A few hours before Sunday afternoon’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Capitals forward Brooks Laich met with coach Bruce Boudreau for an intense video session.
After a hot start to the season, a long drought settled upon Laich. He had scored just one goal in Washington’s previous 18 games and only two over the last 26. For a player who had visions of taking his game to a new level in 2009-10 it was hard to accept such struggles.
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At least for one day, the meeting with Boudreau helped. Laich scored two goals against the Flyers at Verizon Center, including one shorthanded early in the third period. He also added an assist in a 5-3 Caps victory.
The win vaulted Washington (30-12-6, 66 points) back into first place in the Eastern Conference. It also kept the Flyers (23-21-3) from ascending into a playoff position. Philadelphia had gone 8-2-1 in its previous 11 games to overcome a horrid start.
But for the Caps, Laich was the big story. One of the team’s most dedicated players just couldn’t find an answer to his scoring slump over the last two months. He tried working harder. Laich stayed on the ice after one practice last week about 20 minutes after his teammates finished up – even though they had a flight to Atlanta that afternoon. That didn’t work. So he tried to relax and soon found he wasn’t playing hard enough. His word? Uninspired. Boudreau’s term? Existing.
“There’s reasons why you’re playing well and reasons why you’re not,” Laich said. “I kind of got in a bit of a rut there where I was trying to put a fire out with gasoline.”
But Boudreau showed confidence in his 26-year-old winger. Last Wednesday against Florida, he tabbed Laich in the shootout round with the game on the line. Miss and the Panthers would win. Score and the game would continue. Laich beat goalie Tomas Vokoun and the Caps won it in the next round.
“Bruce could have been a hero or a goat there,” Laich said. “But when I scored it was nice to know the puck still fit in the net.”
More than one teammate told Laich that shootout goal would push him in the right direction. His goal at 13 minutes, 28 seconds of the first period on Sunday tied the game at 2. That came off a rebound of a Tomas Fleischmann shot. Laich kicked the puck away from Flyers goalie Ray Emery and finished in front. On his shorthanded goal in the third, Laich stripped the puck from Philadelphia forward Mike Richards and drove hard on Emery, roofing a backhanded shot to extend Washington’s lead to 4-2.
“[Laich] is a very intense young man,” Boudreau said. “Sometimes he likes to do too much. We just looked over his video – his shifts, his goals – to see if there was anything we could find that he was doing different. We had a good talk…You are never going to find a guy that cares more than Brooks Laich.”
Alex Ovechkin added goal No. 30 at 15:38 of the third to put the game away. Ovechkin was hauled down by Philadelphia defenseman Braydon Coburn and earned a penalty shot. He entered the day 0-for-5 in his career and has long been hit-or-miss in shootouts. But this time he beat Emery for his first career penalty shot and Washington’s final goal. Daniel Briere added a power-play tally in the final minute for Philadelphia. Caps goalie Jose Theodore stopped 30 of 33 shots for the victory. His team overcame early deficits of 1-0 and 2-1. Theodore was also in goal the last time the two teams met – an 8-2 Washington blowout at Wachovia Center.
“Maybe we weren’t as sharp out of the gate as we would have liked or maybe Philadelphia wanted it really badly,” Boudreau said. “I watched their warm-up closely and they had their game faces on like it was a playoff game. I am sure they wanted to make amends for the last time we played them and they came out really hard.”
