Friday night near 9:30, there were two camps of Caps’ fans: the converts, who believed, and the battle-scarred and non-believing, holding hard to the conviction that old agonies were freshly revisiting a cursed franchise. For the latter set, an inspiring second-half run to postseason contention was finishing prematurely on a Friday night in Georgia, against an underwhelming, kids-called-up-and-dressed Atlanta club.
Two things to know about this latter camp of the not yet converted: they acknowledge the unprecedented brilliance of Alexander Ovechkin, and believe him almost certain to lead the Capitals to unprecedented glory during his career here; it’s just that for them the old agonies aren’t far enough behind in the rear view mirror, and so sudden, most unlikely glory wasn’t being FedEx-ed to the Caps in the third period Friday night.
The second thing to know about the non-believers: their numbers this morning are smaller.
Personally, I’m a believer. I became one all the way back on draft lottery day in April 2004. (That’s also known as being a wild optimist.)
I’m a believer because I believe Ovechkin, right now, to be a transcendent superstar, that rare impact athlete who not only dominates his sport but wills his team to improbable victories, and obliterates an unsavory past in the process. In the Era of Ovechkin, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to recall the woes of yesteryear — no. 8’s making the present so jaw-droppingly fun, so compelling.
Bruce Boudreau is a believer, too. Give the head coach credit. With the season on the line for his club, he staked the evening’s prospects for a near-miraculous turnaround on his superstar and his linemates. He skated them for half of the third period. Their shifts commonly exceeded 90 seconds, and they rarely rested for more than a single shift. A clearer statement of faith is hard to imagine.
“I thought in the third period [Ovechkin] said ‘Listen, just get on my back and we’re going to go,’ ” Boudreau said after the Ovechkin-led Caps outshot Atlanta 23-2 in the third period. Boudreau’s first line in Friday night’s third period had, unofficially, 10 of those 23 shots. It just seemed like they had all 23.
This was how the Washington Times’ Corey Masisak today led his file for last night:
“The Washington Capitals were less than nine minutes from their playoff hopes being all but dashed.”
He was right.
More converts: the Friday night studio crew for the NHL Network, which included former Caps’ head coach Gary Green. They interviewed Ovechkin via phone from the post-game locker room in Phillips Arena, and Green told the young town-transformer that he “was proud” of that designation on a night of such heroics. Green went on to say that the Caps would win five of their final six games and qualify for the postseason.
“Alexander Ovechkin is absolutely the type of player you want in big games,” Green told viewers.
Then he said that the Ovechkin-led Caps would absolutely win a Stanley Cup “within four years.”
That’s faith indeed.
8 Comments
Great post, right on! One of the cooler things like noted by the Peerless Prognostcator was # 60 for Ovie was “a grinder goal.” Also even though the Caps did come out a little flat I felt they clearly outplayed the level of the Thrash - they outshot Atlanta in every period - Lehtonen kept his team in the game. As dmg noted in his blog - RESILIANCE was the word of the night for the Caps. For that reason, I’d like the help of you and your readers, though. Last night on Comcast after the game, Lisa Hillary, experienced hockey commentator and insightful analyst that she is, made a statement that the Caps had been outplayed the first two periods last night as well. My suggestion is that her recent pop-up on the Caps website be trashed for this SOOOO obviously wrong statement - again look at the stats. Please post a comment to Caps owner Ted Leonsis on his blog Ted’s Take if you agree and support the position.
I feel strongly the only reason the Caps didn’t score at least two in the first and at least one in the second was Lehtonen’s play and if it weren’t for him the score would have been 10+-3 for the Caps. Twenty-three shots in a period is also a unique way to play defense eh? Anyone who wasn’t drained (in a good way) at the end of this one, after watching doesn’t know what good hockey is all about. No loser point last night. LETS GO CAPS!!!!!
Trivia Question: On which goal last night did Ovie celebrate the most?
If you said #60, you’d be wrong.
Look at the replay. For that milestone goal Ovie was rather subdued. The Caps were still down 1, and there was still more work to do. The correct answer would be on the assist to Nicklas Backstrom for the game winner. Ovie’s legs were churning at open-ice speed in order to get to his teammates and celebrate. That is the definition of team player.
Congrats, Ovie, for the win.
I’m a believer that the Ovechkin led-Caps will do glorious things in seasons to come. And the comeback last night, particularly the emotion displayed in celebration of the GWG, was wonderful and almost tear-jerking.
But I still maintain that the playoffs are out of reach this year. The hole dug in October and November was, and still is, too deep. Every time the team gets close to breaking into a playoff spot, an ugly loss coupled with a 3 point game somewhere, involving teams we are chasing, pushes us back down. Save for a precious day and a half when we held the SE division lead, we’ve been underwater all season. And destiny is no longer in our hands after Chicago’s debacle.
Just like a young team learns and matures to play a full game with consistent effort and focus, the key lesson from this year is (with a few obvious players excepted) the tired, but vitally important one: that points earned in October are just as critical as those earned in late March.
But next season, the SE division is ours, and perhaps much more.
I noticed the same thing about Ovie’s celebrations. After Nicky scored the game winner, I said to my daughter “Who is that one Capital that is going nuts in the group hug?” Well of course it was Ovie. He is skilled, he is strong, but what I love the most about him is what was displayed on Nicky’s two goals.
If you watch replays of most of the Capitals goals (not scored by #8) this season, most of the time if Alex is on the ice he is the first person or almost the first person there to hug the goal scorer.
I’m a believer! I have been for months now as I’ve watched this team grow and seemingly overcome problems that they’ve had in the past. After decades of disappointment, it’s hard to let the pessimism go, but I have and it feels great! After Atlanta went up 3-1, I had a moment of relapse where I thought, “These ARE the Caps of old,” but I quickly got over it and I knew they’d come back. We have the greatest player in the world and an amazingly talented young team that is only going to get better.
Pass me some more Kool-Aid.
Also, kudos to Kozzie for snagging the #60 puck for Alex!
Steven and Kim - I appreciate your pointing out Ovie’s team-first or team-centric sensibilities. They’re as much fun to watch as many of the goals themselves. And Pepper terms them nearly tear-worthy. I don’t think that’s overstatement.
I’m battle scarred and said after the second period, “Well, it was a nice run while it lasted. Next year.”
But Frustrated Cap Fan, I totally and 100% disagree with your statement. There’s more to the game than shots, and during the first two periods the Caps were outhit, out-skated, looked slow and tentative, and looked like THEY were the ones who had given up on the year. Other than the goal by Ovechkin (which came on a nice play by him, not anything really team-related), there wasn’t much there, especially from a team desperate for the points.
Kozlov hit a post, sure, but the power play stunk (even not including the short handed goal), and the team just looked bad.
Of course, the optimist says that the Caps played about 40 minutes during these three games and ended up with four out of six points. (Although they really only played the first 10 minutes against Nashville…)
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