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Caps focused on comeback, not playoff baggage
- Updated: May 5, 2016
5:49 PM ET
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Just how much do the so-called playoff demons dance in a player’s head at this time of year when he’s faced with adversity?
It’s a question worth asking for the next couple of days, before the Washington Capitals, the NHL’s top team by a mile during the regular season, face elimination Saturday night in Game 5 against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Capitals are a franchise with some playoff baggage. This was supposed to be the year they finally jettisoned it. And it may still be.
Former Caps winger Mike Knuble, for one, doesn’t put much stock in the notion that the past gets into the heads of current players.
“As a player I never believed that,” Knuble said by phone Thursday. “Ghosts of the past don’t play hockey. They’re not out there making plays and scoring goals and making saves. As a player you care less about what happened before; that’s out of your control now. The only thing you worry about is what’s happening right now. You’re living in the present.”
Maybe that was the case for Knuble, but is it for every current Washington player? The Caps have never gotten past the second round in the Alex Ovechkin era. How do they balance between living in the moment and trying to forget the past?
“I would say it’s a combination,” said former Capitals coach Adam Oates, who was behind the bench in 2012-13 and 2013-14 before being replaced by current coach Barry Trotz in May 2014.
“I think that’s one of the reasons they made those moves. They brought Justin Williams in for that reason, to try and fight through hiccups. But I also think they’re a way better hockey club than they were before. They’re a way better hockey club than the lineup I had, I know that. They’re more experienced. I would hope that when they play Saturday they can put it past them and win a game. Because if you win one game then you go into Pittsburgh and that’s the series. I’m sure that’s what their coaches are saying. These are the tests that challenge guys their whole career.”
“Right now, everything’s come a little harder for us,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “But we have to find …
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