Jason La Canfora echoes Pucks’ assessment in today’s Washington Post:
Rallying for three straight victories likely is too much to ask, too, but even in cold defeat this feels much more like a beginning than an end, a fresh-faced group experiencing growing pains en masse.
Thursday night’s effort left the Capitals just short of a series-altering victory, but that much closer to fully grasping all that playoff hockey encompasses.
The always-enjoyable Mike Wise weighed in on the team’s best game of the series:
Backstrom, who never met a barbell he liked, almost went toe-to-toe with Brière during that scrum in the opening minutes. A snowflake in the series up to Game 4, the sedentary Swede was suddenly charged. He scored his first playoff goal moments later.
Same with Semin, who started the little brouhaha and then guided home a power-play rocket just left of the net. He met aggression with aggression each time the Flyers tried to rattle him.
Ovechkin became an ornery chap, too. He camped in front of the crease as if he were the injured Chris Clark, whose work outside the net the Caps have missed the past week. After his first assist Ovechkin glared at the fans, almost mocking their anger. His checks were meaningful, menacing.
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How can Jason echo this if he wrote it first. Tsk, tsk OFB.
Jason La Canfora echoes Pucks’ assessment in today’s Washington Post…
“Tsk, tsk”? Unless you spent the night with both La Canfora & Pucks (let’s hope not), you don’t know who what when. But that’s irrelevant — this post not intended as a slight on La Canfora, nor a who-said-it-first debate; rather, its purpose is to point out two well-written articles in the Washington Post. La Canfora & Pucks reached similar conclusions independently, which is not surprising: the importance of playoff experience is hardly an earth-shattering conclusion. If the word “echoes” set off your paranoia alarm, I suggest you go for a nice walk on this beautiful afternoon to unwind a bit.
It sounds like giving in when “even in cold defeat this feels much more like a beginning than an end” but really it isn’t… I’ve had the same feeling watching this team make a historic run to somehow win the division title on the last game of the season. How can one not be pysched at where this team is going to go in the future. In all the years I’ve watched the capitals this is the first time that even considering losing in the first round doesn’t hurt as bad as it had with some of the previous capital’s playoff squads.
@ usiel:
Agreed. It’s all about perspective — most previous Capitals playoff teams were comprised of mainly veterans for whom the window of playoff success was closing. Early playoff losses when the team & fanbase know that key players will be lost to retirement or free agency makes a playoff loss even worse. This year’s Capitals club is clearly a team on the rise, with a majority of the key players young, hungry, and sticking around for a good long while.
Caps will piss off the Flyers by pushing it to seven. No doubt in my mind. None at all. Caps in 7.
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