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In those earliest hours of the offseason I had already excoriated the Capitals, fairly, for a spectacularly failed season, again, but I wanted days and even weeks to pass before weighing in again with heavy ammo against the status quo.

Mr. Leonsis in his blog that painful morning called for patience and for a cooling off period. “The best course of action for us . . . is to let a few days pass; be very analytic about what needs to be improved; articulate that plan; and then execute upon it.”

And so yesterday, having allowed more than a few days to pass — fully two weeks, in fact — before commenting again on the Caps, Mr. Leonsis appeared on his hockey team’s web site to address Capitals Nation, offering remarks and taking questions from one of his communicators, with what was tantamount to a State of the Hockey Nation update. It did little to comfort the grieving.

For starters, Mr. Leonsis is not availing himself to media this offseason. Not yet, anyway. Capitals’ fans were welcomed to submit questions for yesterday’s streaming summit, but in no way does that approach the accountability that’s part and parcel with stepping up to the scrutiny of media cameras, microphones, and perhaps even a call-it-as-they-see-it corps of bloggers. If the President of the United States stands before the White House press corps, you can be assured of a good grilling, no matter the time of year. And when times are tough, we expect that of our President.

On the positive side of the self assessment ledger, acknowledging the widespread criticism his hockey team has cultivated in spades this spring, the owner yesterday said, “We want to change.” He pointed an accusatory finger at the power play, ranked no. 1 in the league until last spring, and said, “We might have to do something major to the power play because it has let us down last year against [Montreal] and this year against [Tampa Bay].” Big-picturing better, he said, “We’re struggling . . . in translating productivity in the regular season into longer success in the playoffs.”

To put it mildly.

But the format of yesterday’s forum undermined a good deal of discipline of message, and the owner early on in the proceedings, speaking contemporaneously and without interruption, allowed platitudes, a reservoir of accumulated good will, and I think wishful thinking to cloud and clutter what in another setting might have produced some heavy reckoning.

“I can say unequivocally that the regular season does matter,” he alleged.

Well, I can say unequivocally that at this moment in Washington it does not. I certainly said it in my season preview back in the autumn, and I was one of many voices then saying it. By the end of summer there will be four Southeast division title banners hanging from the rafters of Verizon Center commemorating the regular season feats of the past four seasons. Listening to Mr. Leonsis yesterday, I wondered: would the Capitals again try and draw attention to that on opening night in October? If they do, they might be surprised at the Red Army’s reaction to it.

To some extent, hockey’s regular season is diminished by the unrivaled-anywhere-else-in-sports glory of its ultimate prize. For every conspicuously winning-in-regular-season team in the NHL there is by late March something of an exasperation with playing out the string, an unnerving anxiety for the arrival of the true test, and given the turnaround of fortune in this past regular season’s second half for the Caps, and especially given the seeming success of the trade deadline acquisitions, there was an especially pronounced fatigue-anxiety among the Red Army. Long-standing demons of spring oh so badly needed to be exorcised. The regular season certainly seemed to matter here in 2007-08 and its following campaign. The President’s trophy seemed to give meaning to 2009-10. But that spring’s sourness cast a suspicious cloud over 2010-11 — and in point of fact, this past regular season delivered a great deal of stress and woe, infuriating season ticket holders bewildered by blowouts by the Blueshirts. And next season? Many of us in HockeyWashington regarded this spring as a referendum on the existing regime, seeking evidence that 2010′s first-round dismal was an aberration. We don’t have it — not by a longshot.

Surely everyone affiliated with the Caps will have to regard 2011-12 as more a referendum on how this organization is managed than with any previous season in Capitals’ history. But yesterday the owner was anything but aware of such a sensibility. And that is deeply troubling.

To some extent there is a tone deafness to management when it comes to acknowledging this organization’s sordid state in spring. They seem to want to be judged only on the springtimes in the Era of Ovechkin. They fail even in that limited litmus test, but the larger reality — one that reigns league-wide, and for a sizable contingent of the fanbase — is that we are the Chicago Cubs of our sport, and it’s mildly amusing to joke about in fall but something far more sinister in spring. Alexander Ovechkin’s arrival here was meant to address it. Management said as much.

Most egregiously yesterday, Mr. Leonsis said this of his club’s present standing: “There are 29 teams in the league that would trade positions with us.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. To trade places with the Washington Capitals today would be to assume their burden of spring. Sadomasochists wouldn’t take that on. To trade places with the Caps would be to reside in a media market in which John Beck — no relation to Glenn, Google informed me yesterday — is the celebrated athlete of the moment. A condition for which our market is rightly mocked.

To make no mention of the Pittsburgh Penguins, or the Detroit Red Wings, or the Chicago Blackhawks, not even the Toronto Maple Leafs would uproot themselves and trade places with us here. It’s $300-plus for a premium seat in the lower bowl of Air Canada Centre for a hockey game in October. There’s a 24-hour television station devoted to the team for goodness sake. There’s been a lot of losing by the Leafs over the years, but also, though distant now, Glory achieved. And goodness knows Brian Burke is held accountable by Leaf media and fans.

Perhaps most troubling of all yesterday Mr. Leonsis expressed an intellectual incompatibility with the notion that the window may be closing on his team’s status as contender. In point of fact, that window may never have opened. His team isn’t a contender; the Lightning proved that. And as exclamation point, the Lightning, we in Washington are suddenly learning, aren’t in fact the ’76 Canadiens after all. They’re just a good hockey team, nothing more — and better than the Caps by leaps and bounds.

