Washington victorious in reunion with former coach
NEW YORK — Barry Trotz was clapping as he made his grand entrance back into the Washington Capitals locker room, and his old team was clapping for him. Opposing coaches are typically not welcome there just hours before a game, but the Capitals made an exception for Trotz, the coach who led them to their first Stanley Cup title less than six months ago. In the first reunion between Trotz and the Capitals since Trotz became coach of the New York Islanders, he was presented his championship ring before giving a speech.
“You guys were so resilient as a group over the years,” Trotz told them. “The pressures and that were real, and you fought through that. That’s what I’m most proud of you guys. ... I think [forward T.J. Oshie] and you guys said it, ‘We can do it again, too.’ You’ll have to go through the [expletive] Island, but you guys can do it again.”
And with that and a few hugs around the room, the nostalgic portion of the evening was over. Trotz returned to the Islanders locker room, and the Capitals shut their doors once more to go back to preparing for how to beat Trotz’s new club. With two goals from forward Tom Wilson, Washington beat New York, 4-1, to extend a season-best winning streak to six games and stay atop the Metropolitan Division standings.
“That was a special moment for everybody involved. After that, it was business as usual,” Trotz said.
“When Trotzy came here, I think it came full circle,” Wilson said. “Wehad a good moment in the room, they said a few words and those guys mean a lot to us in this room. We did it together, so it’ll be a bond we’ll always have.”
Trotz resigned as the Capitals coach less than two weeks after the team won the Stanley Cup because of financial differences, and he was named the Islanders’ new coach just three days later. That marked just the fifth time in the past 40 years that the reigning Stanley Cup winner was in the market for a new coach, and Washington went on to promote Todd Reirden, who was Trotz’s top assistant for his four years with the Capitals.
Reirden didn’t change much systematically with the team coming off a championship, and because Trotz also brought his system to the Islanders, Wilson said the game preparation was like trying to “dissect basically how to beat yourself.” New York was projected to be one of the league’s worst teams this season, but the Islanders entered Monday night’s game in third place in the Metropolitan Division, just three points back of the Capitals with a game in hand.
What Trotz did for Washington, installing a disciplined structure centered on strong defensive play, is what he is now trying to bring to his new team along with associate coach Lane Lambert and goaltending coach Mitch Korn, who were also on Trotz’s Capitals staff.
“They’re doing stuff that Barry preaches,” said Washington goaltender Braden Holtby, who made 32 saves. “They’re as hard, if not harder, to play against than they’ve been in the past. It’s a good challenge for us.”
As soon as the puck drop, it became just another game, another Washington was able to win with its resiliency and depth. Center Valteri Filppula lifted the Islanders to a lead on the very first shift, his backhand from the slot beating goaltender Braden Holtby just 36 seconds into the game. The Capitals responded less than three minutes later, when Wilson got a partial breakaway and then unfurled a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle for a goal in his fourth straight game. Wilson added a power-play goal in the third period, and he has six goals in his first eight games since returning from an NHL Department of Player Safety suspension that cost him the first 16 games of the season. It took him 36 games to hit six goals last season.
In a second period in which Washington killed off three penalties, center Nic Dowd lifted the Capitals to a 2-1 lead. That marked his second straight game with a goal, and he now has three goals through 20 games this season, matching his 56-game total from last year.
As Trotz was wrapping up his remarks in the Capitals’ locker room before the game, he announced he had one last thing to add: “It’s going to be really hard to not like you guys.”