It's true. The Coach said it.
No one guaranteed a victory, but they promised their best game.
But like, don't they try to play their best game every night? Is anyone telling them to leave something in the tank for a use in case of emergency type situation? Inquiring minds want to know.
And this is the what is truly boring about sports - no one really says anything interesting....and we search for reasons why things didn't turn out like we thought.
"Boys, we're gonna give 'er 100% tonight."
Lucky Trotz stopped short of telling us how many I's are in team.
But really, the Capitals could be up 3-0 and they've played fine. Maybe "fine" isn't good enough. The Caps have controlled 50.77% of the shot-attempts - a very slight advantage.
The series has been, for the most part, totally even.
I've personally always covered bad teams, so maybe I just don't know how to view high expectations. It seems people are mad that although the Capitals are playing well, their not dominating.
But who would have thought - if they looked at the Leafs' post October record and properly considered what all the over-time losses meant - that the Leafs are that much worse of a team?
I mean, if you adjust the Leafs for bad luck, they're equal to about a 50 win team, and Washington won 55 games - if anything, this should be a lesson in the true parity of the NHL in the salary cap era.
But, while the odds are long that a team plays .750 hockey to save their season, the Playoffs make a mockery of odds because as soon as they win one game, now it's back to an even series.
Another thing that is sort of annoying is how every is acting like this is the Capitals last chance. Sure, they won't have the exact same team next year, but saying half their team are free agents is a little disingenuous.
Shattenkirk is a UFA, as are Williams, Oshie, Winnik, Alzner and Gilbert.
The Caps were a great team prior to getting Shattenkirk. Williams and Oshie are good players, but they're not irreplaceable. Alzner and Gilbert? Who cares?
The idea that this is their last kick at the can is kinda hyperbolic if you ask me. A core of Holtby, Carlson, Orlov, Niskanen, Ovechkin, Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Johansen, Burakovsky, Eller, Connolly, and Schmidt is still going to be one of the NHL's best teams next year.
If they lose to Toronto, that might not even be the worst thing - it will suck for them when it happens - but they'll enter next season labeled as chokers and because people are dumb, they'll have drastically reduced expectations, and maybe they'll do better in that case.
Either way, for a first place team (over two seasons) people are surprisingly quick to bail on a team that lost two games.
Although, I'm not sure why I still let myself be surprised.