Alexander Ovechkin, the franchise savior, will turn 26 early next hockey season. Today, he seems far removed from his days as a 65-goal scorer. The league seems to have figured him out. Additionally, his leadership quotient seems notably deficient. Presumed key pieces surrounding him suddenly don’t seem daunting, or untouchable. And they are all under the guidance of a man who’s failed to advance past round two of the NHL postseason, when a host of his younger, less experienced colleagues have. But fannies still are filling the seats in Chinatown, so all is good. This is the State of Capitals Nation.

*Correction:* Comment above attributed to Mr. Leonsis — “There are 29 teams in the league that would trade positions with us right now” — was erroneously reported. His full comment in context should have read: “There are 29 teams in the league that would trade positions with us right now to have three young, very, very talented players, all affordable, all with their best days ahead of them and so I’m really happy with how well-stocked we are at the toughest position in the game.”

Indeed.

Maybe the Bruins ultimately make a series of it, maybe they don’t. But down 2-1 after 20 minutes last night, against the hottest team in the NHL postseason, and confronting the harrowing reality of dropping the series’ first two games on home ice against the Bolts, just as the Caps did two weeks ago, the Bs went Commando on Tampa in the second frame, scoring five times. Gut check. Series on.

The deeper we get into the 2011 postseason in Washington, which of course affords us additional context with which to compare the Capitals’ shortcomings, as more accomplished organizations play on, all the more that troubling questions related to team leadership arise. “Team leadership” here encompassing the captaincy, the coaching, and the management. I’m ok with the equipment guys.

Now it seems almost preposterous to ponder the preoccupation some in media articulated back last autumn: that by virtue of youth and inexperience in net, the Capitals could have their spring short-circuited. The Capitals didn’t lose prematurely early this spring, or last, or the spring previous to that, because of their goaltending. They did lose because they’d been out-worked, out-coached, and out-led every spring. They consistently confronted teams in possession of superior leadership. In an era of parity, that’s certainly a differentiating quality.

Conventional wisdom, as recent as perhaps just a few years ago, was that a team needed a star stopper between the pipes to get it done in spring. To be sure — and you need just ask Flyers’ fans — you can’t go Johnny Pedestrian in net. But there are probably 20-plus netminders around the league today more than adequate to the task of guiding a team through three or four postseason rounds, and one or more of them is likely already under contract in Washington.

But what does it matter if you’ve talent and poise in net if your hockey club has a deficit of leadership everywhere else?

• In the spring of 2009 virtually everyone in hockey recognized that warrior right wing Bill Guerin was a coveted commodity likely to be moved by the Islanders to a playoff-bound team serious about contending. The Capitals then had serious production deficiencies on the right side of their lineup, and they were a young playoff team. There was rampant media speculation, especially in Washington, that Guerin should have been a primary acquisition target for George McPhee. Instead, Guerin ended up in Pittsburgh. The Penguins of course beat the Capitals in seven games that spring. The Penguins of course went on to win the Cup that spring. Bill Guerin played a significant role for the Pens.

• Does it mean anything that Dan Bylsma came in from the American League and immediately enjoyed notable success in Pittsburgh, and does it mean anything that Guy Boucher came in from the American League and immediately enjoyed notable success in Tampa, while our American Leaguer behind the bench has spent the past four springs underwhelming us?

• Does it mean anything that literally 40 minutes into his Washington Capitals career Jason Arnott was so troubled by the culture he surveyed in his new room that he felt compelled to stand up and . . . lead?

• Those HBO ’24/7′ cameras were rightly lauded for taking us on the innermost inside of hockey last December, and when they captured the Capitals’ inner sanctum at the season’s most vexing moment, what was, for you, the leadership portrait offered? Were you, like me, more than mildly surprised that it was Mike Knuble standing up and blowing a gasket in the Boston visitor’s locker room? Perhaps more revealing moments of player reaction were left on the cable outlet’s cutting room floor, but I doubt it.

• Another curious ’24/7′ snapshot: The head coach and GM meet one morning at Kettler to post mortem the extraordinary losing streak, and the GM states that the team’s prolonged losing could actually be beneficial in the long run. I remember reacting in that moment: ‘WTF???’ Interesting that other managers don’t typically pursue that as strategy for long-term success.

• The GM also responded to critics, particularly in local media, who were appropriately questioning the team’s leadership in late December with the snide and derisive rejoinder that were such voices qualified to weigh in on hockey personnel they’d be employed in the game. The hirer of Bruce Cassidy probably ought to have brought greater humility to that moment.

My new media colleague and friend Ed Frankovic of Baltimore WNST, in his latest blog entry, ‘Caps Off-season Focus Should Be on Leadership,’ tackles terrifically the Capitals’ deficit of leadership: “There is no doubt some on the ice upgrades are necessary to improve [the Caps'] chances for success. But to me, what this organization seems to need more than anything, is an infusion of leadership. Simply put, they need to add personnel with Stanley Cup winning experience at the management level [emphasis OFB's] and on the ice. The role of those additions would be to help Ovechkin and many of the talented younger players on the team to understand the process of what it takes to capture a Stanley Cup, the hardest trophy to win in all of sports.”

