3/20, 2:30 PM - Capitals shut out in the Windy City
The no way around the fact that this one hurt. Bad. And there’s not really any sense in re-hashing the intricacies of last night’s game because there aren’t going to be any answers there for the Capitals. The team was terrible last night in just about every way and in all three zones.
The important thing to remember after a game like last night’s is this: it’s just one game. From looking around the Capitals-centric portion of the internet, I think that’s something that a lot of fans might be overlooking. Consider these facts:
- The Capitals playing just 25 hours after a game where they had delivered 23 hits and absorbed 17. After that game they had to travel 472 miles from Nashville to Chicago.
- The Capitals are still only two points out of the last playoff spot in the Eastern conference.
- On Friday the Capitals play the Atlanta Thrashers who are, right now, probably worst team in the NHL and are 2-6-2 in their last ten.
- The Caps seven remaining games are all against the Southeast Division, the worst division in the NHL.
- The Caps have still lost back-to-back games in regulation just once under Boudreau, and they had to get screwed by the refs in one game and score in their own net in another to pull that off.
- Buffalo is 4-4-2 in their last ten, Philly is 4-3-3 and Boston is 3-4-3.
- As ugly as it was, this was one game. It terms of potential points lost it doesn’t matter whether the Capitals lost 1-0, 2-0, 5-0 or 10-0.
I think the last point is the most important one. It would have been unreasonable to expect the Capitals to not lose at least one game in regulation during their six game road trip (my personal guess was that they’d go 4-1-1), so there’s not any reason to throw in the towel after last night’s loss. As long as the Capitals’ coaches and veterans realize that and don’t let the poor play from last night carry over into future games, the fact that the Capitals lost in (very) poor fashion becomes irrelevant. As they say “they don’t ask how, they just ask how many”; all that matters is that the Caps missed a chance to pick up points and they’re still very much in the playoffs race.
…and there’s another use of my ‘Relentless Optimism’ label.
It was hard to watch last night. One thing i have to remind myself is all teams have an off night, and the Capitals won 4 in a row previously, they were due for a let down. The only thing raising concern for me is, that is now 5 consecutive less than impressive periods. Despite winning 3-2 over Nashville, the second and third periods were particularly unimpressive and it carried into this game.
Guys like Ovechkin, Huet, Kolzig, and Fedorov need to ralyl this team.