The Cockroach Caps aren’t dead yet. (Shout out to Brandon Duhaime for coming up with the moniker. Love this! It’s kinda scrappy, messy, weird, but charming, just like this year’s Caps. Instant classic!) After winning both games in a Home-and-Home against the Penguins over the weekend (including the 100th meeting between Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby), the Washington Capitals are still alive in the hunt for a playoff berth. They need the Flyers to lose both of their last two games for nay chance to make the playoffs. If Carolina loses to the Flyers tonight, the Caps are done and a very cool nickname will vanish from the lexicon.
This season’s been weird. After last years success, when the Caps were the best in the Eastern Conference, I figured they would at least make the playoffs with time to spare and be a better deeper team. Not so. The loss of Pierre-Luc Dubois hit them harder than most realize. Add in a few rookies finding their way, a powerplay that was awful and the sledding got a lot tougher. I didn’t have much hope after the Olympics. Even when they were climbing up the standings these last two weeks, it seemed out of reach. They would need too much help from other teams.
Honestly, I thought that maybe it would be better for the long-term health of the franchise if they took a small step back this year that would make them stronger in the future. After the John Carlson trade, the Caps will have three first rounders in the next two drafts. That’s a lot of draft capital to combine with some prospects to trade up higher in the draft or trade for the top six forward they covet. It seemed reasonable. Sure, I knew they could luck into the playoffs if the youth and the veterans the coaching all snapped into place and, they strung a few ins together. The team could morph into a roster that steamrolls through the playoffs without warning. There have been teams in the past that had bad records for two thirds of the year, and BAM! The Caps are suddenly world beaters. The Kings did it in 2012, the Pens in 2009 and again in 2016. The Blues of 2019. The Caps could be that team this year. But, how likely was that to happen?
Well, we are about to see. The Capitals are playing inspiring hockey. The veterans have stayed the course, Sourdif and Leonard have played very well, 19 year old Ilya Protas has four points in his first two games, and have you seen Cole Hutson is real fun to watch. The Capitals have won three in a row and seven out of their last ten. With the young kids rounding into shape, the veteran core doing what they do best, and stellar goaltending from Logan Thompson, they are on the cusp. Sure, they still need help from Carolina and Montreal or they will be out. What do I think? Forget the higher draft pick. Let’s go Carolina! Beat the Flyers so the Cockroach Caps will still have life again tomorrow.
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