to get 50.”
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