The Washington Capitals will attempt to course correct tonight in Toronto.
After holding a lead for under four minutes combined in the first two games, the Capitals will have to make some adjustments and figure out how to deal with the Leafs' speed.
While you can't say the Capitals played terribly (outside of the first half of game one), and while they could easily be sitting up 2-0, the fact is, the Leafs are a good team.
They match the Capitals line for line and are much faster. The Capitals have the advantage on defense, but the line of Carlson and Alzner has been pretty bad. Alzer is a game-time decision, and if they go with Schmidt they're a better team anyways, so Washington fans should be hoping he can't go.
I heard that Alzer hasn't missed a game in seven years, so if he can't play that kind of sucks in the arbitrary feel-good way, but honestly, Schmidt is a much better player and the Caps should have already made this call.
If the Capitals are to make up for the Leafs speed and the excellence of Mike Babcock';s forecheck and overall aggressiveness, they've got to get a physical advantage. Once they do that, they'll not only be better 5v5, but it should lead to more time with the man advantage.
However, while the Capitals can be better, a massive strategic overhaul is not necessary. They've been the best team and at times they've dictated the play. If they continue to control the majority of the shot-attempts, they should have nothing to worry about.
While it should now be clear to everyone that the Leafs are in fact a ridiculous opponent for the first-overall team to get stuck with, the Capitals don't need to start getting nervous.
They're professional players. They have a team full of all-stars and elite players. If they play their game, they should be fine. The Leafs have shown that if they do win, it's not going to be because the Capitals "blew it" so I don't think the idea of "just get them nervous then they'll mentally collapse" is anything but the laziest of journalism.
The Capitals are the favorite. They have not had the Playoff success that they maybe should have had, up to this point, but that doesn't mean anything. They're a good team and if they should lose, they'll be a good team next year.
But even though the games haven't gone as they wanted to so far, they should still win. It's only an amazing Toronto goalie who has them in this situation to start with.
Keep in mind, only six Toronto players are positive Corsi players in the series so far. The Capitals, other than in the first period of game one, have pretty much done everything they have to. Now all they need is the goals to start coming.