After Game One of his team's series Wednesday, there was much speculation surrounding Capitals goalie Jose Theodore. He was simply not good in the 4-3 loss to the underdog New York Rangers, leaving his team without momentum and without home-ice advantage in the series. Suddenly, all the work Washington had done to earn the second seed in the East was up in smoke.Would Bruce Boudreau make the early switch, benching Theodore for backup Simeon Varlamov?
NHL Scoreboard: Rangers Take 2-0 Series Lead
Perhaps the extra day off had an impact on this decision, but it will be Varlamov in net for the Capitals Saturday afternoon. He led the team on the ice for the pregame warmup, which is customary for a starting goalie, and the move has been announced.
What does it mean? It means the Capitals are desperate.
Many fans will associate the word "desperation" with a bad decision. In this case, it's quite the opposite. Instead, it's the right move. Boudreau is banking on Varlamov having an impact in two ways.
First, he's hoping to avoid the soft goals that Theodore allowed in the first game. As noted by many analysts, including Barry Melrose on ESPN, Theodore didn't make one significant save in the game. Instead, every good chance the Rangers had seemed to end up in the back of the net.
The other impact is on the six guys in front of Varlamov. The hope is that they're better. There were too many guys skating backwards in their own zone, giving up time and space to the Ranger forwards. No, the Rangers didn't generate a ton of grade-A scoring chances, but that won't happen every game. The Capitals have to be much more aggressive in their own end. Take that time and space away, and stop screening the goaltender yourself.
If this backfires on the Capitals, a lot of fingers will point at Boudreau. In reality, this is the fault of whoever decided to sign the perennially unreliable Theodore in the first place. He wasn't just magically going to start playing consistently in goal again.
