Here We Go Again

It is not easy being a fan of the Washington Capitals. I've previously described it being similar to drinking until you're wearing beer goggles. You spend the entire regular season dancing with and buying drinks for this funny, great looking gal. Then you wake up in April and realize that instead of going home with Natalie Portman you went home with Natalie from The Facts of Life. (Dated '80's References for 1200, Alex!) While that statement might not be very kind to Mindy Cohn, it is an accurate assessment of how I feel about my beloved Caps. Last year's first round flameout against Montreal served as one more reminder that aside from a magical Godzilla-backed run in 1998 this franchise regularly performs below postseason expectations.

That brings us to this enigma of a regular season. This current Caps team really can't make up for last season's disaster until April when a new playoff tournament provides a new shot at the Cup. Unfortunately, reaching the postseason is no longer a lock for this team. With one hand covering my eyes and one hand hovering over the Panic Button let's review the good and bad of the season so far:

GOOD:
-The defense, with the growth of John Carlson and Karl Alzner, has been much improved. Mid-season addition Scott Hannan has helped solidify an area that has long been a weakness. Mike Green, while not scoring regularly, has been steady in both ends of the rink.
-The penalty killing unit, currently ranked second in the league(no that's not a typo) has improved drastically. A shift in strategy to a more aggressive pk has been Coach Boudreau's finest move all season.
-The three-headed monster of young goaltenders has been more than adequate. What could have been a weakness has been a strength. The perhaps unanticipated strong play of Braden Holtby along with the steadiness of Michael Neuvirth and Semyon Varlamov may make one of these three expendable at trade deadline time.

BAD:
-It's hard to believe that Alex Ovechkin and Nick Backstrom have been THIS off all season. I know plenty of players would love to have Ovi's 19 goals and thirtysome assists, but that is well below where the Caps captain should be at the all-star break. Is Ovechkin's production down because Backstrom is off and not setting him up well? Or are Backstrom's numbers down because Ovechkin's not finishing like in previous seasons? It doesn't really matter if they get it kick started by April.
-Both players would have much better offensive numbers if the Caps' power play could get rolling. Once as feared as any in the league, this year's PP unit is riding near the middle of the pack. With so many one goal losses on the ledger, the Caps' record would be much improved if the power play could find the back of the net more often.
-The worst of the "BAD" , and what I believe continues to be this team's fatal flaw, is their lack of heart. Overall, this team's personality is soft. Desire and hustle show themselves randomly, missing from shift to shift, period to period, game to game. Teams built to win the Cup -see this season's faves the Bruins, Flyers, Penguins-are tough with an unwavering desire to forecheck, win the corners and grind out victories. My all-time favorite hockey quote from Philly's former captain Bobby Clarke, "We take the shortest route to the puck and arrive in ill humor.", has never applied to this current crop of Capitals. Sadly, I'm not sure this thought has ever occurred to many of them.

So where does that leave us? I must admit I'm being a little hypocritical with this post. After last year's meltdown I said I would be fine seeing the Caps head into the playoffs as a fifth or sixth seed, not saddled with expectations borne of a terrific regular season. The Caps are in the fifth spot and playing well enough that they should make the playoffs. However, I worry because they haven't shown many signs that a breakout or special playoff run are looming. I'd love to be wrong. History says I may be. Last season, the Blackhawks lost nine straight games during the regular season yet got hot and won the Cup. The young New York Islanders went out earlier than expected in the 1979 playoffs, had a shaky, doubt-filled 1980 regular season yet won the first of four straight Stanley Cups that spring. I don't think these Caps have it in them. Oh, how I'd love to be wrong.