The Caps Are Feeling The Sting Down 0-2 In The Series

For Capitals, the Onus Is On Boudreau Now

by Scott Morath

After all of the talk about goaltending in the aftermath of Wednesday’s series opener, it remains to be seen whether Bruce Boudreau can make the necessary adjustments to get the Washington Capitals back on track. The coach’s surprising decision to start rookie netminder Simeon Varlamov in Game 2 went well, for the most part, but despite outshooting the New York Rangers 70-45 through two games, the Caps have squandered home ice advantage, and have dug themselves a 2-0 hole in their first round playoff series.

Though the goalie switch didn’t backfire, as some feared it might, Boudreau has still been outmaneuvered thus far by his counterpart, John Tortorella. The Rangers have executed Tortorella’s system to perfection—conceding perimeter shots to Washington’s snipers, but clogging up shooting lanes and blocking an inordinate amount of pucks before they ever get to Henrik Lundqvist.

Meanwhile, after displaying a penchant for juggling his forward line combinations all season, it was rather shocking when Boudreau did little to shake things up as his team was being blanked at home on Saturday, falling to the Rangers 1-0.

Yes, Lundqvist was rock solid in net (as advertised), but his saves weren’t of the highway robbery variety. The stellar ones were few and far between, largely because the attack coming at him became so predictable.

All is not lost, however. With the proper tinkering, Boudreau can still salvage this series, beginning with tonight’s game at Madison Square Garden in New York. He must start by realizing that his superb center, Nicklas Backstrom, though only 21 years of age, doesn’t need to play with Alex Ovechkin in order to create offense. Hell, towards the end of the regular season Boudreau experimented with struggling Viktor Kozlov and Tomas Fleischmann as Backstrom’s wingers, and immediately both players came to life.

It is also important to keep in mind that Ovechkin plays the game at a frantic pace, favoring explosive forays down the wing, while Backstrom is very much the opposite… slowing things down… weaving through traffic and exhibiting tremendous patience with the puck as he looks for the open man. Perhaps the difference in approach is why the two young stars have seemed so out of synch in the playoffs—when opposing teams buckle down on defense, and the checking gets considerably tighter?

Granted, the Ovechkin-Backstrom-Kozlov line has had its moments over the last two seasons, but Caps’ faithful will recall that the team didn’t really find their mojo in the playoffs last year against the Flyers until Boudreau swapped Sergei Fedorov and Backstrom—moving the wily veteran Fedorov into the spot centering Ovechkin, and using Backstrom between Alexander Semin and Brooks Laich.

Look, it’s a given that Ovechkin is going to draw New York’s top defenders regardless of who he plays with (because he’s Ovie)—but he’s accustomed to it, and he’s still going to get his 6 or 7 shots on goal (again… because he’s Ovie!). By flip-flopping centers, the ‘second line’ would feature a pair of world class talents in Semin and Backstrom, plus a gritty presence in Laich to dig pucks out of the corners and create traffic in front of Lundqvist.

Boudreau did experiment with a ‘put all of your eggs in one basket’ approach with an Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin trio for a few shifts near the conclusion of Game 2, but pretty goals aren’t going to get the Capitals back into this series. They need to score a few ugly ones, and the aforementioned combination often favors ‘cute’ plays—bypassing open shots and overhandling the puck—something their coach frequently lamented while playing the three stars together during the regular season.

Obviously, suggesting different line combinations is a favorite pastime for us hockey enthusiasts, particularly when a team is struggling. At this time of year, there are no trades to make, and shuffling different role players in and out of the lineup isn’t likely to cure what ails the Capitals in this series. Boudreau needs to find a way to get his young guns blazing again. He has made the proper adjustments before… now he just needs to learn from last year’s experience and do it again, and hope that it’s not too late.

[Editor's note: The usual Monday Morning soccer roundup will be put up on Tuesday, Pat Walsh's column Wednesday, and then (finally) my USL2 preview on Thursday...]