There is no real way to convey the anguish a professional athlete feels after a loss like the one the Capitals’ suffered on Wednesday night in Game 7 of their Stanley Cup playoffs first-round series. Fans will vent in their own way after a 2-1 defeat to the Montreal Canadiens — boos of frustration, seething message-board posts, calls to sportstalk radio about who should be traded — or fired — and why.
After the final horn sounded the upstart Canadiens, at times brilliant defensively and always resilient, piled on top of goalie Jaroslav Halak, who stopped 131 of Washington’s final 134 shots in this series. The team with the NHL’s best offense — by far — had seen its strength turned into an unimaginable weakness in this best-of-seven series. As the Canadiens celebrated, Washington’s players skated in circles, some hunched over, the moment too much for them. This wasn’t like last season, when the Caps challenged the eventual Stanley Cup-champion Pittsburgh Penguins and fell just short in the deciding game. That was hard to swallow. This was unacceptable.
“It’s not the way it was supposed to end for us,” said forward Eric Fehr. “We were expecting big things and big things didn’t happen to us.”
Added teammate Matt Bradley: “Nothing was really said [after the game]. We’re all kind of speechless right now, but we only have ourselves to blame. There is no pointing fingers … . Last year we battled and we lost to a team that ended up winning the Stanley Cup and we had aspirations of going far this year. This is not what we saw for us.”
With the season on the line star forward Alex Ovechkin finished with 10 shots on goal and an assist on Washington’s lone goal. Nicklas Backstrom — who produced moments of brilliance in this series — was held to a single shot and no points. Alex Semin went a 14th consecutive playoff game without a goal. He also produced a lone assist on Wednesday. Defenseman Mike Green ended his postseason with two penalties and no points in Game 7. He took four shots on Halak. Backstrom and Ovechkin weren’t good enough in Game 7. Semin and Green were not good enough the entire series.
“Well — it’s a tough one. Those are all noted goal scorers,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “But I don’t know if I can answer this correctly. All four were almost beyond remorse in the dressing room. What I’m saying that for is that they cared and they tried. Nobody tries as much as Alex and Nicky. And sometimes you just don’t score goals. The other team takes you away and does a tremendous job. And give Montreal credit.”
After the game, forward Jason Chimera answered question after question from waves of reporters, all fishing to find out what happened to the NHL’s best team in a spectacular postseason flameout. When the queries were finally exhausted the 30-year-old — acquired in a Dec. 28 trade from the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets — sat slumped in his dressing room stall. Around him reporters continued their work of amongst his teammates. Chimera just stared into space, reluctant to peel off his uniform one last time. After all, he hadn’t expected to put his equipment away so soon this spring. And the overwhelming reason for his disappointment: There is no guarantee every Caps player will be back next season. This roster has changed so little the past three years. New additions like Chimera — still under contract in 20010-11— Mike Knuble and Brendan Morrison have been blended in. And for the most part the core of this team will likely stay the same. But not all of it. That is a finality every bit as painful as a season-ending loss: Knowing it might have been your last, best shot at a Stanley Cup. Center Backstrom — still just 22 and a certain part of Washington’s still-bright future — said as much after the game.
“I’ve never seen any team stay the same 100 percent,” Boudreau said. “You’ve got free agents. So I doubt it’s going to be 100 percent the same. I don’t know what Nicky was meaning in that. If he was saying something he was probably alluding to the fact that with all the free agents this is probably the last game this group will be together as it is.”
