The Washington Capitals have been going through a season of transition: they're now playing a more two-way game that's reduced their goals against (2.37, fourth in the NHL) and improved their penalty kill (85.8 percent, third in the league); they've trusted rookies in key spots with mixed results: Marcus Johansson, Michal Neuvirth and Braden Holtby have done well, while Mathieu Perreault did not; they have found ways to bring key veterans to help the team: Scott Hannan, Dennis Wideman and Jason Arnott; and they've found a way to overcome 205 man games lost to injury, including some of their biggest stars (especially Nicklas Backstrom), to vault within a point of the best record in the Eastern Conference.
But they certainly are not alone. Over the last two years, the Eastern Conference representative in the Stanley Cup finals has rallied at the end of a rocky season just in time to excel during a long postseason run.
Last year, the Philadelphia Flyers (who currently hold the best record in the Eastern Conference) experienced an up-and-down campaign, qualified for the playoffs on the last day of the regular season (in a shootout no less) and were down 3-0 (both in games and also by that score in game seven) to the Boston Bruins in the second round of the playoffs. That made them the first team in 35 years to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games, and the first team since 1991 to overcome a three-goal deficit in game seven of a playoff series.
The year before, the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins went 10-16-2 in December and January, which led to the firing of head coach Michel Therrien. Once Dan Bylsma was hired on Feb. 15, 2009, the turnaround begin, including a 14-2-3 stretch in March and April. They finished the regular season as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference with 99 points. Even so, they had to overcome two-game deficits in the second round against the Caps and the finals against Detroit Red Wings.
Getting back to this year's Caps, it's been a tough go for them so far. They experienced an eight-game losing streak in December, have been shutout nine times and their goals scored per game is way down from last year's President Trophy winning bunch (2.68 this year, 3.82 last season). And this doesn't count the number of times Coach Bruce Boudreau has scratched his bald head trying to rationalize what he's seen on the ice.
The team appears to be in fine shape now (despite the growing spate of injuries), winning nine straight games heading into tonight's match-up with the Detroit Red Wings. They earned praise from ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun in today's column:
"I think you absolutely have to throw Boudreau in with the half dozen or so worthy candidates for the Jack Adams [for coach of the year]. He's convinced his team to change its colors, adopting a more defensive style that should, in theory, apply itself better come playoff time. That's a coach that learned a valuable lesson from the playoffs last year and applied it this year. Impressive. Look at last night, once the Caps went up 3-2 on the Habs, they totally shut the game down, Montreal didn't get a sniff. That's just something the Caps didn't know how to do before this year."
The Caps certainly hope that they follow in the footsteps of the Flyers and Penguins and reach the Stanley Cup finals.
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