The penalty killing improved. The defense remained relatively solid. And the rookie goalie validated his coach’s decision.
And still the Washington Capitals find themselves in a 2-0 Eastern Conference quarterfinal series crater following a 1-0 loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday at Verizon Center.
“I’m standing here and I can’t think of any faults,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I thought we played a great hockey game, and they played a great hockey game.”
Great may be too strong of a word for either team. The Caps’ high-powered offense lacked odd-man rushes and quality scoring chances, and the Rangers’ power play remains abysmal.
The Caps are playing OK, which hasn’t been good enough and won’t be good enough when their season essentially is on the line in Game 3 on Monday at Madison Square Garden.
“Maybe we have to do something new and play different,” center Nicklas Backstrom said.
Radical changes aren’t necessary, but four things could get the Caps back in the series:
1. Create more traffic
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist has been good but hasn’t needed to be great.
The Caps need to clog up the low slot and get in Lundqvist’s face. Screen him so shots can get through. Have a stick on the ice for tip-ins. And be on the doorstep for rebounds.
Lundqvist will stop everything he sees, even slap shots by Mike Green from the point and accurate wrist shots by Alex Ovechkin from the top of the circle.
“We’ve talked about getting to the front of net and going for rebounds,” Boudreau said. “It’s not like we’re just sitting there and we’re saying, ’We’re just going to take the shots on the side.’ I thought we tried like hell to get there.”
2. Stick with Varlamov
Boudreau’s bold decision to start a 20-year old rookie in Game 2 might have reeked of panic, but it turned out well - Simeon Varlamov stopped 23 shots, which should earn him the Game 3 nod over Jose Theodore.
The Rangers’ goal was on a defensive breakdown. Boudreau claimed Ovechkin was interfered with at center ice, but other back-checkers didn’t account for Ryan Callahan.
“We got a great game out of ’Varley’ and if we play him again, I’m sure he’s going to give us another one,” Boudreau said.
Varlamov was considered the Caps’ goalie of the future until he led his team onto the ice for pregame warmups. He’s now the goalie of the present, and only a complete meltdown by him should force Boudreau to switch back to Theodore.
3. Wake up Semin
Alexander Semin was a nonfactor in Game 2. He took two minor penalties and made too many cross-ice passes on the power play that were intercepted or deflected by the Rangers.
Semin was switched to the Backstrom-Ovechkin line in the third period, so Boudreau has already tried to get him going.
Ovechkin can’t carry the Caps’ offense. Semin couldn’t get it going with Sergei Fedorov as his pivot, so now it’s up to Backstrom, who knows the offense can’t remain this stagnant.
“If you’re going to win the games, the guys have to start scoring,” Ovechkin said. “Me and the other guys need to start scoring.”
4. Put Brashear in the lineup
Caps enforcer Donald Brashear has been a healthy scratch in both games. If he has recovered from a knee injury, it’s time to put some snarl into the lineup and have him be a physical presence - not necessarily to drop the gloves, but to send messages in the form of checks.
Especially in the second period, some of the Caps’ skill players seemed more interested in hitting than scoring.
“There was a stage there where frustration definitely started to set in and we had to refocus, and I thought we did a good job with that in the third period,” Boudreau said. “We talked about it, and we adjusted.”
If Brashear is on the ice as a fourth-line wing, the likes of Ovechkin, Semin and Backstrom may return their focus to creating offense and not settling scores behind the play.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.