Alex Ovechkin retreated to the bench Wednesday night after the final horn had sounded and smashed his stick repeatedly against the walls and stanchions. His frustration was evident after the Washington Capitals lost 4-3 to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins in a game marked by belligerence and an overall nastiness, and those feelings were sure to linger.
Barry Trotz and his coaching staff knew that, and so Thursday, when the Capitals’ practice began, there was no mention of what took place the night before. For an hour, there would be a certain solace taken in the calm, an appreciation in the correction, before the team was set to pack its belongings and board a flight southbound for game against the Carolina Hurricanes the next day.
“I think we’ve just got to take a deep breath,” Trotz said. “We’ll just cool our heels for a day and make a point or two [Friday morning] and then go back to work.”
That method has served the Capitals well this season, with Trotz demurring in the face of an overreaction. After the defeat, he shifted the responsibility of correcting mistakes to the players themselves, specifically singling out that on Wednesday, he didn’t believe they showed up to the arena that evening — or, for that matter, to the morning skate hours earlier — ready to play.
Though the Capitals had defeated the Penguins in the teams’ three previous meetings this season — and outscored them, on aggregate, 10-1 — they didn’t muster a shot on goal until 7:59 had elapsed, by which point Pittsburgh had already taken seven and was on the board.
As the game would unfold, emotions would also creep in; the nine minor penalties the Capitals were assessed were the most they had received in a single game this season, and while the Penguins, too, drew nine penalties, Washington’s power play, among the best in the league, was muzzled to just one goal on six chances.
“Being responsible to yourself and your teammates that you’re going to be ready to go right from the start, I think in general, this year, we’ve been OK at it, but lately it’s been a little bit of an issue where we’re a little bit slow out of the gate,” said defenseman Matt Niskanen, echoing comments he made following the game. “We’ve gotten away with it a few times, but you’re taking a chance that you’re going to be playing from behind when you start slow.”
The slow start was an echo of Sunday, when the Capitals didn’t take a shot on goal until 7:55 into the game against the Philadelphia Flyers and lost, 3-2. Washington’s current two-game skid marked the first time since mid-January, before the all-star break, that it had lost consecutive games in regulation; until that defeat at the hands of the Flyers, the Capitals had won eight of their 11 games in February.
It’s on the heels of that surge that Washington remains convinced that it can be a playoff contender as the regular season rounds the quarter pole. With six weeks remaining, the Eastern Conference has stratified enough that there are a clear top seven teams in the standings, and the Capitals have solidified their place in that upper tier with recent victories over the Penguins and the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Islanders.
“We feel that we can compete every night and challenge ourselves to win hockey games — especially against those big teams, those good teams in our division and conference,” defenseman Mike Green said. “We feel confident that if we play the right way, a detailed way, in our structure and in our mentality, we can win each night.”
That confidence, though, can be misguided. The trade deadline lurks on Monday, and the Capitals have not shied away from trying to acquire a top-six forward — most certainly a winger — to help galvanize their offense for the playoff stretch.
Trotz said he’s been in constant contact with general manager Brian MacLellan, relaying information about the team’s needs from a coaching standpoint and about potential trade targets. What they’ve found, though, is that the number of players available to fill those roles has diminished, and any potential addition may offset the existing team some other way.
Thus, Trotz has periodically taken comfort in taking heed of the same strategy he offered his players. Rather than overreact to any specific game — say, the loss to the Penguins — take a step back, keep calm and reassess the situation later.
“Put it this way — we’re going to dance, and there’s 30 guys and only about eight girls at the dance,” Trotz said. “There’s only going to be eight or nine guys dancing.”
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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