Its pretty impressive when a team can beat another team by playing hard for only a third of the game, but that's what the Caps did to the Oilers in Edmonton last night. Its even more impressive when its the second game in two nights, and third of a west coast road trip.
After traveling 5,000 miles, and playing two games on enemy ice and with another cross country flight staring them in the face, you could forgive the Caps for letting down a little bit. You couldn't exactly call what the Caps did in the first two periods 'bad' hockey, but it wasn't inspired either.
The Caps went into the second intermission down 2-0 after yielding single goals in the first and second periods. The potential for a second consecutive loss was enough for coach Bruce Boudreau to read the team the riot act in the dressing room. From The Washington Post:
After watching the Edmonton Oilers hold his team scoreless through two periods, Washington Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau resorted to his last option: He closed the door to the visitors' dressing room at Rexall Place and blasted his best players.
[ ...said Boudreau]"I tried to give it to [Ovechkin] and challenged him, I started him right off the bat. Instead of saying, 'Woe is me, why is the coach yelling at me?' he took up the challenge and said, 'I'll show you,' and went out there and got three points in the third and led us to a victory."
Whatever Boudreau said to Ovi seemed to do the trick. Two goals in six minutes later, both by Ovechkin, the game was tied. Two goals in the game's final six minutes put it away.
The Caps may not be the best team in the league or even in their own conference, but its nice to know that they can turn it on when challenged. In doing so they turned as tough a road trip as they'll have this year from a disappointment into a success through the strength of one period.
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