Caps Clash with B's in Pursuit of Cup

Some four months after they started the truncated 56-game regular season schedule with a 6-4 win over the Sabres in Buffalo, the Caps are now set to open up the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a first-round match-up against the Boston Bruins.

That 56-game schedule did little to separate the top four teams in the NHL's East Division, where the Caps took up temporary standings residency for 2020-21. Although Washington finished with the fourth-best record in franchise history and ended up with the same number of points as division champ Pittsburgh, the Caps placed second via the first tiebreaker of regulation wins, drawing the Bruins as their first-round opponent.
"I think if you look at all four teams in our division, all four of them are good," says Caps center Nicklas Backstrom. "Whoever you play, it's going to be a tough matchup. We got Boston. They're a good team and they're a very skilled team too. I'm sure it's going to be a good matchup."
Only six points separated the four East Division playoff entrants, they're the tightest group of teams in any of the NHL's four divisions. All four coaches in the East playoff bracket have been to the Stanley Cup Final series within the last five years, and whichever team emerges from this four-team pack and into the NHL's "final four" will have earned its way there.
Peter Laviolette took over behind the Washington bench this season, guiding the team to the best start in franchise history (6-0-3) despite an abbreviated training camp with no exhibition games and a spate of early season lineup absences and injuries. Immediately after starting the season by registering a point in each of their first nine games, the Caps hit one of their few speed bumps of the season, dropping four straight games to start the month of February.
After the third of those four consecutive setbacks, the Caps came to an unexpected break in their schedule. COVID-19 outbreaks popped up among Washington's next two opponents, suddenly giving the Caps a week of practice and rest, while also jumbling up the remainder of their schedule. When it was all said and done, the Caps played only 44 of 56 games against the original opponent on the original date and at the original time of the schedule they were given at season's outset.
Washington made the most of that impromptu week off from games, resetting and getting healthy, and ultimately finishing the season with 30 wins in its final 43 games (30-11-2). The Caps' .721 points percentage from that point forward was tied with Pittsburgh for second in the League over that span; only Colorado (.761) was better. Although Washington finished the season 17th in the circuit with an average of 2.88 goals against per game, the Caps allowed 2.60 goals per game over those final 43 games, tied for ninth in the League over that stretch.
Everything that happened in the last four months led the Caps to their first-round match-up with the Bruins, a team they faced eight times during the regular season. This marks the first time in Washington's franchise history that it will face a playoff foe that it faced as many as eight times during the preceding regular season.
Sizing up the Washington-Boston matchup specifically, the one area that stands out as being different between the two teams is goaltending.
A little over nine years ago, the Caps went up against the Boston Bruins in a first-round playoff series, doing so with a rookie goaltender named Braden Holtby. All seven games of that series were decided by a single goal, and Holtby and the Caps ended up stunning the B's - the League's defending Stanley Cup champs at the time - on Joel Ward's overtime goal in Game 7 in Boston.
With Vitek Vanecek the likely starter in net for Washington for Saturday's Game 1, the Caps are looking for a similar outcome behind a different rookie netminder, nine years down the road.
For much of the season, Vanecek split the netminding chores with sophomore netminder Ilya Samsonov. But in the season's final week, Samsonov landed on the COVID-19 protocol list for the second time this season. He missed six weeks of NHL action following his first appearance on that list, so the Caps may not be able to count on having both Vanecek and Samsonov available to them.
"I think once you're with somebody for a while - for a year - and they've played the games and you've counted on them, this is our team, these are our guys," says Laviolette. "And we've had success this year by counting on our guys and counting on our team. Yeah, they're both young, but they've done a good job."
Abruptly thrust into a starting role early in the season after Henrik Lundqvist left the Caps to undergo heart surgery and Samsonov landed on the COVID-19 protocol list, the 25-year-old Vanecek started 17 of Washington's first 20 games, and he finished the season with 21 wins, second all-time among Caps rookie goaltenders.
