Rangers 6, Caps 0
It’s not much fun watching the Caps at Verizon Center these days. They were drubbed once again by the New York Rangers, 6-0 this time. They are now 5-7-6 in the District since Dec. 4. They have been outscored 12-1 the last three games at Verizon. This one – as you can read in our game story here – was worst of them all. It was the worst home loss for Washington since Nov. 24, 2006 when it lost 7-1 to the Maple Leafs.
So about that talk this week about playing better at home and taking advantage of the final 10 – now nine – games at Verizon? Went over as well as a lead balloon.
“The timing of that talk and what we weren’t over and then this game was not good,” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. “I think it’s probably the worst home loss I’ve been associated with in memory. We just have to make up for it tomorrow [at the New York Islanders] and when we get back here and show these people how good we can be. That this is abnormal rather than the normal.”
Because it’s looking pretty normal of late. It didn’t help that defenseman Mike Green was dropped to the ice by a shoulder to the jaw from Rangers forward Derek Stepan. That came moments after Green had delivered a cross-check of his own to the New York center. AndBoudreau wasn’t exactly fuming about the hit afterwards, saying it looked like an elbow from one angle and a shoulder from another. The New York Post reported during the game that the NHL league office will look at the hit and a suspension is possible. Too little, too late in this one. The Rangers scored moments later as Green tried to recover and it was all downhill from there.
“In retrospect it might have, seeing him go down in the first five minutes,” Boudreau said when asked if that took some of the juice out of the Caps early.
But there were no excuses offered. They got whipped, lost ground in the standings to almost everybody who matters in the Eastern Conference playoff race and now have to play a second game in as many nights against a feisty Islanders team with nothing to lose. Not ideal, especially with the trade deadline looming on Monday. If this group wanted to stay together as is they didn’t do a good job of showing why general manager George McPhee should let them.
“I would hope that they’re secure enough to know that they’re good players. That they’re not worried about anything,” Boudreau said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen at the trade deadline. There were 30-some trades made [in 2010]. But if I was a player I would just go out and play. That’s all you can control.”
But for better or worse this team has left a three-month impression on the front office. Little they do Saturday will change that now.
“George is not a knee-jerk guy at all. Whether we won 5-zip or lost 6-zip tonight it probably wouldn’t change his approach at the deadline,” said forward Mike Knuble. “He’s had last summer to think about it, the playoffs last year and a lot of this season. He’s probably already formulated his plan so I guess that wouldn’t matter win or lose.”
Nicklas Backstrom took five shots on goal and blocked three shots, playing with a fractured left thumb. But the Caps knew they weren’t going to let Backstrom take faceoffs so soon after that injury. He took just one and won it anyway. Boudreau noted that’s not uncommon through the year as centers deal with sore wrists or hands or fingers.
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