Players preach patience as season starts to spin away
A disastrous road trip has put their Stanley Cup playoff hopes in serious jeopardy, but the Capitals return home confident they can pull out of their tailspin.
That starts Friday night against the Montreal Canadiens at Verizon Center and continues back on the road Saturday at the Toronto Maple Leafs, one of their chief competitors for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. But after a 1-3 road trip, which included losses in which they trailed by at least four goals in Carolina on Monday and Ottawa on Wednesday, do they have it in them to rebound?
“When you lose, the worst thing that can happen is sometimes guys can start to point fingers,” forward Brooks Laich said. “There’s no excuses. You don’t point fingers. You win as a team. You lose as a team. And that if there’s any problems with anything, it’s addressed in house. … The result hasn’t been there, but the worst thing we can do is get frustrated and start tearing apart at the seams.”
| Up next |
| Canadiens at Capitals |
| When » Friday, 7 p.m. |
| Where » Verizon Center |
| TV » CSN |
And so the players conducted a brief meeting before practice Thursday to hammer home that point. With the NHL trade deadline approaching Monday, there isn’t much time to convince management that they are still capable of reaching the postseason and doing damage once they get there.
The Caps need to have a short memory after getting blitzed by the Hurricanes and Senators. The power play went a combined 1-for-7. The penalty kill allowed three goals in those two games. And they fell behind again — the fifth and sixth consecutive games in which they allowed the first goal.
“You can’t dwell on them,” defenseman Mike Green said. “It’s only going to cause a snowball effect, and then you run into losing games. And that’s not what we need right now. We’re still in it. We just got to make sure that we take advantage of the games ahead of us.”
Star left wing Alex Ovechkin missed the Ottawa game with an undisclosed lower-body injury. He appears uncertain, at best, for Montreal. Ovechkin, originally hurt against Carolina in the second period, tried skating Thursday before practice. But he lasted only 15 minutes in starts and stops while wearing a light blue noncontact jersey before calling it quits. Teammate Nicklas Backstrom hasn’t made enough progress from his concussion yet to resume skating. Entering its most important stretch of the season, Washington must figure out a way to win without them.
“We’re not deaf. We’re not blind. We read everything, we see everything and we know what people are saying,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “We take it home with us every time we leave the rink, and it’s very frustrating for us. But at the same time, we’ve talked about it and we know that with how poorly we’ve played, there’s still a chance not only for us to make the playoffs but to be in a good spot.”
