Washington Capitals 2019 Post-Mortem

by Mike Lunsford, Editor-In-Chief of The Great Geek Refuge

The Washington Capitals defended their 2018 Stanley Cup Championship by losing in the first round to the wild-card-winning, haven’t-been-to-the-playoffs-since-2009 Carolina Hurricanes. In defense of last year’s champs, it was in seven games, and it was in double overtime, so it’s not like they just rolled over. And the Hurricanes were no joke. After a slow start to the season, they were the hottest team in the league the last month of the regular season. And that is vital in hockey: getting hot as you enter the playoffs can mean an 8th seeded playoff team can knock off a 1 seed. It happens way more often in hockey than other sports…other than college basketball, which is the home of lower seeds upsetting higher seeds. At any rate, the 1 seed Capitals were ousted by the 7th seeded Hurricanes. It was a sobering reminder that not every year can end in glory like 2018 did.

stupid jerks…seriously though, they are such a good story and a fun team to watch. I hate them. lol

The problem with this particular loss was how it felt: exactly like every other playoff loss the Capitals sustained in years other than 2018. The Caps had built a reputation for finding uniquely painful and gut-wrenching ways to lose playoff series. In fact, of the 29 times NHL teams have lost a series in the playoffs after leading 3-1, the Caps have done it 5 times. That’s 17% of the total, highest among all NHL teams. Now, in their defense, they never lead this series 3-1, so this loss doesn’t fit into that horrible category. It still hurts though, as the Capitals had a 2-0 lead in the series, a 2-0 lead in game 7 and still ended up losing the game and subsequently the series. This team has a knack for pulling the rug out from under it’s fan when they think that a win is close. After all, this is the same team that has never swept a playoff series. They apparently love the drama.

After the high that was the 2017-2018 season, many fans assumed that those “old Caps” were gone. After being down 2-0 to Columbus and then winning 4 straight to win the series, after FINALLY beating the Penguins, this had to be a different team! Then to come back from a 3-2 deficit against the Lightning to win that series and then win the Stanley Cup in 5 games against Vegas, they definitely were a different team! They had a killer instinct and a “never quit” attitude we had never seen before! There’s no way those “same ol’ Caps” still existed.

god, what a great summer

Who are the old Caps? They’re the ones who came out flat in a crucial game 7 in years past, the ones who couldn’t find a way to win a series when up 3-1, the ones who seemed deflated and defeated when things didn’t go their way. Those guys reared their ugly heads in this Hurricanes series. There were plenty of other factors as well. The officiating was especially bad all series long, but this has been a trend in the NHL this postseason. Their puck luck was severely lacking (which is something NO ONE can control). For example, during the 2018 Cup run, there were countless shots that harmlessly clanged off the post after they got past Braden Holtby. There were goals that went in for Washington off the post that in years past would have bounced away. There was something magical about 2018.

So much of playoff hockey is being in the right place at the right time and ensuring that you have given yourself the opportunity to have “good luck.” The strategic differences between former coach Barry Trotz and current coach Todd Rierden was evident as well. Rierden didn’t have the players with the same offensive mentality. So many goals scored in last year’s playoffs were off of rebounds or crashing the net and having a presence in front of the goalie. Their power play was much more effective and dynamic last year as well, this year’s was predictable and easily stopped. It seemed that Rierden didn’t have an answer for Carolina’s PK defense. The blame cannot be squarely placed on Rierden’s shoulders but his strategy and lack of counter-punch certainly wasn’t helping.

On top of the strategical changes, the Capitals were hampered with some debilitating injuries. That has a huge impact on a team in the playoffs and can change a Cup favorite to a spectator very quickly. The obvious was T.J. Oshie, who was hurt in game 4 by an illegal crosscheck into the boards, knocking him out for the rest of the season. The less than obvious one was Michal Kempny. Kempny’s knee injury in the waning weeks of the regular season was devastating as the Capitals stability at defenseman was key to their Cup win in 2018. Bear in mind, in the 2018 playoffs, they were dealing with an injury to Nick Backstrom and a 3 game suspension to Tom Wilson, so it wasn’t a numbers thing. As important as Backstrom and Wilson are to the Capitals, the forward depth of the team was able to hold the line until the two superstars returned. The Capitals defense core was not as deep unfortunately in 2019 as the Kempny injury proved to be detrimental. They were never able to recapture the balance they achieved with Kempny on the ice.

There are not a lot of repeat champions in any sport. It’s not easy to win one championship, let alone multiple. Was this season a hangover from the 2018 Cup run? This team did party HARD, unlike any we’ve seen from other teams. It took on an epic status for sure, marching through Vegas with the Stanley Cup and partying until the wee hours of the morning, upon returning to the DC area swimming in fountains in Georgetown, drinking beers through their hockey jerseys, showing up at Nationals Park to throw out the first pitch and continuing to party, they definitely made sure they lived to the fullest.

We can’t make excuses for this team not moving on into the playoffs. A first round exit from the defending Stanley Cup Champion is not something that should be shrugged off and followed up with a “well, they won it last year!” It does not leave them free of criticism when there were opportunities for them to put the series away and they couldn’t capitalize. The most sought after and impressive franchises in sports share a trait: consistency. The New England Patriots are always good, regardless of injuries, winning a championship the year prior, or losing role players to free agency. University of Alabama is always in the mix for the national championship for college football. The New York Yankees consider any season without a World Championship a failure. These teams expect to win and anything less is not good enough. The shared trait is a demand for excellence.

The Capitals and their fans had hoped that this one championship was the beginning of a new era. In this new era, the Caps would never be the butt of jokes any more because there would be no more 3-1 series leads that evaporate into a series loss. They wouldn’t get owned by the Penguins every year. They would have the killer instinct that they lacked previously in the Ovechkin era. Fans had hoped that all of those nightmares were long forgotten, painful memories that only made their 2018 Cup run that much sweeter. But here we are, watching the team who beat the Capitals continuing to play hockey well into May, in fact they’re on their way to the Eastern Conference Final! The question now becomes which team is the real Capitals? The one who smoked Carolina 6-0 in game 5 or the one who couldn’t find a way to put the Canes away in the 3rd period of game 7? Are they the team from 2018 that wouldn’t go away, even when down 3 games to 2 to the number 1 seed Lightning or are they the front runners who breeze through the regular season and choke in the playoffs? It’s not often that a sports team has the opportunity to change their identity like this, but the Capitals could change their narrative forever if the 2019-2020 season shows them make another deep playoff run. Anything less will just bring those doubters and critics back.

All that being said, as a lifelong Capitals fan, there was a certain part of me that was almost happy they didn’t win the Hurricanes series. That Cup run probably turned all of my hair grey and took years off my life…but it was totally worth it. In the end, the elation and joy I had for the entire summer made 2018 that much more special. I want 2018 to be magical and one-of-a-kind. Would I like another Cup? You bet your ass I would! And I would cheer just as hard as I did in 2018 when they did it that first time. This year’s loss was a bittersweet reminder that sometimes perfection and joy can’t last forever. You have to embrace them while they’re happening, because they may not come again. And if this is all we get, if our beloved Capitals are choke artists, if they are a “one hit wonder,” if this is who they truly are, 2018 was so worth all the pain of the past. But here’s to another early summertime ride in 2020! Maybe they can be a team of greatness like we all feel that they are. Maybe they can change that narrative. They did it once before, why not again?