Playoff luck seems to be on Capitals’ side this time
To those who believe that once the Stanley Cup playoffs start the Washington Capitals have no luck, there are now several big, fat exhibits to the contrary.
It’s far too early to declare a change of trend. A few nice breaks, along with some good clutch play, is not enough to reverse a decadeslong sense of ill fortune and black clouds.
But in Game 5 of their first-round series against the Blue Jackets at Capital One Arena on Saturday, as in Game 3 in Columbus on Tuesday, the Caps got plain, old, wonderful puck-luck of the kind they have seldom enjoyed.
And they have seldom needed it more. With three straight wins, including a 4-3 overtime triumph in Game 5, they have turned a brutal 2-0 deficit — after consecutive confidence-eroding overtime losses at home — into a 3-2 lead.
Now it’s Caps centre Nicklas Backstrom, who scored two goals Saturday, including the overtime winner on a deflection, who can say, “We got a little lucky today. We’ll take it ... It happens in the playoffs. It’s nice.”
And it’s Blue Jackets Coach John Tortorella who was left to vow, “I won’t have to say a damn word to my team. We’ll be back here for Game 7.”
Not if your luck doesn’t improve, Torts.
What makes this turn of events so piquant is the list of things that have gone the Caps’ way is getting quite long
“In the past, sometimes we would sag, sit back,” said Caps coach Barry Trotz. “Now we don’t sag. Now they get ticked off and go after it.”
Then Trotz, in a back stairway, allowed himself a tiny smile and said: “We’ll take a little luck, too.” And about time.
The true crisis game of this postseason, if the Caps do advance, will be Game 3, which they escaped in double overtime. For over an hour, any Blue Jackets shot that got past goaltender Braden Holtby might have created a three-game deficit that is hardly ever escaped. In fact, four shots did get past Holtby — and all hit a post. One came late in the third period, and another in the first overtime. When the Caps won, the goal was “scored” by Lars Eller, in the sense that Eller was the only Capitals player in the vicinity as the puck seemed to hit everybody in the crease on every part of their equipment — except Eller’s stick. Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, marvellous at stopping real shots, may never know what part of what man from what team cost him a loss.
The Caps’ next huge break was escaping an incredibly awful third period Saturday in which they were outshot 16-1 in a game tied 3-3 for the final 17:30 with Columbus utterly dominating play. It’s been all over the place and nerve-racking,” Capitals forward Brett Connolly said. “But we find a way. It’s been fun.” Nothing has been more fun than Backstrom’s first-period goal, one that may haunt Bobrovsky more than the game-winner, which came on a blast from the point by Dmitry Orlov on which Backstrom stuck out his stick and, “I got a tip on it.” Past Caps teams that entered the playoffs as a favourite might have folded after starting a series with two overtime defeats at home. When that happens against a good team in Columbus that, Backstrom says, “has always played us tough,” it’s natural to have doubts. But something may be slightly different now. So far, it is the Caps benefiting from shots off the post, from goals that bounce off rival players.
Sounds extremely familiar. Except this time it is happening for the Caps, not to them.