Theodore continue
It was a question asked repeatedly about the Capitals from the time they arrived for training camp in September.
Is goaltender Jose Theodore — signed to a two-year, $9 million contract over the summer — good enough to get Washington deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs?
The organization – and Theodore himself – have tired of the question. But that doesn’t make it any less relevant. And Wednesday night’s 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers in the opening game of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals will only fan the flames.
Theodore stopped 17 of 21 shots. Two of New York’s goals were clear defensive miscues — one a miscommunication between Tom Poti and Jeff Schultz. On another, the Rangers caught a break. Referees ignored a potential interference penalty by Nik Antropov on Tomas Fleischmann as the play developed in the New York defensive zone. Caps defenseman Mike Green later made contact with Rangers forward Sean Avery and tripped as Scott Gomez drove hard to the net. It was a toss-up decision that wasn’t called and Gomez beat Theodore to tie the game at 1.
They were dumb defensive mistakes. But Theodore didn’t bail his team out, either. The Rangers also struck the post twice with shots that could have built their lead further.
“Obviously, playoff hockey, my play wasn’t good enough,” Theodore said. “We had a couple shots in the first and then after that tried to find our rhythm. I’m not happy with my game. But in the playoffs you forget about it and bounce back.”
Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said he didn’t consider making a switch to rookie netminder Simeon Varlamov – especially since the fourth goal didn’t come until just over eight minutes were left. But even between the second and third periods he was hesitant to change.
“You never want to look like you’re panicking and that’s what that would have looked like,” said Boudreau, who added that there could be several position changes made before Saturday’s Game 2 — and didn’t completely shoot down a goalie switch, either.
Rangers outshot by Caps 35-21, but win in opener
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It was just one game in a best-of-seven series so the Capitals will not panic. But it was also far from the start they had hoped for in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The New York York Rangers came into Verizon Center on Wednesday night and stole a 4-3 victory in the first game of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
The Caps outshot New York, 35-21. They had seven different power-play opportunities. They pressured Rangers star goalie Henrik Lundqvist all night long and completely dominated in the faceoff circle. And yet, when the final horn sounded, it was New York ahead 1-0 in the series.
The little things that have plagued the Caps in recent weeks showed up again. There were far too many defensive zone lapses. Goalie Jose Theodore (17 saves) couldn’t make the big save when he needed to do so. In the end, the Rangers took advantage and now have home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series.
“What can I say? It’s the playoffs. It’s seven games,” said Caps forward Alex Ovechkin, who assisted on two of Washington’s goals and took a game-high 13 shots. “You can’t concentrate on one game. It’s seven games — one week. It happens. We can’t win all of our games right away.”
Brandon Dubinsky scored the game winner for New York just moments after Washington’s sixth power play had expired. The Caps converted only two of their seven total chances with the man advantage – and paid for it.
Dubinsky took a pass from teammate Markus Naslund and won a one-on-one battle with defenseman Jeff Schultz, who lost an edge along the near boards just inside the blueline. Dubinsky drove the net and beat Theodore at the near post for the 4-3 lead at 11:43 of the third.
“We allowed 21 shots and [four] power plays. I thought we did a great job defensively,” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. “I don’t think [they had a lot of scoring chances]. That’s crazy.”
It was a sudden end to the momentum the Caps had built dating to the final minute of the second period. With just 49 seconds left in the second, Caps forward Viktor Kozlov tipped home a crossing pass from teammate Nicklas Backstrom – his first career playoff goal. What was a 3-1 Rangers lead heading into the third period was suddenly cut to one. And what was once a pensive sellout crowd at Verizon Center was alive again.
“It’s to be expected,” said New York center Scott Gomez. “I’ve been in the playoffs a lot – being on the road and in a building like this. Let’s face it, they were all over us.”
The big crowd exploded once more after Alex Semin’s power-play goal at 1:42 of the third period tied the game and Washington spent the next 10 minutes as if the go-ahead goal was a given.
It wasn’t to be, however. Instead, New York struck next on Dubinsky’s goal. And while the Caps produced several quality chances in the final minutes — including with Theodore pulled for the extra attacker — they couldn’t beat Lundqvist (32 saves) as the Rangers held on for the victory.
“As long as we keep that play up, the goals will come,” said Caps defenseman Mike Green. “I thought [Lundqvist] played really, really well tonight and won the game for them. But we still feel the same way – we can win this series and nothing’s really changed.”
