On Saturday, the Caps finally won a fast series that might’ve been long and brutal, knocking out the rugged, chippy Rangers, 3-1, in Game 5 at Verizon Center. The NHL playoffs are about physical attrition almost as much as talent.
Now, the Caps are the first team in their conference to end their series. Rest, it’s beautiful. At least for a few days, Mike Knuble’s mysterious (hand) injury can heal and defenseman Dennis Wideman will probably be back for the next round. Mike Green, who got hit in the head by yet another scary shot, but seems okay, can regather himself.
How vital are such quick series? The last 10 Cup winners have had an average postseason record of 16-7. That means they played five games less than the maximum possible postseason load of 16-12. So somewhere, you need to cut about five games off your playoff workload. The Caps just subtracted two of those games.
“We’ve never done it before. When I wake up, I’ll give my head a shake and wonder where we play tomorrow,” said Coach Bruce Boudreau of the Caps, whose franchise hasn’t won a postgame series in less than seven games since ’98 — the only time the Caps ever reached the Stanley Cup finals.
At the very least, the Caps will be off until Friday. Matt Hendricks likened those six extra off days to “ice bags for the body” and “the mind, too.”
Perhaps just as important, the Caps now get to root for the misery of others. Let other teams, such as the Penguins, who’ve lost superstars Sidney Crosby for the first round and Evgeni Malkin for the season, or the Flyers, who are minus giant Chris Pronger, or the Bruins, who can’t seem to win at home, worry about their long, exhausting series. The Flyers, down three games to two, could actually be eliminated as soon as Sunday. If so, the Caps could stumble into playing the seventh-seeded Buffalo Sabres next. What, an open bracket for the Caps?
“Every other series in the conference is going to go at least six games [while] we get to rest our bodies and have extra practice time, too,” said Brooks Laich.
Last year, the Caps were in an almost identical position, leading three games to one against an eighth-seeded foe. And lost. “We were aware of our position last year,” said Laich. “The chatter before this game was, ‘This is the game we have to have.’ ”
Alex Ovechkin confirmed that last year “we thought it was over and we was a little bit relaxed. . . . Now everybody focused and everybody don’t have any relaxes.”
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