Caps Face New Challenge

Sunday night, the Caps lost to the Blue Jackets in overtime. Not really a big deal. They got a point, and in the first 2 months of the season, the key thing is to maximize the number of points you can get. Yea, it's never good to lose, but the team can certainly bounce back and is still in good shape (only 2 regulation losses in 14 games).

But the bigger story, without a doubt, was that Alex Ovechkin left the game with an apparent shoulder injury. You can read my game story here.

After the game, the big question was: "How long is he out for?"

Naturally, the Caps said he was day-to-day with an upper body injury. If you follow the team, you know that means that it could be anything from a minor foot injury to a season-ending neck injury.

On Monday, the team announced that Ovechkin's injury was an upper body strain and that he was "week-to-week." This was an interesting announcement, considering earlier that day Bruce Boudreau said he could play this weekend and Ovechkin said the injury wasn't serious. So, which one is it?

No matter what, the team has to figure out how to play without the best player in the world. The reigning MVP, Ovechkin was off to one of the best starts in his career - he led the league with 14 goals and 23 points in the month of October. They played the third period without him, and scored 3 goals. But that's a small sample size. Now they have to play New Jersey without their biggest threat and emotional leader. On paper, it sounds like a disaster.

But what if I told you it could be a good thing? You'd say I'm crazy, right? Well, maybe I am, but I think this could do wonders for this Caps team.

First of all, the team is forced to rally and learn how to score the gritty goals that they rarely get. 3 of their 4 goals were what I would call gritty goals. Laich's first one was a textbook rebound goal, his second one was a weak, low shot through a screen by Mike Knuble (who I'll get to in a second), and Quintin Laing's almost-game-winner was pretty much the definition of a garbage goal. As long as Ovechkin is out, the team is going to need the secondary scoring to really, really pick up. Not only do Alex Semin and Nicklas Backstrom have to shoulder more of the load, but guys like Chris Clark, Laich, Tomas Fleischmann, and Keith Aucoin all have to become more dangerous. Ovechkin's 20 minutes a night is going to be filled by someone. But who?

Well, last night, Boudreau ran these lines after the injury:

Laich-Morrison-Knuble
Fleischmann-Backstrom-Semin
Laing-Steckel-Bradley
Clark-Aucoin

If Ovechkin goes on the long-term IR, then they'll have to call up someone. I would bet they call up Alexandre Giroux, who always tears up the AHL but can't stick in the NHL. Personally, I'd like to see a guy like Francois Bouchard, Oskar Osala, or Andrew Gordon get a shot. All three put up good numbers and all add a little something different. But that still depends on whether or not Ovechkin actually visits the IR for the first time in his career.

Another solution is to put Michael Nylander into the lineup. His conditioning stint with AHL Grand Rapids is just about finished. Would they put him in? They don't need another center, but they could probably move some people around and make it work. But based on what the team's done so far, I don't think we'll be seeing #92 in the lineup.

No matter what, the absence of Ovechkin gives the team a chance to learn how to play without their superstar. Too many times have I seen the team get complacent and rely on a great game/play by Ovechkin to bail them out. Now, they're all going to have to dig deep and work harder for their goals. Especially on the powerplay. I really liked what I saw from the Laich-Morrison-Knuble line in the third period Sunday, and I loved that Knuble and Laich were all over Steve Mason on each goal. Knuble's play is such a boost to the offense, and not because he's some dynamic scorer. He just knows where to be when the skilled players have the puck: in front of the goaltender. He's perfected that role and he's definitely teaching it to guys like Laich and Fleischmann. If those guys can continue to step up offensively, it could go a long way to making the team that much closer to being a Cup winner. The secondary scoring is what has been lacking in some key situations/games.

A couple games without #8 out there to score his usual goal(s) may give other players a chance to play more playoff-style hockey; that is, dump it in, work hard in the corners, play good defense, and get the boring, ugly goals that the elite teams can get. We saw it in the third period yesterday and I am interested to see if the team changes up its gameplan without Ovechkin. There's still loads of offensive talent out there, but Semin has been far too cute lately and while Backstrom has played well, he could show just how good he really is by playing well without Ovechkin.

This team is good enough to win the Southeast division, even if Ovechkin misses a week or two. The division is terrible and there is enough talent to end up on top. It's all about learning to play playoff hockey and this is the kind of test a talented, but sometimes immature/lazy team may need to get it going. And while I never like to hear the words "Ovechkin" and "injured" in the same sentence, the Caps could turn it into an opportunity to show just how good they really are.