I really admire what Frankovic next does in his narrative: he traces the leadership bona fides of previous Cup winners, noting that even the lavishly talented Edmonton Oilers clubs of the 1980s were laden with Cup-winning resumes from the ’70s. He then goes ’24/7′-inside the 1999 Cup-winning Dallas Stars team with former Stars executive Craig Button, now of the NHL Network. Lots of talent on that Stars team, but it was carefully acquired veteran leadership that ultimately allowed Dallas to break through a formidable Western conference and win the big prize.

“Washington has seen firsthand . . the impact of what a proven winner like Steve Yzerman can do to help turn around a struggling club,” Frankovic concludes. “With the Wings former #19 at the helm in Tampa Bay, the Bolts added some key people with leadership experience (i.e, defensemen Pavel Kubina and scout Pat Verbeek) and Yzerman was also able to get one of his existing star players, team captain Vincent Lecavalier, to elevate his game to a level he hadn’t really been at since the Lightning’s 2004 Stanley Cup victory. As a result, a team that relies on key young players Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman is still very much in the running for this year’s Stanley Cup just one year after finishing 41 points behind the Capitals in 2009-10.”

“The Atlanta Thrashers were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. They were members of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL).”

The entry was subsequently modified. Though perhaps to be modified again — perhaps even today. Because of:

This tweet from Fan590 personality Greg Brady:

Brady added in a subsequent tweet: “Let’s face it. Gary might have needed to keep Coyotes in PHX to free up Winnipeg for Thrashers. Quebec’s not ready in 11-12.”

On an individual game basis, the scoreboard will suggest that this Caps-Bolts series was close and competitive. In reality, the Capitals were never in this series beyond the knotted up nature of late in game 1. Once Tampa Bay secured victory in overtime then, while spectacularly fatigued, and while the Capitals were not, the lasting psychological damage was inflicted.

Again.

Once again, Bruce Boudreau was no match for his NHL bench counterpart in spring. Many adjustments needed, none made. Guy Boucher was uniformly impressive in this series in every respect save one — his aptitude with metaphors. He called this a David versus Goliath matchup, but he had no notion who the actual David was. But he’s a young man and a rookie coach perhaps without access to the grainy footage of Capitals’ playoff history, and its uniformly grim outcomes.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of this fantastic flameout in yet another spring was that the very premiere players who in all piety expressed resolve for righting the wrongs of previous springs again, with the exception of the captain, came up conspicuously small. The story of the Tampa Bay upset — upset sweep — was the character and determination and drive of the Lightning’s Top Three, fairly embarrassing their Washington star counterparts. As such, there must be not only a regime change in D.C. but a cultural reconstruction.

About a half dozen roster spots ought to be safe for 2011-12 — those of Ovechkin, Neuvirth, Carlson, Johansson, Alzner, Wideman.

The rest need to be rigorously re-evaluated. The rest are wholly marketable (to the extent that there are parties interested in discussing them).

But re-evaluated by whom?

Earlier this season I wrote about a country club culture enveloping this franchise — an aura of pampering and entitlement, of rampant, conspicuous Playboy-ism, and of premature, illusory achievement settling in. The owner didn’t much care for that characterization. When the winning once again became habitual in March, he reminded me of the file. I don’t expect to hear further challenge from him about this assessment this offseason.

Some seven years ago Capitals management embarked upon a rigorous roster rebuild. Beginning immediately, team management — which may be reconstructed itself — needs to reconstruct the entire culture of this franchise.

For it is a franchise of abject failure. Quick — when was the most recent instance you gathered your buddies to toast to the last four Southeast division championships?

Today this franchise is unworthy of its fanbase, which is one of the best in the league. The reconstruction must address this.

For going on 40 years, the Capitals have yet to achieve a durable, intimidating postseason identity. That identity, I submit, must cease being elusive, and achieving it must specifically guide the reconstruction I believe imperative in this moment. The surest way to forge such an identity is to select a coach the likes of which we’ve never before seen in D.C. A coach who will not accept 30- and 40-minute nightly efforts. A coach who will not turn a blind eye to his twentysomething charges making the last-call rounds in Georgetown in-season. A coach who knows no notion of “optional skates” in autumn, but rather, perhaps, in July. A coach with the gravitas and guts to stare straight into Ovi’s eyes in a month’s time and say, ‘Young man, return home if you must this summer, but for every photo of you I see on line in a Moscow discotheque this summer, we’ll skate in miles come September as a group.”

Call it a new creed if you will: Less clubbing, more running.

Or perhaps you thought the Capitals looked rather spry in the third periods this postseason — particularly against Tampa. These were the least impressively conditioned Capitals for third periods of a postseason I’d seen in my lifetime. They looked better conditioned in the compressed schedule of last season, with its Olympics participation. Imagine. A storyline suddenly emerged that Tampa Bay was exploiting the Capitals’ lack of speed. When did the Caps suddenly become a slow hockey team? The answer is, they didn’t.

They just looked that way.

By all accounts Bruce Boudreau was the proverbial “players’ coach.”

How has that worked out with this bunch?

The Toronto Globe & Mail’s Eric Duhatschek has long been one of my favorite writers in all of hockey. For decades his prose has delivered erudition, nuance, and general elite thoughtfulness. But yesterday Duhatschek penned what I regard as his least impressive column, ever: ‘Boudreau shouldn’t take the fall in Washington.’ He labeled talk in support of Gabby’s firing “absurd” and “patently unfair.”

