They will not use the word panic. It is still too early for that.
But the Capitals also know their play in the first three games of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against Philadelphia hasn’t been good enough — not offensively, not defensively, not on special teams.
The Flyers have set the bar high in winning two of the first three games. It is up to the Caps now to quickly match them. Or else, prepare for their season to end sooner than expected.
“There’s a lot of hockey left, a lot of work,” said Caps center Sergei Fedorov. “I think we’re very much in it. But we’ve got to come up with [a better] effort and get it done.”
Coach Bruce Boudreau juggled his lines during a morning practice at Wachovia Center on Wednesday. Rookie center Nicklas Backstrom, the 20-year-old Calder Trophy candidate who has been knocked off his game by the bruising Flyers, was dropped to the second line between wingers Brooks Laich and Alex Semin. In his place on the top line, Fedorov centered wingers Alex Ovechkin and Viktor Kozlov.
Backstrom has played on the top line every game since early December. But, according to Boudreau, the change still may not happen because hewas “just screwing around [Wednesday], seeing if there was anything there that I liked.”
Even entertaining the notion, though, means the Caps aren’t comfortable with the status quo. Philadelphia’s top line of Daniel Briere, Scott Hartnell and Vinny Prospal has totaled seven goals and seven assists. Washington’s top line of Ovechkin, Backstrom and Kozlov has one goal and three assists.
“Sometimes you can tell we have 12, 13, 14 guys who haven’t played a playoff game yet,” Boudreau said. “Sometimes that inexperience shows through — whether it’s [Ovechkin] or Eric Fehr. But they’re all good players and they’ll find ways no matter who is on them.”
