Capitals Can't Wait For Game 6
The Caps now find themselves down 3-2 in the series and face elimination with a loss vs. the Penguins. Washington can no longer wait for a momentum changing moment in their favor. This is not the same Capitals team that has faced the Penguins in the past and especially in OT. Caps/Penguins OT Playoff History looks pretty bleak, but unlike the Caps team's in the past the current roster boasts plenty of talented scorers and finishers.
This team can win face offs and now has a stopper in the net. Previous Caps teams lacked the bonafide scorer other then say Bonrdra or Ciccarelli. Those teams had to rely on great defense and gritty play to help augment scoring and try to keep the scoring low to be competitive. They basically had to play as perfect as possible to steal a game from Super Mario, Jagr, and Stevens.
The current Caps team is as talented if not more so then their counterparts. The constant web through the history is the hard work demonstrated by the role players for the Penguins. They've fought and won loose pucks to provide their skill players more possessions, shots, and scoring chances. The Caps will need to follow suit to allow their stars to shine bright. There's no reason that after being up 2-0 in the series that the Caps couldn't close it out and there's no reason the Caps with the better goaltending and scorers still can't wrestle the series away from Pittsburgh.
The question has really been since the end of the season, how bad do the Caps want it? The level of effort for a full 60 Minute game waned towards the end of the season and into the playoffs. The Caps played well enough to battle back to eliminate the Rangers in 7 Games in Round 1 after falling behind early in the series.
The Capitals scored enough goals in a period of sustained effort in each of the two games, but haven't put it all together. What are the Caps waiting for? The Caps can't wait for Ovechkin to carry them on their shoulders and can't wait more shut out victories by their sensational rookie goaltender. Time is running out. As Apollo Creed said in Rocky III, "There is no tomorrow."
The role players must do a better job of carrying out their assignments for the Capitals along with some of their defensemen holding onto the puck in the corners of their own zone. It's well known that great players skate to the open ice and the puck naturally finds them, but if the Caps can't win more possessions it makes it increasingly difficult for their top players to get quality scoring chances.
Rumors are running rampant that Brashear may not dress tonight, which seems ludicrous. Although many know his role all too well as enforcer, he also has become one of the team leaders. By carrying out his checks, fighting for loose pucks, and fighting in the corners for possession he fights for his teammates. He's also an inspirational leader that gets every member of his team to perform at a higher level.
As the returning captain, Clark was able to spur the Caps on to victory with his leadership during the Rangers series, but has appeared silent since that time. During most of the trying times for the Caps this past season, the team has leaned on two players - Fedorov and Brashear. To not have one of the team's leaders on the ice would be a monumental mistake. The league will always monitor his play due to his history, but the Caps are a better team with him on the ice.
Someone must step up to inspire the Caps and urge the team that the current effort isn't good enough to take a seven game series against teams still in the playoffs nor is it good enough to win the cup. If the goal is to bring the Stanley Cup to DC, then the Caps must play a more intense game for 60 full minutes. They're more then capable to advance to the next series and beyond. This Caps team has more scoring threats then Pitt. The Caps won their own division. It shouldn't surprise anyone to see Washington advance; it's been in their hands the entire time.