“Boudreau’s record as the Capitals coach is extraordinary,” Duhatschek wrote. And he’s right, Gabby was great at winning here — October through March. During regular season play, Gabby’s gone 189-79-39. But there’s a dramatic counterpart to that regular season success, in the postseason. There Gabby’s won two of the six series he’s coached in, 17-20 overall, and you’d be hard-pressed to identify a single series in which the Caps were regarded as underdog. That’s not an inconsiderable body of underachieving work.

Duhatschek continues:

“What we have is a coach who develops kids, game plans well, and has his team alive in the second round of the playoffs when 22 other clubs have already gone home. People talk about the Capitals needing to take the next step – and they do and they will eventually. But it is not as if their window of opportunity is closing any time soon either, not with three young goalies in the system, four young defencemen in the lineup now and a superstar just approaching his prime years who is still one of the most fun players to watch in the game.”

“Game plans well”??? As with his contention of Gabby’s winning excellence, Duhatschek offers no contextual support for this claim. Indeed, in game 2 against Tampa, Gabby lamented how a “river hockey” approach overtook his club. In the absence of coherent and sustained game plans we saw the Capitals often pursue a highly individualized style of play, with the captain especially susceptible to it. By the bitter end, we saw a band of misled brothers wholly uncertain of what to do against Tampa Bay, how to counteract “character” game-breakers who rose to the occasion. By the bitter end, you didn’t sense that when all the chips were on the table, there was great resolve and great buy-in by these Caps for what their coach was preaching. They bore all the emotion and passion of exhibition play in September. Especially in this series’ third periods.

Duhatschek here bears an outsider’s sneering elitism in his column. I doubt he’s paid much for hockey tickets the past 25 years, but in Washington they are very expensive. And going up in cost for next season, apparently. Let Duhatschek try and lecture the federal government bureaucrat here straining to pay for his family’s admission at Verizon Center the past four springs, and see if that fella agrees that we’re still just going through requisite “growing pains” with our allegedly contending core of hockey stars.

Chicago and Pittsburgh in recent years seemed to perform at appreciably higher levels with their talented youngsters in spring.

The next coach of the Washington Capitals likely won’t attempt to make ploughhorses out of his roster’s thoroughbreds. “Free Ovi” ought to be the summer battlecry. But most especially, the men who wear the Washington crest beginning next season need to be led by a figure of unassailable street cred — preferably a warrior from the past who wore the crest himself.

My kingdom for a competent line change! A horrific line change ended game 2; game 3′s first power play, which produced an ever elusive goal for the Caps with the extra man, ended prematurely because of . . . a poor line change. Which of course washed out Mike Knuble’s goal.

Naturally, Bruce Boudreau, in his postgame reflections, focused on how Alexander Semin’s unsanctioned presence on the ice then didn’t really impact the play. Here’s a relevant area of inquiry, coach:  How is it that for a third consecutive game in this series your team didn’t show up for the third period?

How many poor line changes have you seen from Tampa in this series? This is a symptom, somewhat small but oh so telling, of why regime change must follow this series. The good ones get the little things right, the fundamentals of the game — always.

More than a few observers, including some inside the Capitals’ organization, weren’t comforted by what HBO cameras revealed of the Capitals’ head coach, especially relative to the portrait of the Penguins’ bench boss. That, too, is worth meditating on this rainy Washington Wednesday morning.

At OFB we change lines just fine. Our Young Guns reflect on another sour night in spring for the team in red:

Alex:

• I am as clueless as Mike Knuble, the rest of the Caps, and probably all of you as to how this ended the way it did. Weren’t the Caps supposed to be a composed and formidable defensive team? I thought, just as Joe B pointed out at the end of the second period, that this was probably the best 2011 playoff game the Capitals skated this season.

• It’s amazing what a gifted goal can do to a team’s spirits, as not only was Eric Fehr’s third period clearing attempt picked right off the boards but Scott Hannan lazily attempted a poke check instead of separating Steven Stamkos from the puck or getting his body in the way of the shot. Michal Neuvirth, despite brilliant play throughout the game, should have had that one; it just wasn’t a playoff goal. Three mistakes by three players in the span of about three seconds is not playoff hockey, and that play is why the Caps lost this game.

• Bounces? Yes, Tampa has had their fair share. But those bounces are created by hard work down low and strong board play, which in this blogger’s opinion has decisively been Tampa’s strongest asset, not the 1-3-1. The 1-3-1 is a preventative strategy in hockey — one variation of the trap — but it’s not a play to rely on all the time. When the Caps are in the offensive zone after hurdling the passive Tampa trap, they have to go to the corners, the boards, and behind the net, where they are simply ineffective. Tampa, meanwhile, has worked immaculately in the corners and quickly moves the puck towards the net.

• The Caps could lessen their perimeter play a lot more and send pucks on goal as soon as they get the puck below the circles. When a team is settling into their defensive formation on a given play, they are at their most vulnerable. The Caps seem to want to establish dominance in their zone and throw Tampa’s defense off balance. Their composure, however, has been the Caps’ undoing.

