Washington Capitals Finding Success Without Top Players

Jan 9, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) celebrates with teammates after scoring the game winning goal against the New York Rangers during overtime of an NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden. The Capitals defeated the Rangers 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports /

The Washington Capitals lead the league with 65 points in 41 games. The most impressive part might be that they keep winning without several of their top players.

The Washington Capitals continue to roll through their competition and after an exhilarating victory in New York on the back of Alexander Ovechkin on Saturday, they sit with a 31-7-3 record at the halfway mark of the season. About two weeks ago, as the Capitals and the rest of the NHL entered the holiday break, we analyzed what a prime opportunity Washington had in the eight upcoming games to pull away from their competition in the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference. Six of those games would come on the road, including four against divisional opponents. At that time, the Washington Capitals had an eight point lead over the New York Rangers, who were second in the Metro.

Most people would have been satisfied if the Capitals could stretch their lead to double digits, maybe somewhere in the range of ten to twelve points. Well, here we are, at the end of that important eight-game stretch. The Caps sit a whopping 16 points ahead of the second place Rangers, and 11 ahead of the streaking Florida Panthers, the second place team in the Eastern Conference, who are on an incredible 11-game winning streak. The shocking part isn’t that the Capitals have extended their lead in the standings by eight point in eight games – it is that they have done it through the first bout of adversity they have faced all season.

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Adversity is something that tests the will of a team. Just when everything is going right, adversity, whether in the form of injuries, off-the-ice incidents, or general distractions, can drive a team in the wrong direction – fast. In this case, the Washington Capitals have been hit hard with the injury bug. For a while, the Capitals looked like an incredibly lucky team from an injury standpoint. The Brooks Orpik injury had been the only major injury through most of December for the team, but when that changed, it changed in a hurry. A home win over the Buffalo Sabres on December 30th would come at the cost of two of the most reliable players on the Caps. Forward Jay Beagle received an upper-body injury that required surgery and defenseman John Carlson suffered an undisclosed lower-body injury, a pair of ailments that have kept both players out since that night. In fact, center Nicklas Backstrom also left that game early, but would be okay to play the next night.

Following those injuries, the Capitals lost consecutive games for the first time all season – first to the Carolina Hurricanes, and second to the bottom-dwelling Columbus Blue Jackets. It was fair to wonder if injuries could do their fair share to derail the Washington Capitals a bit, and maybe plant that seed of doubt in their minds. Looking at the upcoming schedule after those consecutive losses, a bit of concern would have been warranted. The Caps would soon travel to Boston, Brooklyn and Manhattan, each of which pitted Washington against foes seemingly much more formidable than the Hurricanes or Blue Jackets.

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If that seed of doubt ever did exist, it didn’t exist for long. The Capitals rebounded in a big way, defeating the Bruins 3-2 in Beantown to right the ship. But it would not be injuries that would begin piling up starting here, it would be suspensions. Recent call-up Zach Sill, who was manning a bottom-six center role in Beagle’s absence, was suspended for two games after boarding Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid. What had been a strength just weeks ago, the depth down the middle, was quickly running thin. Two nights later in a game against the New York Islanders, Marcus Johansson hit Isles defenseman Thomas Hickey up high in a 4-1 win, resulting in another two game suspension for a Capital. The worst part: Johansson had been the fill-in third-line center instead of manning his usual second-line left wing position, and would be another huge loss for Washington.

In the span of about a week and a half, the Washington Capitals had lost three key players. Overall, after defeating the Rangers on Saturday, they were effectively missing their entire top defensive pairing, their shutdown third-line center, and their second-line left wing. Yet, they have continued to succeed and pull away despite these incidents seemingly piling on. If nothing else, the Capitals were sure to learn a lot about their overall depth, and whether or not several players could step into a bigger role and help keep the team rolling. In the end, the Washington Capitals were able to do much more than that.

Things are looking up now for Washington. Brooks Orpik and John Carlson were on the trip with their teammates, signalling that they could be returning sooner rather than later. Johansson will have one more game of his suspension to serve. And possibly the most exciting aspect is that new signing Mike Richards could be on the ice soon for the Washington Capitals, so we’ll get a chance to see what he has left in the tank.

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All in all, things, could have gone a lot worse for the Washington Capitals over the past two weeks with injuries and suspensions piling up. Instead, it went much better than expected, and the Caps remain comfortable sitting at the top of the league standings.

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