Exactly! . . . The MAJORITY of the skaters on this team are one-way offensive players with little if any regards to defense, training or concern about the defense, their opponent, or situations.
So as we know: defense wins games/offense sells tickets . . . . we've scored seven goals in two games enough, yet we lost both. . .We allowed 9, to which the layman agitator can say "but we only lost by one goal in OT and this series is close!", which is bullshit. . . . 3.5 GPG per 4.5 GPG, while down 2-0 in a playoff series, just says you team defense, from INCLUDING your forwards is not only pathetic and inexcusable, but flat out sucks.
Yep, the defense -- both blue liners and team defense more generally -- took steps back this year. When we lost Alzner and Schmidt and filled in with rookies, that figured to happen. (Shattenkirk was here such a short time he doesn't count). And in addition, younger players with less defensive pedigree took roles/greater roles up front. Vrana -- Connolly -- Stephenson (though he's seemed not to hurt us defensively) -- Burakovsky, if he could stay on the ice.
But you know what? With all that, we still won the Division when no one really expected it, and many thought the playoffs might be a stretch.
And then come the playoffs, and the Caps can't get over the hump. Now why is that? Well, the naysayers will say "It's a different game in the playoffs. The team doesn't step up. Other teams do." But why IS it a different game in the playoffs? If teams can play playoff hockey in the playoffs, why can't they play it, and beat the Caps more consistently, in the regular season? After all, it isn't as if they'd have to play playoff hockey in every game -- just the few games they play the Caps, in order to try to knock off the top [regular season] dog.
During the regular season, in the game threads I see people complaining all the time about the Caps playing limited amounts of time, taking periods off, not putting forth much effort, making stupid mistakes. I'm a STH, and when I attend the games I see these lulls from the Caps as well. But you know what? I see the other teams have the same, or more, lulls. Making just as stupid, or more stupid, mistakes.
In the past 4 regular seasons the Caps have amassed 444 standings points. No other team is close to them. That is a record that starts to get pretty large sample size at this point. I am beginning to believe that, contrary to the complaining of the fans about inconsistent effort and lack of sensible play from the Caps, what is REALLY happening is that the Caps actually give more, not less, consistent effort and game discipline during the regular season, relative to their capabilities, than their opponents do. That they are actually playing in a higher gear than their opponents, by and large, during the regular season. Then come the playoffs and the other teams, who have been cheating the fans relatively more than the Caps have during the regular season effort- and discipline-wise, find a higher playoff gear -- and the Caps don't have a matching gear, because we've seen a greater percentage of what our team has to give the previous 6 months.
I've said all season that the Caps not only have defensive problems, but that they've masked them partially by overworking, especially, Carlson and Orpik to protect the young defensemen. The same can be said of Ovie and Backstrom on the offensive side. And I was furious in the last regular season game when the team beat Ovie to death at the end of the game to try to get him goal #50. That just didn't make any sense in the greater scheme of things. These are greater and lesser indicators of the team's commitment to provide a good-faith effort during the regular season. Fans need to realize that, far from being the sluggards described on boards like these, the Caps give good overall value, maybe better than any other team, during the regular season. Maybe they need to take a page from the LA Kings/Penguins playbook and slack off part of the regular season to save more powder for April - June. It might not have worked this season because, with the lesser and less experienced talent they might not have made the playoffs at all. But generally speaking, I think this team gets an undeserved bum rap from October - March. And maybe the problem isn't that they choke during the playoffs, but that the playoffs are a true measure of the outcome of their maximum effort and discipline relative to another team's maximum. This team gets no further than it deserves in the playoffs because that is how they truly compare to their competition.