• Examine the Caps’ goals from last night, not counting the Ovechkin 5-on-3 PP goal. Carlson’s goal was scored by a rushing Jason Chimera, who beat the trap and rushed the puck down low and around the net. He saw a screen develop in front and fortunately flipped it out high to Carlson for the screened shot. Knuble’s goal was almost identical except Ovechkin, after beating Hedman wide, threw the puck on goal and a fortunate bounce leveled the score. All of Tampa’s goals except Stamkos’ were scored right around the blue paint from plays developing below the circles (St. Louis’ assist on Lecavalier’s goal, Thompson’s assist on Malone’s goal) and because of some very sloppy exits (Fehr on Stamkos’ goal, Erskine/Laich on Bergenheim’s goal).

• All that said, why aren’t the Capitals getting more pucks on net? They are simply getting outhustled and outworked in this series, particularly Semin and Backstrom, and particularly along the boards. These guys have yet to show up in the series and Semin is especially due for some positive streakiness against the club he torched in the regular season.

• On the topic of the regular season, Tampa was a minus goal differential the whole year until the last week or so of the season. I am baffled, as bewildered as Mike Knuble, by Tampa’s system working so effectively against Ovie & Co. Teams adapt and Boudreau should have only needed that Game 1 loss to solve Guy Boucher’s men. If DC doesn’t push this a la 2011 Chicago or 2010 Philly, there will be no hot saucy shirts to joke about come October. Maybe come the weekend.

Andrew

Excuses. They are what separate the championship caliber teams from the championship pretenders. Unfortunately for the Caps, they are in the second category.

The time has come for answers in Washington, not more questions. After their catastrophic Game 3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Head Coach Bruce Boudreau brought up that he thought a Tampa goal should have been disallowed. That is a hollow, vacuous excuse, and saying “we lost because they had a goal that shouldn’t have counted” is nothing more than saying we have no explanation for what happened. There are any number of answers that could have been given as to why the Caps are down 0-3. None of them have to do with one Lightning goal.

• When looking at the game as a whole, really the series as a whole, how does a team with the skill level of the Caps allow a line change to cost them Game 2 in overtime? Beyond that though, how do they then let a line change cost them a huge goal in the early going of the very next game?

• Expanding on these coaching points though: how does a team like the Caps, a team that has played the Lightning more than any other team in these playoffs, not look prepared coming into one of the most important playoff series in their history? Tampa Bay is certainly a good team, but they should be nowhere close to the Caps in terms of overall team strength. Tampa of course has an Elite Three if you will, just as Washington does. Is there any doubt who among St. Louis, Stamkos and Lecavalier versus Ovechkin, Backstrom and Semin is bringing more to their respective team in this series?

• Guy Boucher never seems satisfied, never seems content with the status-quo and always seems like he knows his team can do more. And you know what? I think his team likes that and respects that.

• In the first half of this series — of which there appears there will be no second half — Boucher has spoken in glowing terms of forward pairings he’s relied upon all season: Lecavalier and Purcell, St. Louis and Stamkos. What a novel concept — maintaining cohesion and chemistry among your line pairings.

• He has also spoken of the “great character” his core guys possess. Me = envious.

• The never-ending story of the last three springs has been that the Caps have underachieved. Well, from looking at what was said after Tuesday’s loss we can all see why. Instead of saying the team can play better and needs to perform up to their pay grade, Bruce Boudreau is talking about a goal that should have been waived off.

• Amazingly, with nearly a week off to prepare, the Capitals in this series have looked unprepared, from the get-go, not rested, not ready and just plain bad. Washington looks like a barely .500 team. Meanwhile the Lightning look like world beaters and have taken the mighty Capitals and made them the just a stepping stone to the Eastern Conference Finals.

• How did Tampa Bay get where they are this morning, you may ask? I’m not sure it’s the stuff of Special Ops secrets. Likely reasons: lots of hard work, dedication, cohesion, faith and trust in their systems, and certainly astute if precocious coaching.

• How did the Caps get to where they are down three in a series many picked them to win in five? Through deficient work ethic, a sense of entitlement rivaling that we saw against Montreal last spring, the core (excepting Ovechkin) coming up small, and a ridiculous lack of desperation, all things Bruce Boudreau has never seemed to work to fix. Now they are on the verge of the end of their season if they don’t win tonight, and the end of an era if they don’t win the series.

One last thought: today brings yet another optional practice for the Caps. It would be interesting to go back over say the past three seasons and inventory the number of days taken off by this team’s stars — especially with respect to optional skates — and compare the tally against stars from clubs who prosper is spring.

This Rangers club doesn’t possess the skill level up front to threaten the Caps. They badly miss Ryan Callahan, but Chris Drury is skating limited minutes, invisibly, Marian Gaborik hasn’t been a consistent scoring threat all season, and early on Friday night Artem Anisimov blocked a shot up high and seemed hampered by a bum arm thereafter (he skated under 11 minutes on the evening). Through nearly 140 minutes of hockey in this series the New York Rangers have merely a single goal against Michal Neuvirth. And just 47 shots. Friday night they mustered just 3 shots on Neuvirth in the second period, and staring at a 2-0 hole on the scoreboard and in the series, managed just 6 in the evening’s final 20 minutes.  The Rangers through two games seldom enjoyed sustained offensive pressure around Michal Neuvirth’s cage, and when they did earn good looks at Neuvy, he thwarted.

