The Eastern Conference is the Capitals for the taking this offseason. They are the #1 seed, they have all the weapons, and there is an overwhelming sense that this is their time to shine. With Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin going down to injuries leaving the Pittsburgh Penguins punchless and out, and the Philadelphia Flyers goaltending exploding spectacularly (again), leaving them hanging on to Stanley Cup dreams by a faint thread of hope, the door is wide open for the Caps to storm through.
And yet the Caps seem to be inexplicably faltering to their division rival, the Tampa Bay Lightning, down two games to none in the 2nd round series. Even worse: those first two games were at home for Washington. They now face the daunting task of stealing some games back on unfriendly ice. If they are not up to the task, their season is over. Literally. With an unconventional playoff back to back tonight and tomorrow it is quite possible that within 48 hours they will be done.
The Capital’s Captain, Russian born snipe shooter Alex Ovechkin upped the ante with a bold prediction: "we're going there, and we're going to win two games."
Those are the kind of things a Captain of a favored team should say after a stunning OT loss that puts his team in such a hole. As Captain, Ovechkin must step up his game and make it happen to back up those words. The time for excuses is over. The stage is set for him. If AO is going to prove himself as one of the truly elite players in the history of the game, now is the time for him to do so. He has been good so far this playoffs. The Capitals need him to be Great.
Tonight especially, with the possibility of a three games to none deficit hanging over his squad like a hangman’s noose, Ovechkin must transcend the situation and play out of his mind. No doubt the team will be tight going into the game. They need a spark and a flash from their elitely talented Captain to shake off the doldrums.
Far too often this year we have seen a seemingly disinterested Alex Ovechkin out on the ice. The almost uncontrollable force of nature styled play that we have seen from him in prior seasons was there in flashes, but not with any level of consistency. He has still been very dangerous, but the Capitals really need him to kick things into another gear tonight. He needs to bring back the furious kinetic freight engine style of play that his team feeds off of. If Ovie brings that kind of energy, I am sure the Capitals can get back into this serious. If he doesn’t, I have my serious doubts that they will still be active Thursday morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment