This year marks the 34th year in a row that I've watched the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And after all that time, you'd think I'd know better by now than to be surprised when a seed in the top half of the draw comes crashing to earth in the first round.True to form, after just five days of action, the 2009 edition of the Stanley Cup Tournament hasn't disappointed when it comes to surprises. Sure, the higher seed is currently leading six of the eight series taking place in the first round. Then again, I'm sure nobody anticipated that two of the league's top four teams in the regular season -- San Jose and Washington -- would be grappling with the distinct possibility of being swept.
Sitting from my East Coast vantage point just outside of Washington, I'm having a tough time determining which potential collapse represents a bigger surprise. Suffice to say, the fanbase here in the nation's capital is more than a bit shell-shocked after watching the Caps -- a certified feel good story both on and off the ice all season long-- have dropped a pair of game at home to the unheralded New York Rangers.
A couple of days ago, I laughed when long-time NHL observer Stan Fischler called the Caps a "paper tiger." Well, I'm not laughing now with the team just two road games away from playoff oblivion.
If you want to review the carnage, I'd suggest you take a quick look back at my game recaps from Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon. Put simply, after two games, it's clear that the Rangers have made the commitment to head coach John Tortorella's brand of playoff hockey, while the Capitals, for all their incredible individual talent, now appear to be less than the sum of their parts.
And it's also clear that as the team has struggled that its biggest star, Alex Ovechkin, is trying his level best to carry the rest of the team on his back. Even his coach admits that he's obviously pressing, it's just unfortunate that it's also clear that the young Russian has decided at times that he's going to have to beat the Rangers alone, something that's all but impossible with the Rangers playing the sort of total team defense that no individual player can break down all on their own.
Game Two was so disappointing that local scribe Tom Boswell, liberated for a time from covering the worst team in all of professional baseball, trotted out the ghost of playoff failures past, even though this version of the team has nothing to do with that history. Be that as it may, it's impossible not to agree with him.
My conversion as a Caps fan began in the late 1980s. And as the years have worn on, the team's modus operandi became abundantly clear: more than good enough to make the playoffs, but not nearly good enough to survive the postseason tournament. As Boswell himself trotted out on Sunday, it hasn't mattered whether this team has faced future Hall of Famers (Smith or Richter) or unheralded backups suddenly thrust into the spotlight (Wregget or Hedberg): whoever eventually winds up in net seems to have had a rubber magnet installed in their chest protector.
Of course, this edition of the Capitals, built from the ground up the right way through the draft, was supposed to change all that. This team may yet turn things around in this series. But if it can't, expect the questions of players, management and ownership to come fast and furious.
Every Monday morning The Ice Sheet will take a close look at everything that's happened in the NHL since Friday night at 5:00 PM -- or if need be, anything else the author wants to bleat about. To read them all, click here.
