2024-01-27 22:05:00
Washington continues to desperately cling to the possibility of continuing to fight for a Cup berth, but every day it becomes more and more difficult. Team Alexandra Ovechkina suffered three defeats in the last matches, and the upcoming match away once morest Dallas, which has 5 wins in 7 meetings, causes reasonable concern. This match will be the last before the week of rest – the so-called bye-week, during which it is forbidden to even train.
Back in early January, the head coach of Stolichny Spencer Carbury stated that it is impossible to overstate the importance of the coming weeks in the team’s schedule. He later added that the current stretch, with the Capitals playing away at Western Conference teams, was his biggest concern. The coach openly said that to succeed it was necessary to play in the playoffs, but this did not happen. The Caps lost to St. Louis, Minnesota and Colorado, scoring only 5 goals in three matches.
The team is trying to stay afloat in a very tight fight for the bottom lines in the cup zone, but Washington’s leaders are playing extremely unstable. First of all, this applies to Alexander Ovechkin, who cannot even reach the 10-goal mark for the season. Besides him, other leaders look extremely inexpressive and unstable – TJ Oshie, Tom Wilson and John Carlson.
“In times like these, when we are all struggling, we desperately need our leaders. We need them to become three, four, six of our best players tomorrow! We need big goals, we need to play big. Well, even if you don’t always manage to score. But then it should be a great defensive game. For the overall level of energy and tone, our stars must be the best players. In times like these, when there is a lot of pressure, good teams force their leaders to act,” Carbery said.
From these words it follows that Washington cannot do this. Neither Ovechkin, nor Carlson, nor Wilson and others have demonstrated the level of impact that is expected. And the passage regarding comparison with “good teams” simply screams, because the coach here openly admits that his team is not that “good”.
“It’s very difficult for our core group of hockey players to compete once morest these really quality teams. In theory, we do not have the right to simply merge. We cannot have those moments when there is a serious hitch or we catch a bad removal. Because the opponent will immediately go ahead and it will take a lot of effort to catch up. The start of the match is very important, we need to survive it, we cannot break down. We can’t have cases where we play very well, and then suddenly: “Oops!” – loss of the puck, one-on-one situation. Because that’s what these elite teams are waiting for,” Carbery added.
He did not name the culprits in the episodes, but this can be understood this way. At one point in the previous match with Colorado, Ovechkin and Kuznetsov were caught up in a lazy pass that led to an interception by one of the league’s best defenders, Cale Makar. And the bad penalty was caused by defenseman Ethan Bear, who threw the puck into the stands without resistance, giving Colorado its third power play in a row.
“The match once morest Dallas will be of great importance for all of us. This is the last match before the break. We need to find a way to play strong. For me, Dallas is three lines of guys who attack in the middle zone. Their ability to fight in the middle and earn space is second to none in the league. We need to try to take two points,” the head coach noted, but he has been making speeches of this kind for a long time.
Since the beginning of the season, Carbery has been trying to find ways to motivate his players, but he probably lacks authority. This is understandable if we remember that Carbery works in NHL in the position of head coach quite a bit. But if he shows excessive softness, it might cost Washington the season, and the coach himself – his reputation and his job.
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