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Ty Anderson: Roadhouse Blues: Caps fall again |
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On Friday night, Washington head coach Adam Oates said that he pulled rookie goaltender Philipp Grubauer because he felt bad for him. That night, Grubauer, one of the few saving graces in what’s been a largely underwhelming season in the Nation’s Capital, was yanked after allowing three goals on just 14 shots from Columbus shooters. According to Oates, his move from the crease to the bench wasn’t meant to punish the German netminder, and he wanted to reiterate that.
But when Grubauer was pulled for the second straight game tonight -- this time after allowing three goals on just eight shots -- it’s because he simply wasn’t good enough.
And that’s not what a Capitals club desperately for points wanted to see on Sunday night.
Their division, the ultra tight Metropolitan, has turned it on; The New Jersey Devils are hanging around, the Philadelphia Flyers have learned that scoring goals produces rather enjoyable results, and the Carolina Hurricanes seem due to Carolina Hurricane their way back into the race. And their opponent on Sunday night, the New York Rangers, are finding their groove.
At Grubauer’s expense, no less. While the 22-year-old stonewalled the Blueshirts in his prior meetings against the club in 2013-14, stopping 68-of-71 (.958 save percentage) in two wins as many games, tonight was a complete meltdown that saw Grubauer fail to make a timely save.
His nightmare began just 70 seconds into the game when Rick Nash took advantage of a Dmitry Orlov turnover and potted home his 13th of the season on a backhander.
15 minutes later, Nash struck once again, finding space in Grubauer’s legs for a 2-0 NY edge.
Just 1:43 after that, with absolutely zero resistance from Grubauer or his defensemen, Chris Kreider provided the perfect screen for Derek Stepan to make it 3-0.
Not. Good. Enough.
But perhaps, next to the one-man scoring show, this is the biggest problem of all in Washington.
The hopes of this team have been hitched to the individual success of a 22-year-old with just 15 career NHL starts to his name. Granted this isn’t the first time the Capitals have done this, but not every goaltender in your system is going to be Semyon Varlamov or Braden Holtby. In 2013-14, and with a win now philosophy in the works, the Caps are working a three-man goaltending rotation akin to that of a rebuilder. That’s not going to work.
Hindsight is 20/20, and while Oates certainly played the matchup in letting Grubauer take the cage against New York, his showing in Columbus could’ve presented the club with a chance to give the puck back to Holtby (who stopped 20 of 22 in Columbus in relief) or even Michal Neuvirth.
The Caps pulled themselves back within one via (who else but) Alexander Ovechkin’s second period power play marker, his 35th of the year, but a shorthanded goal from the Rangers’ Ryan Callahan less than two minutes later put this one to bed.
And just like that, the Capitals three-game road swing through the division went up in flames. It all happened shockingly fast, too. It seems like just yesterday that the Capitals were simply trying to hang on to beat the East-best Pittsburgh Penguins in their own building.
In one of the most Capital things to happen this year, the Caps’ trip went from ‘statement trip’ to ‘even trip’ to ‘salvage trip’ to ‘bad trip’. And nobody wants a bad trip.
Failing to gain any ground on the Rangers or Flyers tonight -- and still just three points away from third place in the Metropolitan -- things aren’t strictly doom-and-gloom for the Capitals.
But given their play and downright maddening inability to generate strong even strength looks in the attacking zone, that seven-point game between separating them from the last place New York Islanders seems a whole lot closer than third place, doesn’t it?
The Capitals are back at it on Tuesday night when they play host to the Ottawa Senators at the Verizon Center.
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