Dialed In for the Long Stretch

By Thomas Boswell
Sunday, April 6, 2008

A Capitals story that shamed most hockey fairy tales, a dream that seemed almost too silly to speak for months, came true in the pandemonium of Verizon Center last night. A team that was the worst in the NHL on Thanksgiving day, but climbed and clawed for months, finally reached the playoffs on the last day of the season with a 3-1 victory over Florida.

For 134 days, the Capitals fought to have their playoff destiny in their hands. For months, they slowly crept up the standings until finally this Washington team found itself in a place it had imagined for so long yet always wondered if it could actually reach. On the 135th day, before a sellout "red-out" crowd of jubilant hysterics, what once seemed the stuff of fiction suddenly became the reality of the moment: Win and you're in, lose and you're out. Convincingly, decisively, they won.

"We just saw history. To push that hard for that long when you had to keep winning, week after week, that's the greatest thing I've ever been around in hockey," said Capitals General Manager George McPhee, shaking his head just moments after the Capitals' 11th win in 12 games as Verizon Center shook with cheers.

"We'd win and feel good for an hour. Then we'd look up and we hadn't gained any ground. We were still alive, but not in. It was like that for I don't know how many weeks," said McPhee, who fired coach Glen Hanlon, who started the season 6-14-1 and hired minor league coach Bruce Boudreau on Thanksgiving, then traded for goalie Cristobal Huet, brainy center Sergei Fedorov and left wing Matt Cooke before the deadline.

"When Bruce arrived, nobody believe in us -- a done team, no future. But he believed," said Alex Ovechkin, who will now almost certainly be voted most valuable player after his 65 goals have translated into team success. "Now, everybody knows we are a very good team. My dream was to go to the playoffs. Right now, we're there. But it's only one step. We don't have to stop. It's only the beginning for this team."

Certainly, the Phone Booth faithful have caught the playoff fever for more than two months. With four minutes left to play, they began booming, "M-V-P" for Ovechkin. A minute later, they took up the chant for Boudreau, bellowing "Bouds" over and over. To his credit, Boudreau had no clue at first that the cheers were for him, reacting as though he had missed some crucial action on the ice which the crowd had seen. Never did he crack a smile, wave or show that his heart was swelled with pride after 33 pro years, most of them in bush league towns.

Is Boudreau basking in the glory? Hardly. "I just stay in the house," he said afterward. "If I see myself on TV, I turn it off. Like a lot of guys, I wish I could lose 30 pounds. Give the credit to the players. I'm happy to be here. That's my reward." His reward should also be in the words of his players who appreciate the way he allowed the team to open its playing style, be more aggressive and creative, and make the most of Ovechkin's vast ability.

"First of all, Bruce is a great guy," grinned the gap-toothed Ovechkin.

Just as important, with so much ground to make up and so many disappointments, so many temporary missteps along the way, Boudreau has kept his team's focus narrow -- one game at a time or even one shift on the ice.

"Keep simple things simple and go from there," said Fedorov, who was the best player on the ice in this clinching game, scoring a slap-shot goal but also checking and passing as if he were 10 years younger than his age of 38. "We took one game at a time, otherwise, we would have been thinking about everything that all the other teams might be doing. Then you don't have any energy left. Bruce kept us focused. When a team gets into good habits, everybody wants to keep playing exactly that way. It becomes addictive."

Even Boudreau admitted he had never seen a team at any level of hockey maintain a playoff push for such an incredible length of time, much less finish that run with an 11-1 streak when nothing less would suffice.

"I kept telling tem, 'Don't add pressure by figuring it all out. Just keep winning,' " Boudreau said. "But, no, I've never seen anything like this -- not this long at the end of the year."

And right down to this one last season-ending contest: win-and-in, lose-and-you're-out.

"This team has already played the equivalent of two playoff series. This was a Game 7 ," said owner Ted Leonsis, who blew kisses to the crowd with two minutes left to play. After a long brutal rebuilding process, which tore the Caps down to their foundations, Leonsis can now say of his fan support, "We've awoken a sleeping giant here. . . . I tried to give a UPS driver a $20 tip this morning and he gave it back."

Perhaps the most relieved man in Verizon Center was McPhee, the team architect whose future was on thin ice when this 135-day trek began. "It's tough to keep telling people to be patient, that there's a plan. . . . We looked for players who were talented, gritty, high character. . . . We can finally exhale. I've been telling people that some day we'd wake up and have a good team. I think that morning is tomorrow morning."

By every objective measure, that seems to be true, especially because, as Southeast Division champions, the Caps are suddenly a No. 3 seed with a first-round home-ice advantage.

Are the Caps now a team that has found its style, learned to maximize the abilities of its superstar and banded behind a balding humble and utterly authentic coach? Or, after such a sustained forced march, will they be out of gas in the playoffs?

For the moment, let that question pass. What the Capitals have accomplished deserves its own praise. In many arenas in many sports, the scoreboards play those sport-movie clips to get the crowd riled up. Every actor from Gene Hackman in "Hoosiers" to Al Pacino and Tom Cruise is invoked to scream and yell at some fantasy movie team. How ironic. No matter how decent the acting, it's all fake -- just Hollywood.

What Capitals fans have been watching since November, and especially in the last three amazing weeks, is the genuine article, the completely deserved and totally-real happy ending. After this victory, the Capitals lingered on the ice, taking in the cheers, preparing to give their game-used jerseys to winning fans in an end-of-season ritual. However, Boudreau was allowed the last word to the crowd.

"These are the coolest guys in the world," said the coach, who, fortunately, lacks an iota of cool in his entire sincere body. "We always believed, honest to God. Maybe nobody else did. But we did.

"In the playoffs, whoever we play is in for it. We're going to give 'em a tough battle."

After years of taking it, the Capitals may finally be ready to start dishing it out.