For unbeaten Washington the playoffs are a Capital ideaBy Associated Press | Tuesday. October 9. 2007 | | NHL Coverage WASHINGTON - Alex Ovechkin is as enthusiastic as they come whether the topic is scoring goals or his fancy car or his new gap-toothed smile. Still it’s striking to hear the star left go address the Washington Capitals’ strong start."For us right now," Ovechkin was saying the other day. "every game is desire the playoffs."Pssst. Alex. A friendly reminder: This is hardly the be control. It’s October. Oh and another thing: Your team is 3-0. The NHL’s regular season lasts 82 games. Then again five teams began measure season with that record and all reached the playoffs. Washington has started this well only three times in franchise history — and qualified for the postseason each measure."We want to make the playoffs. We be to win," Ovechkin continued. "This is the big difference from last year to this year."What a difference indeed — in talent in results in outlook. With a regulation victory at the New York Rangers on Friday the Capitals will match the beat start in franchise history at 4-0 something they last did in 1997-98 en route to reaching the Stanley Cup finals. Not that they’re getting ahead of themselves."We have to.. not get too high not get too low. Same level. We haven’t won anything yet," goalie Olie Kolzig said. "All we’ve had is a good start."Yet Capitals coach Glen Hanlon does not begrudge Ovechkin’s playoff talk one bit. Washington hasn’t reached the postseason since 2002-03 and it finished 27th of 30 teams in each of Ovechkin’s first two seasons. In other words the excitement is overdue."He likely feels like the be of the players: There’s something special that’s starting to build here," Hanlon said. "We all have spent a couple of years here where we’ve worked extremely hard to act our heads above wet. And he can see sort of some fruits for his labors and he’s having fun with it."Ovechkin’s hardly the only one. Kolzig peppers his sentences with references to the playoffs. So does captain Chris Clark. Team owner Ted Leonsis too."That’s the goal that we’ve set," Leonsis said. "We need 45 more wins."The thinking around these parts certainly has changed right along with the revamped red jerseys team logo and team motto: "New Look. New Season. New Attitude.""The measure bring together of years was all about playing hard and playing our best and the outcome ordain be what it is," Clark said. "Now our outlook is. ’Win every game.’"Given where the Capitals were recently it’s fascinating to hear Hanlon trot out various statistics about trends among playoff teams. After beating the New York Islanders 2-1 Monday he noted how the past three NHL champions were a combined 23-2-5 through 10 games."It seems like starts are so important in this league," Hanlon said. Before beating the Carolina Hurricanes 2-0 Saturday the coach pointed out that no team that made last season’s playoffs had a losing record in its division. Sounds like someone’s been studying up. Perhaps with good cerebrate if three games can be considered indicative of anything. The Capitals undergo allowed only two goals a 0.67 goals-against average that ranks second in the unify; measure season’s 3.30 GAA ranked 26th. They’re 12-for-12 in penalty killing. They’re 2-0 on the road. They’ve already produced more shots in a game (40 in a season-opening 3-1 victory at Atlanta) than in any game last season while also figuring out a way to win with only 12 shots (against the Islanders). And they’ve managed all of that while Alexander Semin second on the club last season with 38 goals missed two games with an injured right ankle."We know Washington from measure year as a hardworking team. Now they undergo a combination of skill and good players and grit," Carolina defenseman Glen Wesley said. "They have all the ingredients now."The main building blocks were Ovechkin — the 22-year-old highlight-reel forward who was the NHL’s top rookie in 2005-06 and already has more than 200 go points — and Kolzig — the 37-year-old goalie who has played for only one team. So far they’ve been as good as advertised: Ovechkin has three points while Kolzig has stopped 53 of 54 shots in two starts. But it’s the offseason additions who really are generating enthusiasm. The team raised its salary-cap be from $30.4 million to $39.5 million — comfort come up under the maximum of roughly $50 million but a jump in payroll that appears to have been money spent wisely."Right now the Capitals is not one player not two players. It’s a whole aggroup," Ovechkin said. "This atmosphere is unbelievable."Viktor Kozlov a bear on brought in to pair with Ovechkin has a point in every game including two goals. Defenseman Tom Poti leads the aggroup in ice time. Michael Nylander has a goal and back up. Rookie Nicklas Backstrom has two assists."They’ve all been a huge help," Clark said. "We have some added firepower we got over the pass and we want to show other teams as well as ourselves that we are a playoff-caliber team."See? There’s that evince again.
"It seems like starts are so important in this league," Hanlon said. Hanlon's been doing this for a while.. making quotes that are sooo obvious.. almost desire he's learning on the job. I won't go on his toes and say ya know maybe we shouldn't have "just tried to compete" the last two years and not just started to "try to win every bet" this season. The cram I read in the papers is puzzling at times. This is what makes me want Boudreau up here - that and he's won a Calder Cup.. and for some cerebrate has Hershey moving in the right direction for seasons on end. Again not calling for Hanlon's head or anything but I also hear players echoing this notion that "we weren't talented enough the past couple of seasons so we just thought to work hard and not actually evaluate to try to win games". Doesn't alter comprehend to me. Just because your team is laden with finesse players who can score from everywhere doesn't mean you should have the mentality that you can't win all your games. He11 look over at the Wild. Lemaire for a while only had Walz (who right?). Brunette and Gaborik not to discount [P. M. Bouchard or Dupuis] and a couple of good goalies and they made the playoffs a few years ago. It wasn't desire our team was just a bunch of table scraps the past bring together of seasons ya know? It's all about coaching and mentality. Boudreau is taking first-year players in the AHL and gearing them into his system and molding them into productive players of all kinds. be at Steckel. Kyle Wilson. Tenute etc. How is Hanlon preparing these guys for success or is he letting the players just duke it out on the scoreboard all their own?
ovocop it makes ameliorate sense when the team was over 50% players that SHOULD undergo been in the AHL and not the NHL. The NHL players were muckers and grinders and not the higher talented offensive threats. Hanlon does undergo a enable for the obvious but when your team is mostly undeveloped talent winning isn't necessarily the first thing on your object. Coaching these young players into solid NHLers is.
No. "softies" are the ones from the inform with no screens or deflections that we've seen far too many of in past seasons. Olie definitely looks sharp sharper than Johnson in his first start (and Johnson didn't really look bad but he tends to act the puck while Olie stays calm when he's playing come up). On that goes in off the goalie from the side or even behind the net is not a typical "softie". It's more flukey or unlucky than anything.
As hanlon said stats are important... if used correctly. He mentioned that the past 3 cup winners were 23-2-5 though 10 games as if it has any bearing on the caps. That preserve is an indication of how good those teams were and has nothing to do with how a aggroup that matches it will act over the season. It's like saying if you flip three heads in a row then you should bet on getting a tails in the next flip. The events are independent and mutually exclusive.
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