Rangers coach John Tortorella had no complaints of his players after Friday night’s 2-0 loss — “We got hurt by a [second period] surge tonight,” he suggested — but what may ultimately prove insurmountable for Tortorella’s offensive-starved squad is an inability to match up defensively with three strong Capitals’ forward lines. The Capitals in the series now have goals from their first three forward lines, and after Dan Girardi and Marc Staal, there’s a big dropoff in Blueshirt defensive reliability. On Friday night, it was the Capitals’ line of Jason Chimera, Marcus Johansson, and Brooks Laich that was the best on the evening. The unit had been coming on strong toward the end of the regular season. Friday night they announced themselves a force to be reckoned with this postseason. They are blinding fast, fiercely competitive for the puck, slick and slippery and sturdy down low. They are going to draw second and third pairing defensive units the remainder of the postseason. They could do real damage.

“We said before that we thought we had a good line and we could make a difference,” Chimera said in the victors’ locker room Friday night. “You look at all playoff series in the past and you always see third and fourth lines stepping up . . . We felt we played well in game one.”

It’s no great secret that one-line scoring is a recipe for a short stay in the postseason, and that the Capitals’ establishing two quality scoring lines — diversifying their attack — is the best recipe for preventing opponents from ganging up on Ovi and the top line. But what if this hockey club is witnessing the emergence of three quality, productive lines? Isn’t that a game-changer in the overall prospects for this postseason?

And on the back end, Scott Hannan is being Scott Hannan, John Carlson is being John Carlson, Mike Green is sharper than anyone reasonably could have forecast, and Karl Alzner is . . . emerging as a force. In the regular season he was Mr. Steady; early on this postseason he is a difference-maker in the Capitals’ end. He suddenly looks like an impact lottery pick blueliner.

Early on Friday word arrived of Dennis Wideman taking the ice at Kettler for a brief skate, after being hospitalized for fully two weeks. His head coach intimated that the much-missed rearguard could potentially play again in this series. Three dynamic lines . . . the likes of Mike Green, Scott Hannan, Wideman, and the dynamic duo guarding the back end and deftly distributing the puck out of harm’s way . . . and in Neuvirth, an early front-runner for Conn Smythe . . . dare I say it? . . .

No way.

Let’s worry about Sunday first.

But oh so suddenly, there is a mischievous vibe settling in about postseason possibilities. Philly and Pittsburgh have already lost home ice. Carey Price took battle one against Tim Thomas. Just sayin.

Washington through two games is skating with urgency and cohesion and selflessness — very winning traits in the postseason. The Caps are also taking care of the puck, especially in the neutral zone, limiting turnovers, and getting pucks deep and grinding the Rangers down with a commitment to taking the body. It’s impressive. And more and more, it seems as if this winning moment in money season is a grand culmination — of playing lots of tight hockey games in 2011, of adding astutely at the trade deadline, and most especially of getting every guy wearing a red sweater to buy into what Gabby’s preaching.

“They’ve been buying in since the middle of December,” Boudreau said of his team’s embrace of a defense-first system. “They just want to win. The important thing is that they get success. We’ve got a lot of guys who’ve won a lot of awards and that doesn’t mean anything to them now.”

Nailbiters fairly defined the Capitals’ body of regular season work in the season’s second half. The upside to all that 9:00 hour mania is how lethally composed the Caps look in tight games in April.

“It goes back to the games we played in the regular season,” Mike Green noted in Friday’s postgame, alluding to the success the Caps are having protecting leads in tight affairs. “We’ve been in this position a lot this year. It hasn’t been blowout games . . . So it’s been comforting to know that we’ve played in enough games to know what to do now.”

Green has also taken note of the change in the Capitals’ room.

“I think there’s just a different atmosphere in the dressing room compared to last year, and it goes to show on the ice.”

The Rangers need the Capitals’ help to get back into this series — Neuvy needs to let in a softie, the Caps have to start turning pucks over. Even that likely won’t be enough. It’s not an enviable position. Meanwhile, Boudreau’s disciplined believers keep reminding themselves of the futility of feeling good prior to lining up for a handshake line, smiling.

It’s our curse.

So why am I Ollie the Optimistic Blogger this morning? Five big-themed reasons.

(1) Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau, no stranger to unflattering scrutiny as it relates to the NHL postseason, walked a bit of a plank this regular season, stared down at water churning with hungry sharks, jumped in, and swam through safely to an island oasis (the island of Clogged Neutral Zone). He jettisoned the system for which he was famed for the entirety of his professional coaching career — an astoundingly selfless and courageous gamble — smack in the middle of the season, as his team plummeted in the standings, and just as impressively managed to get all of his skaters to buy into the replacement system of serious un-fun. He took a room full of pretty hockey players and told them to go ugly, and they have. Following which began a big run of winning. And this replacement system just happens to be one with an NHL postseason seal of approval to it. Make no mistake: these Capitals want very badly to play and play well for this coach, and who in Washington harbored such a thought some 100 days ago?

(2) As Zero Hour approached for remedying glaring weakspots on his roster, Capitals general manager George McPhee may have saved the best trade deadline maneuvering of his NHL executive career for when he most needed it. He badly needed a second-line center. He scored a decorated gamer in Jason Arnott. He badly needed depth and two-way quality on his blueline, and he thieved Dennis Wideman from Florida. And he added additional veteran experience and speed to his wing, parting with nothing for the waiver wire claim of Marco Sturm. All three additions have performed exceptionally well in their new sweaters. Perhaps just as importantly, they appear to have altered the chemical composition of the room.