"Vitek had pressure early on when he had to carry the ball by himself for quite a few games," says Laviolette. "It was probably the first 15-16 games - after we got through the first four - that it was just him, and he did a terrific job. He handled that pressure and this was part of his growth and part of his development.
"I don't necessarily know if we look at it like we've got young goaltenders in there. I look at it like we've got a good group of goaltenders who have performed well for us this year and put us in a position to be within a few points of first place overall in the League, and we're excited to get going with these guys in the playoffs."
Prior to his ascension to the Washington roster this season, Vanecek fashioned a 71-43-16 record in four full seasons and part of another with AHL Hershey. Twice during that span, he tasted Calder Cup playoff action. Vanecek owns a 2-5-0 record in eight games worth of playoff action at the AHL level, but with an impressive .925 save pct. and a 2.47 GAA.
"I feel like the NHL is about the head," says Vanecek. "You have to be mentally ready for it. I was working on the ice every day - same thing as I was doing in Hershey - and just getting better every single day. Now I'm just getting better with my head, and now I think it's pretty good. I just keep feeling better and better."
Veteran Craig Anderson will open the series as Vanecek's backup. Anderson will celebrate his 40th birthday on May 21, the date of Game 4 of this series.
The Bruins have veteran Tuukka Rask - a Vezina Trophy winner in 2014 and a Vezina finalist in 2020 - and his 306 career victories in net. Rask hasn't had a great deal of regular season success against Washington over the years; he owns a 4-11-7 record against the Caps, with two shutouts, a 3.03 GAA and an .894 save pct. in 23 career appearances.
"I think it's the same as all goalies," says Backstrom, when asked about Rask. "You've got to get those secondary chances, you've got to get traffic in front of the nets. And obviously it's all about getting the shots through from the points. They're good defensively and you've just got to try to create those secondary chances. But he's a good goaltender and he is a gamer."
Health is another area where Boston appears to have an edge on Washington as the series gets underway. Banged up to varying degrees for most of the season, the Bruins are near peak health with Game 1 looming. Boston is without depth defenseman John Moore (hip) and winger Ondrej Kase (upper body), but they've been without both players for much of the season.
The Caps conducted a full practice on Thursday and had an optional practice on Friday. Among the non-participants were Samsonov (COVID-19 protocol), defenseman Michal Kempny (lower body) and top six forwards T.J. Oshie (lower body) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (COVID-19 protocol). These being the playoffs, virtually no information is known as to when or if any of the ailing might be expected back in the lineup.
Oshie took part in Saturday's morning skate ahead of Game 1, but his presence in the lineup will be a game-time decision.
"We're past that in the locker room," says Laviolette, referring to the absences of Samonov and Kuznetsov, specifically. "We deal with what we can deal with inside of the room. And when pieces or players become available, then we put people back in the lineup. I understand that we're talking about it and probably will tomorrow and the next day, and those questions will come up, but we can only control what we can control."
If there is an area where the Caps have an advantage, it's probably in the defensive corps. Washington's blueline is laden with experience, and the Caps went through a stretch of 33 straight games where it dressed the same group of six defensemen this season. Five of the Caps' seven rostered defensemen have more than 500 games worth of NHL experience, led by ex-Bruin Zdeno Chara's 1,608.
Among Boston's likely group of six defensemen, Kevan Miller is the most experienced with 351 NHL games. The six Boston blueliners combined have a total of 1,474 games played, 134 fewer than Chara himself.
Both teams are talented and skilled up front, and Boston's trade deadline addition of Taylor Hall makes the Bruins a much more formidable offensive outfit, and takes some pressure off the Patrice Bergeron line, one of the best lines in the League for several seasons now.
"Obviously they're a good line," says Laviolette of the Bergeron trio. "They've got a lot of chemistry; they've played together for quite a bit. I think you always talk about players, you always talk about line combinations that have done some good things through the course of the year or against you.
