On Saturday the clock ticked away the last few
seconds on another season for the Capitals. The team watched as the New York
Rangers celebrated their hard-fought game seven win in front of their home
crowd. The feeling among the Caps was one of extreme disappointment after
coming just one goal short of perhaps reaching the conference finals, a decidedly
different feeling that many expected heading into the postseason. There were
times over the season where it looked as if the team may not even reach the
playoffs. The Capitals were widely proclaimed as the most disappointing team of
the year and with a looming series against the defending champions, most people
were looking towards next season to figure out how to right the ship. Fourteen
games later, there is a very different feeling in the nation’s capital.
There is no clear formula for success in any
sport, but each coach brings with him a theory of how best to achieve
postseason success. For head coach Dale Hunter, that theory is a commitment to
defense and matching up lines. Over the course of the season, the Caps made a
difficult transition from the run and gun offensive style of Bruce Boudreau to
this new way of playing and it took the full season for the team to buy in.
Many experts saw the Caps limping into the postseason with a rookie goalie and
a history of playoff disappointment against the defending champions and thought
Boston would clean up. It was clear after the first two games in Boston that
this was going to be a very different series. The Caps ended up winning what
was the closest series in NHL history with a Joel Ward overtime goal. The Caps
were rewarded with a series against the number one seeded Rangers and came up just
short.
The unfortunate reality of this series is that
perhaps the Caps let this one slip away. In game 3, the Caps fell 2-1 in triple
overtime, the third longest game in franchise history. The Caps had a 2-1 lead
in game 5 with less than a minute left when Ward took a double minor for high
sticking. The Rangers scored on both power plays, once with 6 seconds left to
tie it, and the other in overtime to take the win. Both games could easily have
gone the other way and the Caps could be looking at a matchup with New Jersey.
So what does this mean for the season? How do
you evaluate what happened and can you call it a success? This season stands as
a testament to how different the regular season and playoffs are. In the end,
the regular season really doesn’t matter so long as you make the playoffs. Look
at who’s left, Los Angeles looks like the team to beat and they are the eighth
seed from the west. The Caps had a disappointing regular season and a
competitive, hopefully defining, postseason. In October, the Caps were
considered one of the teams to beat. General Manager George McPhee had
assembled what looked to be an intimidating lineup, but the team struggled and
Boudreau was eventually fired. He was replaced by the stoic team legend with a
hard-nosed reputation both as a player and coach. The team played .500 hockey
and qualified for the playoffs with a win in the second to last game of the
season. It was not exactly the response McPhee was hoping for when he brought
Hunter in.
A different team showed up to play Boston. This
team had bought into Hunter’s system. They blocked shots, played responsibly on
both ends of the ice, and did not take foolish penalties. Everyone responded to
the challenge of the defending champions. What had been the second best offense
in the league scored only 15 goals in 7 games, 4 of which went into overtime.
The same dedication came up just short against the Rangers, but it could have
easily gone the Caps’ way.
The difference between Boudreau’s success and
Hunter’s? This team faced two of the best teams in the league and almost came
out on top. Under Boudreau the Caps consistently struggled against weaker
teams. In 2009, the Caps were the second seed and New York took a three games
to one lead on them. It took seven to beat a considerably weaker team. The Caps
then fell apart against Pittsburgh in game seven of their next series, losing
6-2. The Caps completed one of the most impressive regular seasons in NHL
history in 2009, yet fell to Montreal in a massive upset. Last year, the team
seemingly gave up against Tampa Bay, losing in four straight games. And this
season, when things looked bleak, the team responded with a strong effort to
send the Boston Bruins home and the New Rangers to the brink. When previously
this team had found ways to lose, this year they found a way to win and keep
fighting. That was the difference. Perhaps that’s not good enough for many
critics out there, but it seemed good enough for the team.
To a man, when Hunter stepped down as coach
today the team expressed disappointment. Ovechkin took a significant drop in
playing time, yet he was the first to celebrate goals on the bench. Semin,
despite disappearing in the second round as per usual, was blocking shots and
playing defense. And of course, Braden Holtby stood on his head and the team
rallied around him. This postseason ended with a sense of hope, hope for the
future rather than outright cynicism. That is a feeling we have not felt in
years. That is the difference.
Hunter leaving the team is a disappointing,
though not surprising loss. But he managed to leave behind a foundation and
blueprint for how this team can continue winning in the future. That is not to
say his system was perfect, it was not. I felt he failed to utilize the
numerous offensive weapons he had at his disposal. The Rangers and Caps both
had similar defensive systems and solid goaltending, but it was the Caps who
had the more dangerous offensive players. While the Caps need to stick to a
more defensive style, I felt they did so at times to a fault. Whoever McPhee
finds to take over this team should think defense first, but also find a way to
utilize his offensive stars while still maintaining that defensive system.
Is this the ending we wanted for the season?
No. And now we also face the daunting task of replacing a coach that brought
hope to this team. Yet, I remain hopeful. The Caps for so long felt frustrated
by their abundance of talent and lack of success, but in his short time here,
Dale Hunter showed them what they never seemed to learn under Boudreau, how to
win in the playoffs. It’s not by offensive prowess alone, but by team
dedication on both ends of the ice. If the team can build on this postseason
and learn from it, then the future is bright for the Caps.
No comments:
Post a Comment