You couldn’t have watched the season’s first 50 games and not believed that something was amiss in the inner sanctum. So many nights the team skated without a scintilla of inspiration, and some of the worst results of the Bruce Boudreau era in D.C. accompanied. Already it is part of Washington’s hockey lore: Jason Arnott was in his new room a matter of hours before he noted something out of kilter; he spoke up; his new teammates listened; and he subsequently struck up a notable off-ice relationship with the under-achieving, under heavy pressure captain. Gracious, the 2000 Stanley Cup overtime striker even has Alexander Semin smiling — and conspicuously conversely in English, at length, on the bench and out on the ice. Taken collectively, these very altered states bode well for spring.

(3) The East is no Beast. Pittsburgh bolstered its blueline big-time last summer, then watched its elite centers ensnared by the ill fortune of long-term injury. Guess what’s Philly’s Achilles heel . . . again? Montreal has regained some health on the blueline, but on many nights they skate without cohesion, seemingly with a deficit of inspiration and leadership. But they do have Carey Price. Boston seems smaller than the sum of its parts, and while Tim Thomas had a Vezina-caliber regular season, he’s yet to meet the challenge of the postseason. You have to think the winner of that Habs-Bs first rounder more a survivor than a thriver. Tampa very well could take out the Pens in round one, but they possess neither reliable offensive depth up front nor much in the way of mobility on the blueline. The most charismatic and courageous and well-coached outfit confronting the Caps in the East this postseason may well arrive on Verizon Center ice this evening. The Rags possess no elite offensive threat; instead they swarm and cycle and hurl their bodies in front of shots with reckless abandon. They’ll be a tough out; it oughta be a terrific matchup. It also ought to be eminently winnable.

(4) The Capitals’ goaltending has been one of the few roster strongsuits this entire season. It’s been steady and reliable and equal parts impressive no matter who earned the call. We have no reason to believe it will suddenly fail the team now.

(5) There is for the Capitals a recent, faith-shaking run of pronounced disappointment. The wounds from last April are perhaps barely cauterized, its scars vivid. More harrowing disappointment dogged the team during the regular season. HBO cameras in December captured the coach and general manager identifying that month’s swoon as “potentially the best thing that’s ever happened” to the roster. Time soon will tell. The NHL postseason has little regard for regular season wonders, especially at the very top; I like greatly that the Capitals have suffered, severely, on their journey to this moment. They bring to it no President’s Trophy hubris. They have battled through ravenous injury and a spirited challenge to their champion’s reign in the Southeast. They even sent a statement of determination to the Flyers for conference supremacy. They are this morning an intriguing blend of elite if springtime under-achieving talent well-blended with veterans of formidable triumph. They have a dangerous third line.  They need just a wee bit more health. And of course luck.

It’s a faith statement I’m making this morning, necessarily, and like me many of you bear the battlescars of decades of disappointment from the crucible that is the NHL postseason. Washington the sh*t sports town so badly needs a rousing reversal of fortune in the arena. So let’s open our tightly clenched fists one more time, extend our arms out toward Lady Luck yet again, and again see if she’ll blow on our dice. Caps in six.

Sky Kerstein's new Sunday morning radio show, 'The Morning Skate,' is devoted exclusively to the Capitals and airs on 106.7 the Fan

We asked some of our favorite local voices covering the Caps to share with us a big-picture overview of this Capitals’ playoff club; specifically, we wanted them to address the team’s goaltending situation, its health, and its relative standing in the Eastern conference. All things big-picture considered, just how far should we expect this club to go?

Ed Frankovic, Baltimore WNST. The Caps did their best to be healthy for the playoffs this year resting Alexander Ovechkin, Jason Arnott, Alexander Semin down the stretch and took it very easy in bringing Mike Green back from a concussion. The plan looked great and was working superbly right up until Dennis Wideman suffered one of the most freakish injuries I’ve ever seen. There is no doubt that #6′s leg injury is a big blow to the Capitals blue line crew. He brought speed, offense, solid defense, toughness, and leadership.

Because of the loss of Wideman and the likelihood that Green will take some time early in the opening series to get in game shape, Washington is going to have issues on the blue line whether they play a physical New York Rangers team, a speedy Carolina Hurricanes crew, or a highly skilled Buffalo Sabres squad. That is why the goaltending of Michal Neuvirth and Semyon Varlamov needs to be at a very high level from game one on. #30 and #1 can’t be giving up soft goals and given their body of work this regular season the Caps should feel confident that either of those two guys can get the job done. Varlamov was been solid down the stretch, and he’s the lone goalie in this organization with an NHL playoff series victory under his belt. Neuvirth is a pressure goalie and a fierce competitor. I’ve watched him do whatever was needed to win in Hershey the last two years. Bruce Boudreau can’t go wrong with either choice for game one.

Getting out of the first round in the NHL might be the hardest thing to do in sports. I am confident that this retooled Caps team can get it done this year after failing miserably last season. The addition of Scott Hannan has been great and Arnott gives Washington a true second line center. The change in the style of play should pay dividends as the Capitals are a much better team in their own end than last year. If the Caps can survive round one with Green getting back to 100 percent and they somehow get Wideman back at some point in round two, they could go be playing for Lord Stanley come June.

