Ottawa Senators 5, Caps 4 (Overtime)
All the Caps want out of these last two weeks is a sense that they are performing at a playoff level. Record doesn’t really matter. Even results are secondary. They just about have the President’s Trophy anyway. But to a man the players say they want to go into the postseason in a better mindset than they did last season. Right now, that’s questionable at best. Don’t get me wrong. Calgary played a strong game the other night Its season was on the line. Ottawa was solid on Tuesday. The Senators want to at least make a push at the Northeast Division title. And if they can’t catch Buffalo then fine. They want to wrap up the No. 5 seed. The Caps just haven’t matched these kinds of performances – at least in the first 20 minutes of games. By the time Washington started playing on Tuesday it was a little late. You expend so much energy coming back sometimes it’s hard to hold on in the end.
Whatever. The Caps had a 4-3 lead in the third period and had some good chances in overtime. It’s not the end of the world. But the players and coaches are the ones who tell us every day that last March’s effort wasn’t good enough and almost cost them in the first round against New York. This year’s effort looks similar. Maybe it won’t matter. But the Caps would rather not find out. They were 10-6-3 in March/April of 2009, for those wondering. That record, as Bruce Boudreau pointed out in his postgame press conference, came against teams with poor records who were already out of the playoff hunt. Washington has been up against a pretty tough schedule here this time – or at least played rejuvenated teams like Carolina. But the first period woes are a concern. It’s been outscored 9-1 the last three games. The play of Jose Theodore is iffy. His defense is struggling, of course, but there were a few softies in that first period. To Theodore’s credit, he was excellent in the second and third periods – okay, the game-tying goal by Jason Spezza may be questionable, too – and at least gave the Caps a chance to come back. That mental toughness will serve him well next month.
Either way, Semyon Varlamov is back in goal on Thursday against Atlanta – another team making a desperate push for the playoffs. The Caps had just 21 shots on goal against Ottawa – the lowest total of the season. Last time that happened was back-to-back games last season in Los Angeles and San Jose. If you remember, that was a rough west-coast trip right before Thanksgiving and the game at the Shark Tank was a disaster from the start. Speaking of the Sharks – they remain at 104 points after a day off Tuesday. So with one point gained the Caps are now seven points away from clinching home-ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs. Both teams have six games left. Chicago lost and can only max out at 113. Phoenix was smacked in Vancouver, 4-1, and has been eliminated from President’s Trophy contention. The Coyotes can only match the Caps’ 110 points and Washington has the tiebreaker. So 27 down, two to go for a franchise first there. As for clarity in the Eastern Conference playoff race – well, no such luck. Boston, Montreal and Philadelphia all have 82 points and have all played 76 games. The Flyers are No. 6 because of 38 wins. The Canadiens are next at 37 and the Bruins have 35. Atlanta won Tuesday and is in ninth at 80, but has just five games remaining. The New York Rangers are in 10th at 78 points. Like the first three teams listed they have played 76 games. Caps can play any of those teams in the first round. With the win tonight Ottawa should be safely in at No. 5 in the Eastern Conference. The Senators have won five in a row, but still trail Buffalo by five points and the Sabres have two games in hand.
Caps Notes
» Ottawa blocked 28 shots on the night and that was without shotblocking machine Anton Volchenkov, who was out of the lineup with an injury.
» The Caps are now 10-12 in overtime games this season. Seven of the last 11 and 10 of the last 18 have gone beyond regulation. Needless to say reporters hate this. I may beg the players to stop this nonsense at the next practice. That likely will ensure three or four multiple-overtime playoff games just based on karma alone. But something needs to be done here.
» Defenseman Mike Green added a goal and has 18 on the year. He is up to 72 points, one shy of his career high set last season. He tops all NHL defensemen in goals, points and assists (54).
» Alex Semin needs one goal to match his career high of 38 in 2006-07. He scored No. 36 and No. 37 against the Senators on Tuesday. Semin has five goals in just three games against Ottawa, which is no doubt thankful it is done with Sasha for the year – unless, of course, the teams meet in the second round of the playoffs.
» Jose Theodore notched his second assist of the season on Semin’s first goal of the night. Both of his assists have come on the power play.
» Alex Ovechkin needs a big night here soon if he wants to overtake Henrik Sedin for the NHL points lead. Ovechkin had assist No. 55 of the year on Semin’s second goal. But he is now three points behind Sedin (104), who had a goal and two assists against Phoenix on Tuesday night.
» Nicklas Backstrom had an assist and at 91 points still has a shot at his first 100-point season. Backstrom also has points in seven of his last eight games. Only four Caps players have ever posted more assists than his 62. Of course, one of those players was Backstrom himself. He had 66 last season and sits fourth all time in franchise history.
» Jose Theodore has cooled off. But the man is still 17-0-3 in his last 20 decisions since Jan. 13. That stat is starting to lose some steam, I believe. It is, however, a Caps franchise record.
