Caps need to live and die with Ovie on the ice: analyst
Comcast SportsNet analyst Alan May still believes that if the Capitals, who trail the Maple Leafs 2-1 in the first round of the playoffs, win Game 4 on Wednesday in Toronto, Washington will come back to win the series. And if not?
“This would be the biggest failure ... maybe in NHL history,” May told a local Washington radio station on Tuesday. “This is absolutely horrible what’s going on right now.”
Asked to point to one reason the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Capitals find themselves in a 2-1 hole against the eighth-seeded Maple Leafs after Monday’s overtime loss at Air Canada Centre, May focused on the coaching matchup.
“I think the adjustments aren’t there,” May said. “I think the way this is being coached by Mike Babcock right now, I’d say Mike Babcock is running the Capitals’ show right now, he’s changing their players when you look at what’s going on with the line deployments. Alexander Ovechkin only had 15 minutes (Monday night). I thought Alexander Ovechkin was flying and he needed to be on the ice with (T.J.) Oshie and (Nicklas) Backstrom a lot more five-on-five.”
The Capitals were on the penalty kill and Ovechkin was glued to the bench for more than four minutes in the third period, which contributed to the captain logging his least amount of ice time (15:08) in a playoff game since Game 2 of Washington’s second-round series against the Rangers in 2012.
“They cut his minutes this season to get him ready for the playoffs and I’ve always thought that when you have the big players like that — he can fly — you’ve got to get them warmed up, you’ve got to get their legs going,” May said. “He’s done everything he can; you’ve still got to put him on the ice. I don’t care about the penalties. Fifteen minutes throughout the entire game is not enough. He’s got to play more.
“Everybody’s going to point their fingers at that damn guy and there’s a lot of guys that aren’t pulling their weight, but I’m telling you what, right now Ovechkin is pulling his weight, Backstrom’s pulling his, T.J.’s pulling his, so other players just need to step up. But I’ll tell you what, when you have the best goal-scorer in hockey and maybe the best line in hockey through the regular season, put ’em on the ice and let them do what they do.
“You have to score more goals to win the series and the Caps aren’t scoring the goals they need to win the series right now because the top line’s not where they need to be and that’s on the ice.”
Oshie, who played more than 18 minutes Monday, Backstrom (17:30) and Ovechkin have combined for nine points in the first three games of the series. Ovechkin, who scored his second goal of the series to give the Capitals a 2-0 lead less than five minutes into Monday’s game, played seven seconds more than third-line centre Lars Eller and 2:01 more than fourth-line forward Tom Wilson.
May recalled the time the Capitals blew a 3-1 series lead against the Penguins in 1992. After Dino Ciccarelli scored four goals in a 7-2 win in Game 4, Penguins coach Scotty Bowman dictated the matchups for the remainder of the series and effectively outcoached Terry Murray.
“Right now Babcock is dictating Ovechkin’s ice time,” May said. “If I’m (Capitals head coach Barry) Trotz, I get my superstar out there. I live and die with him. I get Oshie, Backstrom, Ovechkin out there as much as possible, force the Leafs to play against those guys, make sure they play as hard defensively as they do offensively. But without the amount of goals they’ve scored this year — I think with 89 goals on that line — you have to get them on the ice and they’ve got to play.
“Right now we’re seeing some failures from some of the players on the lower lines, but Ovechkin and Backstrom, they set the tone last game. I didn’t think other guys followed up on it, but I want to see Ovie play more than 15 minutes.”