Losses like the Capitals suffered Tuesday—roughly 60 minutes of missed assignments and wandering aimlessly around the ice, everyone playing their own game instead of as a team—are difficult to report on.  The guys on the team are tired and know they played poorly. A few unlucky ones have to talk to the media about it; meanwhile, journalists are trying to figure out a polite but honest way to publicly ask about a humiliating job performance.

That’s why guys like Karl Alzner should be copied and placed in every NHL locker room.  While Alzner may be just as upset privately as the rest of the room about embarrassing losses, he’s willing to stand there patiently afterwards  and answer as many questions as the media can throw at him.  He will break down the game—even the unpleasant parts—and provide the same quality analysis that comes so much easier after a 3-0 win.

I write about this, rather than all of the things that went wrong in the 3-0 loss (let’s face it, just about everything went wrong), because I think it shows a strength of character that guys rarely get commended for. It’s kind of a thankless responsibility—being the mouthpiece of a team after a loss.  Those guys who are willing to give their best effort postgame to an interview even when they don’t feel like it should know that effort is appreciated.

Yes, I know it’s part of their job, and they’re getting paid a lot to do it. In the end, though, it’s really about both players and journalists serving the fans, because they’re going to be the ones looking for quotes from the players explaining things after a game.  And Karl Alzner makes everyone’s life a little easier this way.

By no means, of course, is Alzner the only guy who does this. Another player who often steps up to the plate that way—though he wasn’t out in the locker room last night after a loss—is Mike Knuble. It’s a talent to be able to stay polite while a whole bunch of people ask you why you were so bad at your job that evening or your coworkers were so bad at theirs. Knuble knows how to do this. If one had to construct a top line or top pairing for postgame interviews after blowouts, Knuble and Alzner would be right in the mix.

Overall, this may seem like a small thing to blog about. I’d agree the Capitals’ poor decisions on passing Tuesday and their even poorer special teams performance  (they gave up two power play goals and couldn’t capitalize on three man-advantages of their own) might warrant more concern. But with so much of today’s sports structure comprised of what happens off the ice or court or field, it’s become an aspect of an athlete’s job that can’t be overlooked. And in many ways, it’s a thankless role. But to the journalists who are desperately trying to do their job, it’s a blessing, and hopefully for the readers as well.

On Friday, however, Beagle was merely an observer to teammate and good friend Karl Alzner’s first NHL bout against Steve Downie of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“Anytime there’s a fight happening, you never know what’s gonna happen, so you’re obviously hoping for the best, hoping that the guy does good,” Beagle said. “He did well. I was happy for him.”

Alzner himself was fairly calm about the ordeal afterwards talking to the press. He explained the jawing at Downie afterwards in the box by Downie taking a final punch when Alzner was on the way down (perilously close to breaking one of Matt Bradley’s rules of gentlemanly fighting: never hit a guy when he’s down).

It earned him a nod from coaches Dale Hunter and Jim Johnson as well.

“Him and Jimmy both came down and said ‘good job,’” Alzner said. “I think they appreciate when anyone does something like that for the team.”

Despite Alzner’s effort, however, it was Tampa who made waves after the Downie-Alzner fight, putting up a goal to make it only 3-1 in the Capitals’ favor. The Capitals had scored two of their goals early after Tampa got three penalties back-to-back-to-back at the start of the game.

The late push by Tampa that continued into the third closed the scoreboard gap even more. Tampa scored twice, including once within the final minute of the game.

Fortunately for the Capitals, forward Troy Brouwer had his first multiple goal game of the season. He upped it to a hat trick late in the third and still managed to lead the Capitals in hits, with seven.

The shoving and hat trick in the third managed to mask what was otherwise a somewhat disappointing third period for the Capitals, who saw their lead get shortened to one with 11 seconds left and were outshot 7 to 15.  The end result was a mixed bag—the Capitals got the needed win, their power play went 2 for 4, their penalty kill was 4 for 5, but they allowed Tampa to stay in the game until the final seconds.

