It’s known as the second season to Hockey fans. With each play-off series a best of seven, the road to the Stanley Cup is a long and hard one. And success in the regular season doesn’t always translate into championships, a fact the Caps loyal fans know all too well. But there is hope in the nation’s capital that this will be the year the Caps exorcise their play-off demons and find a way to bring home Lord Stanley’s cup for the first time in franchise history. By many different metrics, the Capitals are the best team to never win the cup. They have, in their storied history, had some of the best players in the world on their teams and they’ve won just about every single honor that can be won in the sport of hockey, except for the one that players and fans most want to win. But this year is different.

Last year’s team also won the President’s trophy (the team with the best record in the regular season) but lost in the second round to the Pittsburgh Penguins who would go on to win the Stanley Cup. But last year’s team have limped into the play-offs with a lackluster performance over the last several weeks of the regular season. Many players and fans felt that the idea of ‘starting it up’ again in the post season was a dangerous strategy that ultimately derailed the franchise in the second round.

Karl Alzner, a deffenceman, had this to say ““We’re playing with more structure. We were tinkering a lot last year. It was just so relaxed because it ended up being a really long year for us. We just didn’t have the killer instinct that we needed to have, but I think we still found a way to turn it around pretty good in the first round. … It’s nice that we’re playing well and we’re structured. Guys are working hard and smart. We really focused on having a guy in good defensive position in the offensive zone. That’s really limited odd-man rushes, which has been a thing for us at times this year. So we’re seeing a lot of promising things right now.”

Team Captain and international superstar Alex Ovechkin also believes this team is better “I think this team is more concentrated right now on getting success in the second season than in the first.”

Given the stinging disappointments of recent play-off runs, perhaps this years’ team has the necessary intensity and drive to make a deep run at the Cup. The first contest in the seven game first round match-up against the Toronto Maple Leafs begins Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m.

Let’s go Caps!!!!

Quotes sourced from:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capitals-insider/wp/2017/04/11/capitals-feel-theyre-entering-the-playoffs-in-a-better-place-than-a-year-ago/?utm_term=.0d7906dc3387