Capitals worrying about who's ahead of, not behind them in Eastern Conference race
COLUMBUS, Ohio — At this time last season the Washington Capitals were on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, a photo they wouldn’t get a chance to be in come mid-April. After a summer of change, they sit in a pretty comfortable position as the second half begins.
The Capitals didn’t head out on their All-Star Weekend vacations on a good note. They lost three in a row, allowing 13 goals in that stretch after winning six of seven. Two of those losses came at the hands of the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers, two teams not in playoff position in the West. The other defeat came against head coach Barry Trotz’s old team, the Nashville Predators. The homecoming ended with a sour taste after Matt Niskanen’s turnover allowed James Neal to pot the winning goal with 1:40 left in the game.
But the the six-day break did allow for them to rest up, decompress and take their minds off those losses. Washington re-grouped Monday in Columbus ahead of their game against the Blue Jackets, a team desperate for points.
If you look at the East, unless the Florida Panthers have a second half surge in them, the top eight are just about set. A year ago the Capitals were looking up, trying to grab points to make the playoffs. Now, they’re still looking up, but doing so in a much better position.
“It seems to be starting to shrink a little bit more in the East than maybe the West,” said Trotz. “If you win your hockey games you don’t have to worry about anybody behind you. You’re just trying to look forward, and I want to get the mindset let’s look at the team that’s in front of us and try to catch that team, try to leap-frog that team, not worry about the team’s behind us.
"We have to win our hockey games. Lately, we haven’t done that.”
“It’s kind of situation you don’t want to be in this position again when you’re going [miss out] by a couple of points,” said Alex Ovechkin. “That’s why this kind of period right now for us is important.”
The vibe in the room compared to last year is also different. Despite how they entered the break, the Capitals are confident, according to Joel Ward. There’s excitement that the changes that have been made will pay off with a return trip to the postseason after this 82-game grind.
“We have a good shot to do something special,” Ward said. “The good thing about it is we control our own destiny. We’ve done a lot of good things. Just try and eliminate all of the few mistakes out of the game. Just being more aware of situations and stuff.
"For us, puck management at certain times has been key. We’ve had a couple lapses that’s killed us the last couple games, but other than that we still feel good about ourselves.”
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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