Check out additional analysis with Ted Starkey on the game in the video below.

But it’s the much younger Karl Alzner’s two-year contract at only $2.57 million this summer that looks like it’s paying off first.

Going into training camp this September, Alzner said he wanted to get off to a solid start, unlike the previous season where he felt it took him the first 15-20 games to get into a rhythm.

He leads the team in plus/minus. He’s third on the team in blocked shots, though he has 45 so far (last year, he finished with 132). Only a third into the season, he’s already over two thirds towards his entire point total for last year. According to NHL.com, he’s on pace for 23 points this season – almost double his point total from last year.

“I think I’m doing OK right now, for the most part doing my job, which is what I enjoy doing – that’s trying to shut down other players, not beon the ice for too many goals against. That’s something that I really take a lot of pride in,” Alzner said.

He’s also durable. He hasn’t missed a game this season, or last—and for a team that’s suffered injuries over the past two seasons to key defensemen like Dennis Wideman, Mike Green and John Erskine, durability is priceless.  In fact, it’s a banner trait of the Capitals’ popular defensive pairing of Alzner and John Carlson. Out of the only three Capitals on the team last season that played 82 games, Carlson and Alzner were two of those.

Alzner gets the ultimate compliment from Coach Dean Evason.

“He’s a hockey player,” Evason said. “He trains hard, he plays hard, he mentally prepares. So certainly, if he put his mind to it and set a goal that he wanted to be better at the start, he’s done that.”

Alzner said he more strictly followed the rules he set for himself over the summer, and that he’s noticed the difference so far on the ice this season. Mentally, Alzner said, his work this summer helped him a lot.

While Alzner is only 31 games into his second full NHL season, his list of responsibilities could age  George Clooney. He’s often matched against the opposing team’s top line. And earlier this year, when the Capitals called up 20-year-old non English-speaking Dmitry Orlov from their AHL affiliate, Alzner was the man the coaching staff decided would be the best partner to help the young defenseman in his initial NHL experience.

“Any time that you get a young player like Orly come up, you want to put him with a sound presence, and certainly Karl provides that for us,” Evason said. “And there’s no question the coaching staff has great confidence in him.”

There’s still room for Alzner to grow, as well, particularly under the tutelage of new assistant coach Jim Johnson. Alzner said Johnson is good at giving the guys confidence and shows them positive clips.  And Alzner said it’s his game on the offensive blueline where his confidence most needed the boost.

“He talks to you a lot,” Alzner said. “It’s always like you have a little timeline of where he thinks you are at this time, and I really enjoy hearing that, whether it’s good or bad.”

“I noticed it right away,” he said. “I thought that was nice they were still cheering, even though what the score was.”

But after a loss like last night’s to the Flyers, the Capitals are going to need two things: a video session and a short memory.

It was less than a memorable performance for goalies Tomas Vokoun for 40 minutes and Michal Neuvirth for 20, though Capitals head coach Dale Hunter chalked three of the goals up to being tipped out of the air.

“There’s no excuses,” Vokoun said. “I didn’t help the team at all, and that’s my job.”

One person who was doing everyone else’s job with less than his usual reckless abandon, however, was Alexander Semin. At one point in the game, Adam Vingan of Kings of Leonsis tweeted Semin had two hits. But by the end of the night, Semin had five total – the most of any individual on either the Flyers or the Capitals. And he had no penalties, though he did finish -3.

The final stats sheet, though, told less than the whole story on Tuesday: the Capitals were almost even with the Flyers in shots on goal, had one more hit, finished almost even in faceoff percentage, and managed 13 blocked shots to Philly’s 19. They also were only in the box once.

That means little, however, when the scoreboard says 5-1 in your opponent’s favor.