"When you're at home, you can control matchups a little bit easier, and so those are the things that we'll try to do. But it's a dangerous line. It's a line that's been effective through the course of time - and certainly against us - so it's a challenge for us to make sure that we're doing the right things against them."
Washington led the League in 5-on-5 scoring for much of the season, but the Caps ended the season fourth in that category with 129 goals. Boston finished in a tie for 14th in the league in 5-on-5 scoring with 106 goals. But since adding Hall at the deadline, the Bruins' total of 43 goals (in 17 games) at 5-on-5 is tied for second in the NHL, one behind Vegas (44). Washington is tied for 27th in the league with just 24 goals at 5-on-5 in its final 14 games of the campaign.
"The good players in this league, they're going to get their opportunities," says Caps defenseman Brenden Dillon. "I think it's more about just trying to limit those opportunities, whether that's blocking the odd shot or taking away a backdoor pass and giving your goalie a good, honest look at the shot or the opportunity.
"Defending those top players takes five guys; it's not just one [defense] pair or a shut down forward line, it's five guys and it's getting harder and harder to defend in this league, whether that's penalties or just staying on these high-end guys."
Both teams have a fair amount of star power and both have rosters replete with excellent complementary and role players. After having played one another eight times in a span of 56 games, secrets are non-existent between the Caps and the Bruins. As is typically the case, it will come down to execution and maybe the odd bounce. Both teams are capable of playing a physical game and will seek to do so from the outset of the series.
"It's no secret that Washington is a team that has high energy, plays physical, has high end talent and is very deep throughout the lineup," says Bergeron. "For us, it's about what we can bring against that and we kind of have some of the same attributes. We can play that heavy game, but also we play a high energy, fast game. It's going to be playoff hockey, that's what we expect and that's what we're looking forward to."
"You have to play with pace against Washington," says Boston coach Bruce Cassidy. "You've got to play in behind their [defense], force their forwards to defend in their end; they've got a lot of skilled guys who want to get going. That means having the puck and getting pucks back, so a lot of it is puck possession.
"Obviously when you have the puck, you're not physical in terms of dictating the physicality, you're just strong on it, using your skill and speed. That's one thing we have to do and not get away from and get caught up in matching them hit for hit. When the hits are there, you've got to take them. You've got to show that we're going to wear you down as the series goes along as well. But hopefully you're also doing it with footspeed and tiring them out chasing you around as well."
Boston was the NHL's top face-off team over the course of the regular season while Washington finished in the middle of the pack, improving a fair amount as the season wore on. The Caps have to make sure they're not blown out on the dot in this series; if they end up chasing the puck too frequently in the wake of draws, they may soon find themselves chasing the series as well.
Over the last four months, the Caps have overcome a great deal of adversity to put themselves into position to compete for another Cup. The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is always a wild ride, and the path they took to get here should help the Caps now that the games matter more than ever.
"I think we've overcome a lot of adversity," says Laviolette. "There have been a lot of things that have happened out of our control, where our guys have had to step up in different situations. We don't even talk about Henrik Lundqvist and what he would have meant. That's 56 games that we played without him, and he was scheduled to be part of the team. A guy like Michal Kempny was a big factor for this team, and [he missed] 56 games.
"We had guys that went into the COVID-19 protocol and early on we were banged up quite a bit. We had a young goaltender in Vitek carrying the first 10 games for the most part - 10-12 games - by himself, and he did a terrific job. We've had big guys out of the lineup back in the beginning of the year and certainly have had some big guys out of the lineup at the end of the year, but yet we still find a way to push forward and compete hard.
"And again, not every game has turned into a win, but we were able to keep our head above water and we were able to win hockey games regardless of the lineup. To me, that shows a perseverance inside the room. The guys are able to jump into roles and jump into positions and help our team find success. For me, just being a part of this group and watching them with some of the things that have gone on, I think we've been a pretty resilient group."