Rangers: Are the Caps Weaker Than We Think?
Defense, second and third-liners suspect
Posted on Sunday, April 19, 2009 at 11:57 PMIf the Washington Capitals aren't nervous about becoming victims of a first-round sweep, they should be.
When the teams take the ice at The Garden on Monday night, the previously weak underbelly of Bruce Boudreau's team may be exposed more than ever.
Actually, that should be plural — as in weak underbellies. Namely a shabby defense and mediocre third and fourth-liners.
You may be wondering — now that the series is two-zip in New York's favor — why Washington's weaknesses haven't been more actively advertised.
The answer is evident: so much hype has centered on Alex Ovechkin, Mike Green & Co. that the automatic tendency is to overlook the fact that hockey still is a team game.
Therefore, if you have a sieve for a goaltender, an inept defense and generally weak support beyond Ovie and friends, the chances are that you're going to be susceptible to defeat. And since Alexander The Great scored in neither of the first two games, Washington's Achilles heels were egregiously exposed.
In Game One, Brandon Dubinsky undressed Caps defenseman Jeff Schultz before depositing the winning goal behind Jose Theodore. That was enough to prompt Boudreau to give Jose the bye-bye for Game Two, substituting raw rookie Simeon Varlamov.
The switch has the utmost significance for Game Three.
- SIGNIFICANCE ONE: It tells Theodore that his coach has absolutely no confidence in him and — for all intents and purposes — renders Jose useless for the rest of the series.
- SIGNIFICANCE TWO: It means that the onus is on a Russian kid who allowed only one goal in Game Two but was barely tested. If he was nervous in his playoff debut, imagine how shaky he figures to be from here on through the first round; assuming that he gets that far.
What's even worse — for Varlamov — is that he's backing one of the most pedestrian defense corps in the entire National Hockey League. And that's why Washington lost its second game.
If Schultz blew it in Game One it was the highly-publicized Green who committed the blunder that led to New York's two-on-one; otherwise known as Markus Naslund to Ryan Callahan to back of the net.
Be it Tom Poti or Milan Jurcina, nobody on the Caps backline impresses as a DEFENSEMAN. John Erskine gives an effort but we're talking about a fellow who couldn't even last on the Islanders varsity.
Meanwhile, the Rangers defenders have grown as a group. The previously-booed, former Ottawa D-man now is Wade Redden-hot. Mike Rozsival has found his game and the rest of the blueline brigade are unified into a workmanlike corps.
To a man John Tortorella's forwards have lifted their intensty. The Rangers version of a rabbit's foot, Sean Avery, is due for a big goal, which I expect in Game Three.
The sum total has brought concern to its highest level in Washington. My buddy, Scott Strauss, in the nation's capital, underlines the point.
"Boudreau's window to find a solution is closing fast," says Strauss. "After two games, the team's predicament can best be summed up by that noted philosopher, Yogi Berra: For the Capitals, it appears to have gotten 'very late, very early.'"
Translated, it means Ovie's pals fear a sweep.
Based on the aforementioned facts of hockey life, they should!
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