“I don’t think we played very responsible,” Alzner said when comparing this outing to the Capitals’ last few games (the Capitals have gone 3-1 in their last four).  “I don’t know why it changed tonight. Philly is a really good team.  They do a great job down low, but we made a lot of bad mental errors. … But I think the mental errors are things that you can easily change. You take an extra second to think, and make a smarter play.”

Azner said the Caps’ inability to clear the zone and their turnovers at the blue line Tuesday also took its toll physically.

“Some of us were out there for a minute and a half, two minutes at a time, and it really, really kills you,” he said.

The Caps also were unable to convert three power plays into goals. Jeff Halpern was the only Capital to find the net, and it came late in the third, saving his team from being shut out. Joel Ward and Dennis Wideman had the assists.

“It’s an ugly game,” was Halpern’s assessment afterwards.

Hard to disagree.

A few quick thoughts:

• Is the Beast back? In a modest 18 minutes of ice time last night the Gr8 pumped 7 shots on the Senators’ cage, and they were all of the quality variety. It was vintage Ovi. Since the coaching change he has certainly been more an impactful performer, but last night he seemed to put it all together at last, and that dazzling, game-changing tally — and I think it belongs among his 10 best tallies ever as a Cap — may represent his personal crossing of the rubicon this season.

• Can someone please get Brooks Laich a stick that actually stays in one piece on the penalty kill?

• Props to Dale Hunter for trying out that Halpern/Johannson/Brouwer combination. That was, to my knowledge, one of the few combinations we hadn’t seen yet in Washington, but it was a nice mix of veteran experience and younger spark.

• Karl Alzner’s paycheck should get a bonus; there was one moment (I think it was on the penalty kill) where he threw his body on the right half of the goal line because Vokoun left it exposed while there was significant traffic and a battle for the puck going on in front of the net.

• More thoughts Ovi: I haven’t seen him play quite like that since before John Wall joined the Wizards. He’s actually getting to the net again on occasion when he charges into the offensive zone by himself, from out wide, where he generates lethal speed on a bull-rush, and his goal was a beautiful mix of skill, will, cunning, and flair. Ovechkin flair — which of course is unlike anyone else’s in hockey. He’ll probably be a stronger player for going through this protracted slump.

• 44 shots on goal. Not bad. A power play goal. Not bad. Still lots of work to do on the PK (bad). Allowing Ottawa to score on the power play to make it 4-3 late, needlessly injecting drama into the evening, falls (again) at the stick of the undisciplined and unpredictable Alexander Semin, but a crazy shot from John Carlson in his own zone that hit an empty net was a pretty fun way to get insurance.

• On Semin: Just as we may have witnessed Alexander Ovechkin chart a positive and productive new course with last night’s effort, I’m left wondering just how much more the new coach has to see of Ovechkin’s countryman before an ultimate verdict is rendered. At 4-2 deep in the third on the road, the game needs to go in lockdown, and that’s not a task you look to #28 to carry out.

• It’s actually difficult for me to pick a favorite goal in this game: the beauty by Ovechkin, the gorgeous pass by Laich to Backstrom as they came flying towards the net and the successful shot by Nick, and a somewhat similar goal off a pass from Johannson to Brouwer.

Perhaps a statement win for Dale Hunter. A relief win for the fanbase. Most importantly, perhaps: a night we’ll look back on and say, “That’s when Ovi got his groove back.”

The Capitals brought whatever their A game is right now to the ice Thursday against the Pens, but despite holding both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin pointless, the Capitals finished the game one goal too short.

Journalists buzzed before the game how the Capitals hadn’t lost to the Pens  under Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma in regulation during the regular season.   His team’s 2-1 victory changed that Thursday.

It goes to show the coaching transition in Washington isn’t going to be the fairy-tale beginning and middle that the last one was. This regime is starting with a grounding dose of reality. But the Caps are sadder and wiser this time around, and they seem to be comfortable figuring out a new way of doing things.

