By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Perhaps the early struggles and late run to the playoffs should have been predictable for a rookie head coach, especially given the lockout and shortened training camp. In looking back at his first season running a team, Adam Oates might take all summer to hone his craft for next year and beyond.
The Caps spent much of the past couple of weeks making officials part of the story of the series. Maybe that was the problem.
Washington again failed to take a 3-0 series lead, a feat that has never been accomplished in 21 playoff series in franchise history. Instead, the Rangers have life going into Game 4 Wednesday night.
It's Washington's sixth straight playoff appearance and fifth division championship in that time. It's also something that would have been difficult to envision at several points earlier this season. The Caps started 2-8-1 and were at the bottom of the NHL standings.
Jay McClement shoved Nicklas Backstrom's head into the boards, and Alex Ovechkin came to his teammate's aid. Washington Capitals fans roared at the replay, and it didn't even matter that the captain took a penalty by jumping the Toronto Maple Leafs forward. From that moment on, the Caps dominated the Maple Leafs on the way to a 5-1 rout, their eighth straight victory.
There is more to the Capitals' win streak than the play of those expected to play at such a high level. Steve Oleksy's play on defense, Jack Hillen's solid defense as well as his scoring surge, Jason Chimera showing he still has "it" – pretty much the entire roster is playing at a high level.
Green scored the game-winning goal Saturday for the second straight game. It was also the 16th of his NHL career.
The Washington Capitals were not happy, even though they left Verizon Center on Saturday night with their seventh straight victory and two valuable points. What they did in blowing a lead to the Tampa Bay Lightning was much more of a concern in the aftermath of a 6-5 overtime win than snatching this one back after a four-goal lead evaporated.
It was Montreal's first loss to a Southeast team (11-1-0) in 2013, but the Capitals always play well at the Bell Centre, where they are 6-0-1 in their last seven visits.
Before Sunday night, the Washington Capitals' backup goaltender hadn't played a game since March 16, and he hadn't started at home since Feb. 5.
A year after the Predators loaded up to take a shot at the Stanley Cup, being on the edge of the playoff picture wasn't enough to keep Martin Erat satisfied. He asked for a trade and got one to the Washington Capitals before Wednesday's deadline.
A few prominent players including Jaromir Jagr changed places and the Capitals re-shaped their blue line while also making a couple of minor deals ahead of Wednesday's deadline.
RALEIGH, N.C. | NHL teams got a jump-start on their trade deadline action Tuesday, as a few prominent players changed places and the Washington Capitals reshaped their blue line while making a couple of minor deals.Amid a career renaissance, ex-Caps right wing Jaromir Jagr, whose uninspiring stint in Washington exemplified a stretch of futility for the franchise, was sent to the Boston Bruins from the Dallas Stars for a draft pick and two prospects.
Hillen's deal is worth $1.4 million, so his cap hit will be $700,000 in each of the next two years.
Count the Washington Capitals among a swath of teams in the middle ground between buying and selling, as they went into Monday night just one point out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference but also found themselves in 11th place.
"If you give players confidence, an average player is going to be a great player, a great player is going to be all-world," Hillen said. "Everybody plays better when they're feeling better about themselves, and I think he does a great job at that."
Despite Caps' first-round playoff exit, Adam Oates' first season as coach left a positive taste →
Two days later, as players had exit meetings with Oates and McPhee and left the team's practice facility for the offseason, defenseman Jack Hillen acknowledged he was still "bitter."
Capitals' complaints about referees continue in post-mortem of Rangers series →
