The questions are coming fast and furious at Caps coach Bruce Boudreau now. Playing in a mega-hockey market like Montreal in the playoffs it’s to be expected. But Boudreau is getting a tad defensive as people continue to question…well, his defensemen. Boudreau fielded a decent number of questions from the media at the morning skate at Bell Centre a few hours ago prior to his team’s playoff game vs. the Canadiens. They appear to be wearing on him. Thanks as always to the Caps’ excellent public relations staff for the audio.
“Generally speaking, we don’t think all offense…We’ve got a lot of good offensive players and we score a lot of goals because our players are skilled,” Boudreau said. “That’s the deal. It’s not like ‘Hey, let’s go four men up and let’s play with one defenseman.'”
When asked if it was a disservice to his team that people always assume it to be an offense-at-the-expense-of-defense kind of group, Boudreau agreed right away – and then promptly ended the press conference.
“Absolutely,” Boudreau said. “Because if a lot of these guys played on different teams they’d be known as great defensive players.”
Okay – that’s obviously way over the top. I don’t think if you put Tom Poti on the St. Louis Blues there would be a ton of articles coming out on how he’s a “great” defensive player. Most scouts will say he’s been a pretty good fit in Washington. Poti’s done whatever’s asked of him and generally lived up to his contract. But “great”? Let’s just call that a classic press conference over-reaction as Boudreau defended his blueline.
But he does have a point buried here. The Caps allowed 227 goals during the regular season. That ranked 16th in the NHL. They did that without an elite goalie. As well as Jose Theodore played from Jan. 13 on, it’s hard to dispute that. His overall stats were middle-of-the-pack to below average depending on the metrics you use. Washington also placed 25th in the penalty-kill rankings at 78.8%. Decent goaltending and a below-average PK don’t usually lead to good things. Well, last I checked there are 30 teams in the NHL and finishing 16th in goals allowed is just about…average. Not bad. Not great. How do we reconcile those basic stats with the argument that the Caps only focus on offense? Again, this might not be a championship-caliber blueline. And Boudreau might be protesting too much. But the Caps have run out some pretty putrid defenses the last 10 years – the 2005-06 team allowed 291 goals – and this one is better than most.
“If you can hold a team to eight scoring chances or less during the course of a game you’re not doing too many fundamental mistakes,” Boudreau said after Sunday’s practice. “[Montreal] had three power plays, they had 24 shots on goal. You hold a team to under 25 shots on goal you’re doing stuff right.. So people are quickly going to look at the fact and say – ‘Oh, yeah that’s the Washington Capitals, can’t play defense anymore.’ Well, the mistakes that we’re making are being taken advantage of by Montreal. And we’re obviously making mistakes to the wrong people – [Tomas] Plekanec and [Mike] Cammalleri and [Andrei] Kostitsyn. You can’t give those good goal scorers opportunities.”
Boudreau was also asked over the last two days what’s wrong with defensive pairing Jeff Schultz and Mike Green – they were on the ice for the final four goals the Canadiens scored on Saturday night in Game 2 – and if his goalies need a special kind of intestinal fortitude to excel in his “run-and-gun” system. Needless to say, I won’t be asking Boudreau that question anytime soon. Green, also, occasionally bristles at this line of questioning. The national perception of him as an elite player often goes hand-in-hand with the Caps’ negative defensive reputation. So I understand their frustration. The numbers show this is an average defensive team and that’s – sometimes – good enough to win a Stanley Cup if paired with an elite offense. They just have to know the questions aren’t going to stop. If the Caps have to hear them for the next six weeks I’m sure they’d pay that price. It means they’d still be playing.