“I think that’s the best jump we’ve had in awhile,” Dennis Wideman said of Thursday’s game. “We still had some confusion …  some breakdowns in our own zone. We gave them quite a few shots. We’d like to shore that up a little bit. But still, we gotta create more. Offensively, we didn’t get enough shots again.” The Capitals finished with only 17 shots compared to Pittsburgh’s 35.

“The system is a little more simple,” Nicklas Backstrom said. “We’re trying to find a way to play good hockey. That’s what he’s trying to teach us.”

NHL.com’s Dan Rosen asked a great question of Backstrom, wondering if the hardest part of learning a new system is making the transition from defense to offense work (something the Caps are struggling with, as they can’t seem to get out of their own zone or follow the puck into the offensive zone when they do clear it). Backstrom agreed with Rosen’s assessment.

He also gave a resounding ‘yes’ when Rosen asked if Caps had made progress from Tuesday’s game against the Blues, which they also lost 2-1. Backstrom said he felt the Caps played tighter. Perhaps most importantly, however, was just the fact he felt progress.

Karl Alzner said the Capitals aren’t feeling the loss of confidence on the bench now when they fall behind.

“Our confidence is still up there, is still high – we didn’t get too down [when they scored],” Alzner said. “The wins are going to come eventually. We know we’ve got a good team.”

And, despite the Capitals’ awful power play performance—where the first power play unit had no one crashing the net for any significant length of time—the game was by far one of the most energized this season. Journalists kept talking and tweeting about the intensity of the game, and how if only every hockey game were played like Thursday’s rivalry.

They’ll have to wait till January, however, to relive the experience. See you in the new year, Pittsburgh.

“Fat fuck!”

Most unfortunate words to measure by. But measure we must, especially now. They represent, I wager, a point of no return for this Capitals club — under this leadership regime.

One thing about wearing hockey no. 8 in Washington — you know the high-definition cameras are ever on you, from numerous angles, and on November 1, late in the evening against Anaheim, the Capitals’ captain, unceremoniously benched for a game-deciding shift, knew full well his obscene reaction would be captured for all the world to see.

The conventional interpretation at the time was that the fiery captain was merely giving vent to frustration. His competitive combativeness just got the better of him, you know. Certainly the Capitals would have you believe that. Problem is, this is not a fiery captain. Also, not an accomplished one. In fact, this season, he’s largely a lethargic, very minus-skating, very ordinary looking captain. Another problem with that initial interpretation is that the Capitals and their captain had already started their standings descent under this coach, again, and the circumstances that have followed the remainder of this November fairly beg for a reconsideration of that remarkable moment. Prior to November 1, when did you ever encounter a moment of such insolence from the guy wearing the ‘C’ on your beloved team’s sweater? Not in this town, not with this team.

This morning, we could look back on November 1 and Ovi’s outburst and deem it a moment of contempt . . . a mutinous moment, in fact.

And if the captain isn’t all in, what’s the likelihood all his teammates are? It would be interesting, would it not, to poll all those Hockey News writers and editors who fancied the Caps the Cup favorite back in late summer, this very morning, and see where they stand now.

* * * * *

For me, the very first serious warning sign arrived early in April 2010, just days before the start of that season’s postseason. The Capitals, running away with the Southeast division en route to a 121-pt. regular season, went to Columbus and held off an under-manned but tenacious Bluejackets team, winning 3-2. After the game, Bluejackets center R. J. Umberger told the Columbus Dispatch that the Capitals were a bunch of floaters, that theirs wasn’t a game ready for the prime time of the postseason. In the humility-laden sport of pro hockey, this was a serious callout.

“A good defensive team is going to beat them (in the playoffs),” Umberger told the Dispatch. “If you eliminate your turnovers and keep them off the power play, they’re going to get frustrated because they’re in their zone a lot.” Umberger’s comments proved prescient; about three weeks later the Montreal Canadiens would author one of the great shockers in the history of NHL postseason hockey, eliminating the 121-pt. Caps in the first round, executing with unwavering discipline a bunched-in box of a defensive shell against Gabby’s floaters. Bruce Boudreau’s postseason ledger in Washington fell to 1-3. For me, that series was a serious warning sign.

