Not that I think this team has the horses to go very far but one must ask himself why the team is 21-12 on the road and 16-19 at home. That speaks to lazy, nonchalant play at home which is a direct reflection of the coaching staff. In the old days, a coach would have seen this and told them that they're going to book a hotel and they're going to treat home games just like road games until they get their crap together. Of course, today's coddled types could never put up with that.
Speaking of the old days, most teams had a philosophy where that square between the faceoff dots and down to the goal line in your own end was a no go zone for opponents where anybody venturing in there, with or without the puck, but especially with it, would pay a physical price. Now, guys waltz through there from board to board and the defense just waves their sticks around trying to bat the puck free. When is the last time anyone on the Caps (or on most other teams) really applied a solid open ice hit to a puck carrier? It seems that the goal these days is to not get hurt before anything else. I can't imagine a Scott Stevens type even being tolerated in the league these days. Now, every time some guy with his head down gets a somewhat solid hit, he wants to start fighting like some baby who had his lollipop knocked out of his hand. Hockey has become PC and it's to the detriment of the game. Oh, and I'm not talking about goonism, either but clean, hard physical play. It seems to have vanished.
