Boudreau wasn’t in the mood to toast the Capitals’ 5-4 victory. He wasn’t pleased with “the process,” which, translated from coach-speak, meant his players’ execution of the game plan left much to be desired. He had also lost reserve defenseman Tyler Sloan to an apparent head injury, dealing another blow to a blue line that’s already stretched to its breaking point.
“I thought it was way too close to looking like last year,” Boudreau said of a contest that began with his team racing out to a 2-0 lead, fumbling it away moments later, then needing a last-minute goal from Jason Arnott to force overtime.
Just a few weeks ago the Capitals were undoubtedly playing the best hockey of the Boudreau Era. Great goaltending, a lights-out penalty kill and an overall commitment to team defense helped them procure seven one-goal victories during a nine-game winning streak.
But it’s hard not to believe that they took a small step backward on the just-concluded three-game homestand — even if they earned five of six possible points.
It wouldn’t have been so troubling had the sloppiness been limited to the Sabres game. But the Capitals coughed up leads in each of the previous two contests, as well. Being forced to overtime by teams significantly behind in the standings isn’t how a team with Stanley Cup aspirations wants to be playing a little more than a week before the start of the playoffs.
“We’ve got to buckle down a little bit,” Boudreau said.
On Tuesday, Carolina rookie Jeff Skinner struck early in the third period, sneaking a sharp angle wrist shot past Semyon Varlamov to knot a game the Hurricanes eventually captured, 3-2, in a shootout. As inexcusable as Skinner’s goal was, Boudreau held the other players just as culpable, describing his team’s performance as “lackluster” and without emotion.
In the waning minutes of Thursday’s game against Columbus, Blue Jackets winger Scottie Upshall somehow slipped loose in the slot and snapped the tying goal past Michal Neuvirth with 5 minutes 37 seconds left to play. Although the Capitals eventually won in overtime, 4-3, Arnott wasn’t particularly impressed with Washington’s attention to detail, saying they made “a lot of nonchalant plays that we don’t normally make.”
Then it happened again Saturday. Buffalo’s Paul Guastad scored the Sabres’ third straight goal after exploiting an ill-timed line change late in the third period, splitting the Capitals’ late-arriving defenders after Scott Hannan’s casual backhanded clearing pass was picked off in the neutral zone.
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