* * * * *

Aside from the particulars of Umberger’s critique, in a larger sense he was calling into question the Capitals’ identity. Failure, which Umberger forecasted a fait accompli for the Caps, would render Bruce Boudreau’s finesse attack a fad. There are few critiques more derisive of a hockey team than being branded “floaters.” Umberger played a key role in the Flyers’ team that dispatched Gabby’s Caps in round one in April 2008.

Saturday night in Buffalo, facing a Sabres team ludicrously beyond depleted by injury — nine regulars missing from the Buffalo lineup — Capitals skaters opted to sit back and attack their wet-behind-the-ears adversaries with a patient, largely forecheck-free strategy of counter-punching. In its conclusion the 5-1 debacle — the second consecutive Saturday night massacre against a slightly better than average American Hockey League outfit — occasioned a near aneurysm from Comcast’s Alan May on ‘Capitals Postgame.’  “This is a hockey team without an identity,” May sternly lamented.

May’s in-studio broadcast partner, Al Koken, was left similarly crestfallen and rage-filled by the shocking showing. He directed a very big-picture question to the very unsuspecting game call team of Joe B and Craig during the postgame, asking the duo to reflect on “where this organization is” right now. Not a question merely about a seriously struggling hockey team, but an interrogatory directed at the heart of the organization as a whole. A commendably gutsy bit of journalism on Koken’s part. Watching on television, a viewer in that moment felt the discomfort it caused the game’s broadcasters. Joe B was able only to stammer out something about the Caps needing better goaltending, as if this team was merely a Band-Aid between the pipes away from prosperity, then followed with speculation that things may be so dire that Gabby would have to return to his now infamous trap of a season ago. Imagine.

Question: How is it possible that four years into Gabby’s tenure we are at pains to identify an identity for this $60 million hockey club?

This is quite literally the case: on any given night, no matter the standing of the opponent, and certainly no matter the volume of regulars potentially missing from the foe’s lineup, we have no idea what Capitals team will show up. We also have no idea what Capitals team will show up from period to period.

I consider this a gravely serious warning sign.

* * * * *

Much was made in the preseason of what was perceived to be savvy veteran additions brought in during the offseason by general manager George McPhee. In hindsight, too often the Capitals competed in the postseason in recent years with too inexperienced a lineup, the theory went. This fall, we are learning that this notably more experienced team is mentally, psychologically fragile. Karl Alzner addressed this trait head-on in the aftermath of last Friday night’s blowout loss to the Rangers.

Mentally weak hockey clubs reflect poorly on that team’s leadership. Put another way: How often have you heard it said of Babcock’s Wings or Bylsma’s Pens that they yield a goal or two at inopportune times and . . . turtle?

I consider this yet another warning sign.

* * * * *

That 7-0 start to the season seems positively aberrational. We were startled by the commitment the Capitals showed then to crashing the opposition cage, to getting goals in the proverbial ‘ugly’ fashion — the way you need to in the postseason. It didn’t last. This month, most often, when the Capitals prevail it’s been in a white-knuckle affair, no matter the caliber of opponent. When they lose, which is often, often they’re blown out. This, too, I consider a dire warning sign.

* * * * *

More gutsy journalism: Saturday night the Washington Times‘ Dan Daly directed a tweet my way in which he alleged that the Capitals are big on marketing and branding but conspicuous under-achievers with what really matters. What’s amazing is that the Caps go to such great lengths to create a “brand,” and yet they have no “identity,” Daly tweeted. Again with the identity issue. I hadn’t truly reflected in such fashion until prompted to by Daly. I confess, painfully: I am 100 percent in agreement with him.

