Washington Capitals look for answers after 4-0 loss to Tampa Bay Lightning in semi-final
The Capitals have had problems making it past the first round in the past two postseasons, and even if they did, it was after seven games. This time things were thought to be changed, as they defeated the strong New York Rangers in the first round in five games.
All speculations about the Capitals not making their way into the second round were proved wrong. The power-plays were well utilized by the Caps against the Rangers and they were able to emerge as winners on close occasions.
However, all speculations and questions came back to haunt the Caps, as they suffered an embarrassing 4-0 defeat at the hands of Tampa Bay. Why embarrassing? The reason for this is that the Caps were the top seed in the Eastern Conference and their exit in such a way comes as a shock to many. The Lightning cruised into the Eastern Conference Finals leaving the Capitals stunned.
"We were hungry. We just didn't win", Captain Alex Ovechkin said. "We want to win. They want to win. Somebody has to lose. We are losing and I don't know what to say right now".
A lot was expected from the Captain, Ovechkin but the thing that really hurt them was the fact that the players on whom the Capitals were depending on let them down. Nicklas Backstrom only had one assist during the series. Alexander Semin had only one goal that too in game one, Mike Green got himself injured after having a dreadful first two games.
"I don't think any team can win – any team – when your star players aren't getting the points that are needed", Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It's gonna be very difficult. I've watched an awful lot of hockey in my day and it very rarely happens when your best players aren't your best players. I'm not sitting here and criticizing our players – that's just a thought”.
Though Ovechkin is set to captain the team for the next decade or so, what remains to be seen is whether or not the coach sticks to the Caps or moves out. Washington have had a superb regular season in each of the last three seasons but the postseason has always ended poorly.
However, this time it was even more of a shocker as the last two times they exited from the play-offs, it was after seven games.
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