Saturday night’s game against the Atlanta Thrashers looked far too similar to the Capitals’ first-round washout in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the spring.
Their shots couldn’t pass through a maze of defensemen. The opportunities that were put on goal — 46 in all — saw few quality follow-up chances. And, of course, the opposing goalie was excellent.
Considering a similar blueprint could be used against them in April, it’s probably a good idea for the Caps to work out those kinks now. In the last 10 games Washington has been shut out twice and held to one goal twice.
“I just want us to learn from this because if teams see this they’re all going to do it,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “The defense have got to get [the puck] through. You can’t shoot just blindly. [The Thrashers] were backing up and having four and five guys blocking the net when we shot the puck. We’ve got to find a way around that.”
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| Caps note |
| » Injured defenseman Tom Poti and John Erskine both skated at practice Sunday but are still listed as questionable for the Toronto game, according to Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. |
| » John Carlson has 13 points, including three in his last five games. That’s the most by a Caps rookie defenseman since John Slaney finished with 16 points in 1993-94. |
Things aren’t all bad. Washington (18-8-2, 38 points) has also scored six goals twice in its last 10 games and is tied for the most points in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins (18-8-2, 38 points). And it could be streaky in a bad way — like Monday’s opponent, the Toronto Maple Leafs, who already have losing streaks of eight, four and three games this season and began the year winning four in a row.
“[Toronto is] a Jekyll-and-Hyde team,” Boudreau said. “They play us very hard in this building. They’re always one-goal games, overtime games. Sometimes it’s better for them to get out of that rat race of Toronto with all the people all over them. They come on the road, and it’s easier for them to play.”
Since Boudreau took over on Thanksgiving Day 2007, the two teams have met seven times at Verizon Center. Though the Maple Leafs have not been close to a playoff team, four of those games have been decided by just one goal and another was a two-goal win. The Caps are 5-2 under Boudreau at home against Toronto, including a 5-4 shootout victory on Nov. 3.
In its last four games, Washington has taken 150 shots and has scored only eight goals. Star forward Alex Ovechkin finally snapped a career-worst goal drought (nine games) when he found the back of the net against the Thrashers. The Caps had 20 shots blocked Saturday and missed the net altogether another 16 times.
“As players we have to be smarter,” said defenseman Mike Green, who had a game-high four shots blocked against the Thrashers and missed the net twice. “If there’s not a shot there, we know what we have to do. We have to adjust, and I don’t think we adjusted quick enough [Saturday].”
