ANALYSIS/OPINION:
The password is “desperation.”
The Pittsburgh Penguins knew it.
The Washington Capitals didn’t figure it out until it was too late — giving up the game-winning goal at the hands of longtime former Capitals player Eric Fehr to break a tie at 15:32 of the third period and win, 2-1, in Game 2 at Verizon Center, evening the best-of-seven series at 1-1. Game 3 is Monday night in Pittsburgh.
“We have to come out harder and have to show more desperation, especially against this kind of team,” center Nicklas Backstrom said. “I don’t know, maybe we get a little passive with a 1-0 lead in the series. I have no idea.”
A little passive? Talk about the identity of a franchise.
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More desperation? How could any team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs be more desperate than the Capitals?
They didn’t lead this series against the Penguins, 1-0. The Capitals are down zero to history in the playoffs since the birth of the franchise.
“I don’t think we played the way we wanted to, especially going into the game,” defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “I don’t think we had enough desperation. We had some penalties, and it’s hard to get momentum going then, but we have to come out desperate from the drop of the puck.”
Haven’t they been paying attention to all the questions about collapses and failures? This team should have been desperate since May 13, 2015 — the Game 7 loss to the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference semifinals after blowing a 3-1 series lead.
“It’s probably what you see in the playoffs a lot of times when you go into a series and you see a team win Game 1,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “There is a sense of heightened desperation for the team that lost that game. I sensed they had a heightened sense of desperation. It doesn’t mean that we weren’t engaged. If they are five or 10 percent more desperate than we were, that adds up to a big number when it goes right through their lineup. I just thought we were losing too many battles. They were more desperate on the battles than we were.”
Shouldn’t desperation hang over this team like a sword hanging by a thread?
Don’t those losses haunt these players? Isn’t this building haunted by playoff losses?
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You’re playing a team that clearly is your equal in the Penguins and you get outshot, 28-10, in the first two periods because, as Trotz suggested, you weren’t engaged enough until nearly the end of the second period. That was after what appeared to be a goal by Evgeny Kuznetsov that was waved off, and he was called for a goalie interference penalty?
“I think emotionally, once we had the goal disallowed and the penalty, the double whammy, I thought we were engaged.” Trotz said. “And when we were engaged, I thought we were a much better team.”
That’s nice. It’s important to be engaged.
Pittsburgh was engaged.
“It was important for us to do everything we could to try to get a win out of this game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “It’s tough when you go down 2-0 in a series, regardless of whether it is home ice or not home ice. We didn’t want to put ourselves in a hole.
“I liked our energy,” he said. “I thought we were controlling play. There are critical moments in every game that arise, and you have to handle them the right way if you are going to control the results. I thought we did that tonight.”
If the Capitals don’t respond by handling those critical moments the right way, this series is over.
“We have to be more aggressive, in all areas,” Backstrom said.
No one should have to explain why.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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