Washington faces elimination in Game 6 at Verizon Time and again this postseason, the Capitals have found a way to shake off difficult losses. Twice they recovered from overtime defeats in the first round against the Boston Bruins. Just last Wednesday, they watched the New York Rangers celebrate a triple-overtime win at Verizon Center and yet still recovered to win Game 4.
But Monday’s crushing overtime loss at Madison Square Garden poses the stiffest challenge yet to a team that has overcome its share of adversity this season. Up by a goal for most of the third period, Washington failed to convert on several odd-man rushes, had forward Joel Ward take a four-minute high-sticking penalty with 22 seconds left in regulation and allowed the game-tying goal with 6.6 seconds left and the game-winner just 95 seconds into overtime.
Instead of moving to within a game of the Eastern Conference finals, they are now down 3-2 to New York and facing elimination. Can the Caps somehow push all that aside and focus on the task at hand — winning Game 6 at Verizon Center on Wednesday night and extending the season?
“We need to,” defenseman John Carlson said. “We all know what we want to do and what we want to accomplish. In order to do that, we’ve got to be able to [shake] these things off. It’s not ideal by any means.”
Washington, of course, was in this situation itself in the first round. The Caps led Boston 3-2 and had a home game to clinch that series before losing in overtime in Game 6. It took Ward’s overtime goal two days later to push them into the conference semifinals. New York faced the opposite problem when it trailed Ottawa in the first round 3-2 before rallying to win the last two games. But when the Rangers earlier had a chance to take control of this series against Washington, they were blitzed early in Game 4.
“We did not do a good job coming out after Game 3 [against the Caps], and that will be a focus,” Rangers forward Brad Richards told reporters in New York on Tuesday. “We want at least to give ourselves a lot better chance, especially at the start. We know they are going to come hard. I think we have learned that lesson here in the past couple of weeks. … We want to close it out. We want to get this over with. A lot easier said than done.”
Washington is 3-0 following overtime losses this spring. But it is desperately trying to avoid adding to a checkered playoff history. Eleven times the Caps have trailed a series 3-2 and only recovered to win twice. One positive? It happened against the Rangers in 2009.
“That’s playoff hockey, good or bad,” forward Brooks Laich said. “If it was easy, everyone would do it. But [New York is] a good hockey team. They’re tough to beat. You have to accept the bad with the good, I guess.”
