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Top 3 New Year’s resolutions the Capitals must make

By Michael Marzzacco

Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports /
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Vitek Vanecek, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Vitek Vanecek, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /

#2 Protect the leads

The Caps have had a mix of rookies and veterans in their lineups. Now that the kids have a healthy amount of NHL games under their belts, it’s time for the team to get rid of bad habits of blowing leads.

I’ll point to three examples. The first one being Wednesday night against the Nashville Predators. Luckily the Caps came out on top thanks to Evgeny Kuznetsov‘s wicked snipe but things got scary in the second period.

After the Caps jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the Preds came back with three goals in the second. Thankfully whatever Peter Laviolette said to the team before that third period fired them up.

Another example I’ll point to is their home ice contest against the Los Angeles Kings. In that game the Caps blew a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2. Another example of a good game gone bad is the road one that ended November at the Florida Panthers. The Caps had a 3-1 and 4-2 lead but couldn’t hold on.

So one way for the Caps to improve in 2022 and a good resolution is to play as many complete 60 minute hockey games as possible. Doing so only increases the odds of winning.

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