Washington Capitals: Top Five Reasons They Made The Playoffs
Reason #5 The Washington Capitals Made The Playoffs: Third Line
Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Last season, the Washington Capitals third line consisted of Jason Chimera, Eric Fehr, and Joel Ward. It was probably more due to the rest of the team sucking, but they were arguably the best and most consistent forward line for the Capitals. This season, it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for the Caps, but the third line has been fairly consistent for them.
More from Capitals News
- Breaking down the Rookie Camp roster
- Hear what Magic Johnson said about Alex Ovechkin
- Capitals announce Rookie Camp schedule
- Breaking down the 2023-24 Capitals national TV schedule
- Capitals Alumni Weekend is coming back
Barry Trotz stuck with the third line until it proved it couldn’t do anything. At that point, he made a slight change by putting veteran forward Brooks Laich with that group. For a while, that worked. Laich helped the third line be more productive on offense, consistently generating scoring chances even though they didn’t lead to goals. For a while, that worked.
Suddenly, that third line stopped working. Trotz decided to go back to what worked earlier with Chimera, Fehr, and Ward. Again, it didn’t work. Recently, Trotz has tried something entirely different. He put Ward on the first forward line and has had a third line of either Glencross or Laich, Fehr, and Chimera.
The third line hasn’t stood out like they have in the past. However, that’s not a bad thing. Their possession numbers are up.
Blue is good, red is bad. Credit:
Chimera’s the only one of the third liners who has really struggled this season. The rest have been very respectable as far as puck possession despite handling tougher minutes than the second forward line. They’ve been an old-school checking line. Not much that the third line does could be considered “pretty”. You’re not going to see them on highlight reels most of the time.
So why have they had success? They’ve also been three hard-nosed guys who protect the puck, are strong when moving it, and can occasionally create scoring chances. They consistently handle defensive zone starts and have been very reliable for the Caps this season.
The Washington Capitals will have to have a strong third line if they want to do damage in the playoffs. After all, Trotz has always relied heavily on his third forward line, even in Nashville. He had his forward line that would take most of the defensive zone starts. The Caps certainly have options there, so Barry Trotz has options if the third line starts slipping at all.
Next: If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It