"Their desperation level was higher than ours."- Karl Alzner.
The Washington Capitals will look to close out the Philadelphia Flyers tonight at Verizon. The Flyers jumped out to an early lead on Wednesday and showed the NHL that they will not go down lightly. It was a good comeback for a team, and a fanbase, that embarrassed itself during Monday's 6-1 blowout at the hands of Washington's power play.
The Flyers were disciplined in Game 4 and gave the Capitals no time and space. Michal Neuvirth was also a huge factor, coming in to replace Steve Mason as their new number one for the rest of their post season. The Flyers played much better in front of Neuvirth and any shots that were able to reach him he smothered.
Washington looked good though. They were not playing their best hockey, as we saw in the previous three games, but they put the pressure on the Flyers. The Flyers were just the better team on Wednesday.
The Caps will look to jump out ahead early and play desperate. They didn't have that 'sense of urgency' needed in the post season until the third period when T.J. Oshie was able to crack Neuvirth. ((Incidentally, Oshie has never won a playoff game when he has scored a goal; 0-5) CSN Mid-Atlantic)
"We didn't put enough into it in the first two periods to earn it," head coach Barry Trotz said.
The Caps slow starts this season have been plentiful, but they were hoping not to carry it over to the playoffs. The Caps have been outshot 53-30 in the first period, a trend that must end tonight if they are to advance.
"I think the Philadelphia Flyers, they're urgent," said Trotz. "They don't have any room for error. That allows you to play at a level that is extreme. They're not going to quit, they're going to play hard." (CSN Mid-Atlantic)
But it's not time to panic, yet.
Capitals fans are haunted by last years Rangers defeat after being up 3-1 in the series, but this is a different team. A more complete team.
“It’s amazing in this league — if you give teams hope, what they can do with it,… Tom Wilson said yesterday. “I mean, they win one game, they’re obviously feeling a lot better than being down 3-0. Then, say they get the second game, it can be a slippery slope, so when you have a team on the brink of elimination, you’ve got to make sure that you finish it and take care of business. That’s obviously something this team can do a better job at. Last year, we had opportunities to kind of send teams packing, but that was last year and we want to improve on that this year and hopefully, we can call it a series tomorrow night.… (Washington Times)
We shall see.
More to come...