Caps Briefing: Beating Senators Even Without Nylander
The lowly Capitals have beaten the Senators a lot this season. Four out of four times, to be exact. The Senators remain in first place in the East and have beaten every Eastern Conference team except Washington and Toronto this season. They have four more chances against Toronto, and none against Washington.
Last night's win was even more impressive because the Capitals played without Michael Nylander. Nylander, the team's biggest offseason acquisition and its highest paid forward until Alex Ovechkin's new contract kicks in, has elected to surgically repair a shoulder injury he had been ignoring for over a month. Nylander will need to rest for four to six months after his surgery.
If he heals quickly, he'll be back exactly in time for the start of the playoffs. If the Capitals can continue their improved play long enough to capture the eighth spot in the East, they'll face whatever team happens to finish the season in the first place spot. With a little luck, the Senators should still be there. Early season play across divisions is very different from playoff hockey, but it would still be great to see the Capitals reenter the playoffs against a team they've already swept this season.
Getting to the playoffs will of course require continued excellence from Nicklas Backstrom, who has suddenly, in his rookie year, been forced to become the team's number one center. Backstrom has meshed well with Ovechkin this season, and has played well enough for a Rookie of the Month nod and an invitation to the Young Stars game, but had not been a constant fixture on the Capitals' power play with Nylander healthy.
Nylander's injury also placed great responsibility on the shoulders of Boyd Gordon. The man from Unity, Saskatechewan went from playing wing on the Capitals' checking line to centering their second scoring line. He doesn't quite skate fast enough to keep up with Tomas Fleischmann and Alexander Semin, the two of whom registered a combined five points last night. Gordon didn't get to join in on many of their rushes, but he lent a steady defensive presence to the proceedings, took one weak shot and avoided embarrassing himself while playing more minutes than he's seen since November 24th.
Capitals general manager George McPhee said at a press conference yesterday that the team will not seek to trade away talented young players in order to replace Nylander for the rest of the season. That means that over the next few games we should see Viktor Kozlov, Brooks Laich and possibly even David Steckel or Chris Bourque audition as centers on the second line. If none of them are ready for the job, there's still a month left before the trade deadline and the Caps have plenty of room under the salary cap.