* * * * *

By no means is this viewpoint meant to scapegoat Bruce Boudreau. In fact, whether he stays or goes, there remain gravely serious questions about Ovechkin’s fitness for team captain. And what of this fragile team psyche meme that Alzner honed in on? Maybe it’s a byproduct of an organization spending years overly catering toward, and coddling, it’s $10 million dollar man. “Branding” rather than competing especially well, as Dan Daly puts it.

I chatted about this whole mess with my father last night. He and I enjoyed an amazing father-son weekend for the Winter Classic up in Pittsburgh almost a year ago. I told him, Pops, you know what I enjoyed most about that weekend? As magnificent as the Red Army was in that football stadium during the national anthem, as euphoric as our victory walk out of it was at night’s end, what I enjoyed most was the thoroughly unexpected performance of the Capitals’ alumni against the vaunted and much younger and much more star-studded Pens alumni. It was just like old times. We out-worked them. We out-hustled them. We battled til the end. We stunned them.    

I want that Capitals ethos back. Do whatever it takes to secure it.

True, it was only by 47 seconds, and since Ovechkin finished with 21 shifts and Semin only 19, it looks more coincidental than any kind of message being sent from the bench. Semin finished Friday with the longest average shift length on the team (that’s one way to get more ice time–just stay out there).

But it’s just one example of the disjointed 60 minutes that saw the New York Rangers beat the Capitals 6-3, a surprising score for a game that had no goals in the first period.

Another example: Boudreau said after Wednesday night’s game that the Capitals felt they needed to be in the ’30′ range on hits to succeed and play their style. On Friday, the Capitals finished with 40 hits to New York’s 28, yet they lost by three goals. Theoretically, hitting and d-zone coverage should not be mutually exclusive but, by the end of the night, that was the reality for Washington.

And in the latest episode of where in the world will Brooks Laich play next, Friday’s game saw Laich begin as a forward, then switch to defense near the end of the third period. Unfortunately, the Rangers scored just as easily with him on defense, adding their sixth goal of the game.

“We were going with four D, and I didn’t want to kill them, and at that time, Brooks has played D before, so I thought it would give them a rest and maybe add a little offense–we were only down 2, but unfortunately, that backfired,” Boudreau said.

Meanwhile, Friday saw another exchange of roles on the top line for at least one shift. Troy Brouwer’s specialty is creating space with hits. When he plays on the top line, that’s supposed to mean more space for offensive rockstars Ovechkin and Backstrom. But on Friday, it was a beautiful check by Ovechkin that freed the puck and enabled Nicklas Backstrom to make a gorgeous pass that led to a Brouwer goal.

“He made a great play–finished his check. We had talked about it right before we went on the ice for the shift–turn the puck over, and Nicky made a great play,” Brouwer said of Ovechkin. “He’s that type of player. He’s physical. Maybe that role’s been taken off him a bit this year.”

As long as someone gets a goal, it’s a good thing, right? Ovechkin finished the night with 8 hits, easily the team best.

Ovechkin eventually scored a goal of his own, and Nicklas Backstrom finished with two assists. Dmitri Orlov, paired for most of the evening with Karl Alzner, got his second career NHL assist on a power play goal by John Carlson.

The pairing is a slight adjustment for Alzner, too, though he calls Orlov an “NHL-caliber player.”

“I got to make sure I’m really aware out there,” Alzner said, citing the language barrier. “Sometimes I might call something he might not understand. He might think I’m calling for a d to d, and I’m actually calling a rim or something. So it’s just being a little bit more aware on my behalf.”

Overall, it’s probably 60 minutes the Capitals will appreciate putting behind them when they face the Sabres this evening. Brouwer said the team was simply flat and didn’t play with urgency. Perhaps last night’s loss will give them the impetus they need tonight in Buffalo.

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.

Couple of minutes of Nats chatter at the start of this audio link, then we get to hockey systems, potential trades, the precocious play of John Carlson and Karl Alzner, and the return of Alex Semin.

OFB on 106.7 the Fan with Danny Rouhier and Grant Paulson, 2/8/11