Jonathon Warner, host, WTOP’s ‘Saturday Night Caps.’ During those cold, dark December days, who could see the Capitals heat up as the weather warmed up? Philadelphia’s collapse certainly helped, but the Caps now find themselves the top-seed in the East for the second-straight year.  I would think that after a year stewing on their playoff disappointment , they’ll come out smoking in the first round. And why not beyond? Their arc is heading up, playing solid hockey while the Flyers have been sub-par the last two-months, plus key injuries on just about every other team in the conference leaves the Caps in good position. Mike Green’s return will be a boost. However, questions about his effectiveness and durability will have to be answered. He was hurt the last two playoffs, and now enters this year recovering from his worst injury.

I have no doubt that Michael Neuvirth will excel in goal , and Semyon Varlamov will as well if called upon.

Angela Lewis, The Hockey Writers. Injuries to the Capitals defense have been slightly concerning, especially since the team has relied so much on it for success this season as their offense struggled for most of the year. However, it seems now that the offense has been able to pick itself up in situations where the defense has failed, as seen in the Caps and Buffalo Sabres game last weekend. Thus, it seems as though Washington has finally found the appropriate balance between a solid defense and a working offense and have finally put some distance between their total goals for versus their goals against differential (+28).

Another concern for many is the Capitals goaltending situation. Some question the decision to go without a veteran goaltender and worry at the thought that Michal Neuvirth could be the #1 playoff goalie, despite Semyon Varlamov‘s playoff experience. I challenge those who mistake Neuvirth’s calmness and smoothness with shakiness and nervousness. Neuvirth may not be as flashy, but it is unwise to mistake with a lack of confidence. Justin Goldman, founder of The Goalie Guild, an independent goalie scouting service, stated that Neuvirth has the proper confidence, composure and rebound control to maintain his starter status with the Caps. Nonetheless, Washington will be fine no matter who starts a game in the playoffs because no matter what part of the season the Caps were in, the defense and goaltending remained strong.

Overall, the Caps have done fairly well against most of the teams in the Eastern conference, with the exception of the New York Rangers and the Boston Bruins; although, the series between the Caps and those two teams ended pre-trade deadline when the team was continuing to find its identity. Essentially, if the Caps keep playing at the level of their end-of-the-season peak and continue find ways to win, Washington is capable of defeating any opponent in the Eastern Conference. Ultimately, it is a Cup or bust type of year for the Capitals for those watching, and in my eyes, this is probably the best chance the team has had thus far in winning it all.

Jonathon Warner has been covering Caps' hockey in this town on radio for the better part of 20 years

Adam Vignan, Kings of Leonsis. There might not be another playoff-bound team in the NHL that raises more eyebrows (with all due respect to Mike Green) than the Washington Capitals. Many questions have been left unanswered as the postseason approaches.

The goaltending situation has become an ever-revolving door that seemingly never stops. Michal Neuvirth has earned the starting position behind steady play throughout the season, but his recent performances have been mediocre at best. Semyon Varlamov hasn’t played much better, earning his first win Wednesday since February 20 in a seaon marred with injuries. With Bruce Boudreau planning to use a “win by committee” approach and recent playoff history in mind, both goalies will be on a short leash. It is up to Neuvirth or Varlamov to prove their worth because this postseason could be integral to their respective futures in Washington.

While the goalies and forwards are mostly healthy, the depleted defensive corps hopes to do the same. Mike Green’s return is a huge boost, considering fellow puck-moving defenseman Dennis Wideman will be out for at least the first round. Green’s return should give the Capitals the same starting six that played in the Winter Classic (Green, Schultz, Carlson, Alzner, Hannan and Erskine). These six should provide a steady presence for the time being.

Despite all of the proverbial ups and downs this Caps team has faced this season, they still find themselves in first place in the Eastern Conference with their destiny in their own hands. Another top seed may make it seem that this year’s team is no different than last year’s team, but in reality, this year’s team is better. Last season, the Caps coasted to a President’s Trophy without facing any sort of adversity. This season, however, they literally scratched and clawed their way to the top, added the right pieces and have shown vast improvement since October. If the Caps hold onto the top seed, they’ve earned it, and if the other seven Eastern teams and eight Western teams aren’t afraid of what this team has become, they should be.

Sky Kerstein, Caps beat reporter, 106.7 the Fan. The Caps injury situation is looking better. Both Mike Green and Tom Poti look poised to play in at least one game before the playoffs and play in the playoffs. Losing Wideman, likely for the season, hurts, but they got him because of the injury to Green and now that Green is back, it shouldn’t hurt as much. I would guess that the six D men come playoffs would be Schultz, Green, Alzner, Carlson, Hannan and Poti, so the loss of Wideman won’t hurt nearly as much if Green and Poti couldn’t come back.

On the goaltending front, Michal Neuvirth has not looked good his last few outings, but it looks like Bruce Boudreau will give him as many chances as possible to win the #1 spot. But I believe both will play in the playoffs and Boudreau knows that Semyon Varlamov has the experience to step in if Neuvirth struggles the first two games. In my opinion I would start Varlamov, I believe he is the better goalie when healthy and he has the playoff experience, but it looks like Neuvirth will get the nod. The scary part is the best of the three might be in Hershey.

In the East all that matters is the Caps don’t play the Rangers in the first round. To win the Cup you need to get through the first round fast and the Rangers series will be a 7 game series. So if the Caps finish 1 or 2, as long as they don’t play the Rangers in the first round, they’ll be in good shape.

Leslie Silvey, Musings of a Hockey Mom. On (1) the Caps’ injury situation headed into the postseason: