Caps’ rut: Blame goes on players
Washington Capitals defenseman John Carlson believes it wasn’t only last season’s Stanley Cup success, but also years of failing, that give his team a reasonable shot at being repeat champions.
With the Capitals sputtering lately, Carlson has a collection of bad playoff memories to remind him what Washington needs to do to return to the playing level the team was at last spring.
“When you have that swagger you can get over stuff a lot quicker,” the first-time All-Star told USA TODAY last week. “In a playoff series, it seems like you need to shelve whatever happened in the game before and start fresh.”
What the Capitals, who are 27-17-6 and second in the Metropolitan Division, have to get over are some bad defensive habits that have led to a sevengame losing streak.
How poorly had the Capitals played leading up to the All-Star break?
❚ They’d given up six or more goals four times in the last five games.
❚ They’d scored goals in three of losses.
❚ Forward Evgeny Kuznetsov, a force in last season’s playoffs, had two goals in the past 24 games.
❚ Goalie Braden Holtby had a 3.04 goals-against average. He had given up 16 goals on the last 90 shots faced.
The Capitals don’t seem to have the same attention to detail they had last spring when they won the first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
The question people are asking is whether the team’s struggles reflect a case of Stanley Cup hangover or the loss of coach Barry Trotz, the architect of last season’s successful playoff run. With his contract expiring, Trotz left the team last summer one the or no seven and agreed to coach the Islanders. New York has the NHL’s sixth-best record.
The Capitals’ recent problems can’t be blamed on an adjustment to a new coach because Todd Reirden was an associate coach under Trotz. This isn’t a case of a coach dramatically changing the way the Capitals do business on the ice. The players know what must be done. They just aren’t executing.
The recent swoon can’t be blamed on captain Alex Ovechkin, who has scored 37 goals. At 33, he is on pace for more than 60 goals. He has eight goals and 12 points in 12 January games.
According to Carlson, the key is simply rediscovering their push-back. He says “mental strength” is paramount. trying to win.
“We were a lot more aggressive last year than we were in years past,” Carlson said. “That carried us through those scenarios that we used to get stumped on.”
This is on the players. They won’t have Ovechkin for a game when they come back from the All-Star break and bye week on Feb. 1 because he chose to sit out the All-Star Game. The penalty is sitting out one regular-season game directly before or after the break.
“We’d like to be playing a lot better right now,” Carlson says, adding, “I think the confidence is there and that’s what carries you through tough times toward the end of the season and playoffs.”