Coaches never want to give the impression their insides are doing back flips, never want to appear they’re letting a short sample size drive their decision making and never want to let on they’re lacking confidence in a certain player.
Especially in Game 1 of a Stanley Cup playoff series, and definitely when it comes to goaltending.
All of which is why Jose Theodore remained in goal for the third period of Game 1 on Wednesday night despite giving up three goals on 11 shots in the second period of what ended as a 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers.
“You never want to look like you’re panicking,” Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said. “That’s the way it would have looked.”
It also would have been justified.
One game into what they hoped would be a long playoff run, the Caps face their first crisis. Eighteen months into his joy ride behind an NHL bench, Boudreau has two days to contemplate the biggest decision of his tenure.
Start 20-year-old rookie Simeon Varlamov on Saturday in Game 2 and risk seeing Theodore unravel mentally.
Show faith in Theodore knowing it could backfire, and he would have no choice but to have Varlamov make his playoff debut at raucous Madison Square Garden on Monday night with the season on the line.
Or start Theodore and have him on a short leash.
Asked whether Theodore was his guy on Saturday, Boudreau said: “There is a chance anything could happen. As I said earlier, when you lose, you make changes, and I’m not saying in goal but there’s a possibility of changes in a couple of positions out there.”
Not a glowing endorsement but also the right thing to say.
On two of the goals, the Rangers were fortunate. When Scott Gomez made it 1-1, he was aided by Sean Avery interfering with Mike Green at the blue line. And on Brandon Dubinsky’s game-winner, Jeff Schultz was turned every which way [-] none of them good.
But the two goals that should force Boudreau to evaluate things happened less than two minutes apart and on back-to-back shots by Nic Antropov and Markus Naslund.
Antropov scored over Theodore’s right shoulder from the left circle.
Naslund scored over Theodore’s left shoulder from between the circles.
Theodore didn’t appear to be screened, and there wasn’t a deflection or bad bounce.
“I’m not happy with my game,” he said. “This wasn’t good enough. But in the playoffs, you forget about it and turn the page. There’s really no excuses. You have to be ready to make key saves at key moments, and tonight it just wasn’t the case.”
What made things worse is that the Caps played well defensively and Henrik Lundqvist was his usual solid self in the Rangers’ goal.
The Rangers had only four first-period shots and 21 for the game. But Lundqvist kept the game scoreless thanks to 14 saves in the opening 20 minutes.
“The first period was ours, and I thought we had good energy,” Caps center Nicklas Backstrom said. “It was good goaltending out there for them, especially in the first period.”
Not that Backstrom doesn’t have faith in his own goaltender.
“He’s a great goalie, and I think we have to help him more than we did tonight,” Backstrom said. “We’re going to bounce back on Saturday.
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