The Washington Capitals opened their season with a 2-1 shootout loss, which one would assume leads to the team discussing its need for more sustained offense. After all, the Caps outshot the weary Montreal Canadiens 15-2 in the first period and still came away with only one point. Instead, coach Barry Trotz focused on the positives that he saw. Mainly, he wanted to see his guys swarm to each other’s defense. He saw that, so he’s happy.
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“I want guys sticking up for each other,” Trotz said per Alex Prewitt at the Washington Post. Trotz added he was seeking a ‘gang mentality’ from his team this season.
There were plenty of scrums between Capitals players and Canadiens players and apparently that’s the big focus of the Washington Capitals this year. Not their lack of secondary offense or even primary offense in this game. It’s all about that scrumming.
“I think it’s important,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said after the game. “Over the course of the season, that’s a good thing. You got to be smart. There’s a good time to do it and a time not to. For the most part, if someone’s taking advantage of a guy who’s vulnerable or something like that, then it’s the right thing to do to step in there and let him know.”
We’ll just have to take their word for it. For now, the Capitals still look like a team that focused on all the wrong things this offseason. They have promising young rookies like Alex Burakovsky, who scored the team’s lone goal, but few proven scorers outside of Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. But hey, they have Brooks Orpik for five years, right?
Forgive our skepticism, but as nice as it is to see a bunch of guys willing to throw punches for each other, it’s goals that win hockey games and the Capitals don’t have the tools to score very many, it seems. Until that changes, Barry Trotz might want to focus a little more on that as the Caps continue to look like last year’s mediocre hockey club.
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