Are These The Same Old Washington Capitals?

It’s been only one game but it’s starting to get that familiar feeling for the Washington Capitals. You know the one I’m talking about: fervor over the regular season followed by extreme playoff disappointment. Like clockwork it can be counted on every April. You don’t need to feel the weather warming to know it’s spring; you just need to watch the horror unfold for the Washington Capitals to know what season we’re in.

Are we jumping the gun here? Possibly. But we can’t pretend we haven’t seen this movie before. The Capitals, fresh off a 101-point campaign and the recipient of “sleeper” status in the Eastern Conference, headed into their game one match against the New York Islanders as the favorite to prevail. The Capitals finished a scorching-hot 9-3-1 down the stretch while the Islanders sruggled to clinch a playoff spot after being atop the division for a good portion of the year. Alex Ovechkin just capped off another Hart-caliber season finishing with his sixth 50-goal season of his career. Not only that, but the man bought into Barry Trotz’s system, posting a +10 rating only a season after finishing -35. The Capitals have the edge in net…the edge on defense, and were “built” for the playoffs we were told…

And then the puck dropped Wednesday night. And all those wonderful accolades got tossed out the window and the Washington Capitals’ bandwagon went crashing into a wall.

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It took a little more than two periods for the fans to realize it. The booing began to come down after a failed Capitals’ power play (you know, the one which finished top in the league and was going against the 26th ranked penalty kill). Ovechkin was mostly invisible outside of a few shifts. Nicklas Backstrom was a non-factor outside of his faceoff success, finishing the night with a -2. Matt Niskanen, the prize of their free-agent bounty this past summer, managed a tidy -4 rating. And Braden Holtby, who was supposed to hold the big edge in net over Jaroslav Halak, looked shakey at best, stopping only 23 of 26 Islander shots before an Islander empty-net goal finished the scoring at 4-1.

One game only. Yet, teams that have won game one of a series have won nearly 69 percent of those series. Conversely for the Washington Capitals, teams that have lost game one have only won 31 percent of those series. Not impossible, but surely not the odds you want to be facing after game one in your building.

The Capitals have been here before. Unfortunately, that “here” is the losing of playoff series as a favorite. The Capitals have only won three playoff series in the Ovechkin-era, and have never been to the Conference Finals. For a team that often finished among the best in the regular season, they’ve been a disappointment. And to ail their troubles they brought in a coach with two playoff series victories in 15 years with the Predators. Some things are just meant to be I guess.

Does that mean all is lost? Of course not. The Capitals were highly thought of this season for good reason. They have a big, phyiscal team with quality depth up front and on the blue line. Plus, they are playing an Islander team that isn’t exactly brimming with recent playoff success (it’s only been 22 years since their last playoff series victory, but who’s counting?) They have the benefit of playing home again tonight and to a man, acknowledged they needed to be more desperate.

But what happens if the Islanders score an early goal tonight? Will Holtby be rattled? Will Ovechkin go into “me versus five” mode? Will the fans turn on their team, sensing the inevitable?

It will be fascinating to watch and only time will tell. The only thing we know for sure is that if this series goes back to the Nassau Coliseum 2-0, it’ll be over sooner rather than later and just be another disappointing season for the Washington Capitals.

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