PHILADELPHIA — When Barry Trotz was hired as the Washington Capitals’ coach in May 2014, making him the first with previous experience to assume that role in 17 years, he used his own knowledge and the hearsay of others around the league to form an impression of his new team.
Trotz looked back at the Capitals’ numerous playoff failures, the way the team was structured and its performance late in games to make a diagnosis. The Capitals, collectively, were soft, and if he wanted to succeed in that role and take the team to heights it had not reached, improving its ruthlessness was the first thing that needed to be accomplished.
“When I first stepped behind the bench, I felt a little bit of nervousness in tight games,” Trotz said on Sunday. “I think we’ve come full circle where we are comfortable feeling uncomfortable, if you will, when the games are tight.”
Though it took an extra two games and six days, the Capitals finished off their first-round, best-of-seven playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday afternoon, claiming a 1-0 victory in Game 6.
The Capitals had been in position to win the series in Game 4, owing to their victories in each of the first three games — a first in franchise history.
Now, after finishing off a playoff series in fewer than the full seven games for the first time since 2011, Washington will turn its sights to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who knocked the New York Rangers, the longtime Capitals playoff foil, out in the first round on Saturday.
Though Washington was eager last season to dispel any notion that the team’s previous postseason failures overshadowed any potential future success, it has seemed especially motivated to do so this season — first in its talk, then in its play.
The Presidents’ Trophy winners held a three-game lead and were in position to close out its first sweep of an opponent in a best-of-seven series in franchise history on Monday. Instead, the Capitals were listless and complacent, and their failures in a 2-1 loss in that game, followed by a 2-0 defeat on Wednesday in which their effort was foiled by former goaltender Michal Neuvirth, started to feed the narrative.
So, too, were those associated with the Flyers. At one point, a fan in the crowd at Wells Fargo Center on Sunday was shown on the videoboard holding up a large sign that read simply, “You’ll Choke!”
“I know, obviously, a lot of people are thinking, and they see the same uniform on the ice all the time, but it’s different people,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “It’s different heads, different ways that we handle the pressure, and I think we’ve done a good job all season of that.”
The Capitals proved their point by going 40-0-1 over the course of the season, including three victories in the playoffs, when leading after two periods. They handled that situation with typical aplomb on Sunday, with Nicklas Backstrom’s wrister at 8:59 of the second period holding up as the winner.
They weathered a torrential storm by the Flyers, sustaining seven of their 26 shots on goal, and nine other attempts, over the final nine minutes. It was punctuated with Alzner’s block of a shot on Flyers right wing Wayne Simmonds, with the puck caroming to the opposite side of the ice, with eight seconds remaining.
Braden Holtby finished the game with 26 saves for his second shutout of the series and fourth postseason shutout of his career. The Capitals allowed just six goals in six games, one of which was on an empty net, and went 23-for-24 on the penalty kill. They also held Simmonds, left wing Jakub Voracek and center Claude Giroux, the Flyers’ top line for a majority of the season, to a combined one goal and three assists.
“We were trying,” said the Flyers’ Braden Schenn. “They’re a good hockey team over there. They didn’t give up a whole lot. They played tight defensively and when you get a chance, you’ve got to beat Holtby.”
One series does not change a narrative, yet in the next round, against another rival, the Capitals will have a chance to continue to try to do that. The Penguins entered the playoffs having won 14 of their final 16 games, including two against the Capitals, and will be a postseason opponent for the first time since 2009.
Washington lost that second-round series — and the three others it has played in since. If it has truly hardened in the past two years, it will be proven soon.
“We’ve been down a lot in games,” Alzner said. “We’ve had our backs against the wall. We found ways to still fight through and play good hockey. It was no different. We saw how this series was going. We feel the way it is in the dressing room. We don’t let outside distractions get in our way.”
• Zac Boyer can be reached at zboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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