Capitals swear it's not 'here we go again' vs. Penguins

ARLINGTON, Va. – Game 1 of the Washington Capitals’ series against the Pittsburgh Penguins had a stomach-turning familiarity for their fans.

Like the Capitals getting the better of the play, and the Penguins striking quickly to take a lead. Like the Capitals playing even better after conceding that lead, only to earn that most familiar of results against the Penguins in the postseason: a loss.

“It sucks to always chase the game,” said forward Jay Beagle. “You can feel like you’re dominating play. Dominating in their zone. Then they strike, and it’s 1-0. They’re really good at capitalizing on their opportunities.”

[Follow Puck Daddy on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr]

Washington, in turn, is not always good at capitalizing on its chances. We’re not talking about shots on goal – although with a better net-front presence, maybe some of those 83 shot attempts in Game 1 find their way behind Marc-Andre Fleury. No, we’re talking about grabbing a lead in a playoff game, and not waiting for a deficit to serve as their alarm clock.

In 19 playoff games in the last two season, the Capitals have scored the first goal nine times, or less than half the time. During the regular season, they’ve scored first 58.6 percent of the time in 164 games.

“We have to play desperate before they score a goal. We have to dictate the game, and I don’t think we’ve done well in all of the playoffs in doing that,” said Beagle.

That said, they’ve carried play at times in the playoffs, including for the majority of Game 1 and especially in the third period, where Fleury had to make 15 saves. They just didn’t come away with a win, because they allowed Sidney Crosby to score two goals in 52 seconds.

“It’s about not getting frustrated when it’s 0-0. Not getting away from our game. The last 10 minutes of the first period, we’re all over them. We come out in the second period, do some stuff we hadn’t done in the first period, and suddenly we’re down 2-0. When it’s 0-0, we just need to keep playing our style of hockey,” said forward Tom Wilson.

It was reminiscent of Game 3 against the Penguins in 2016, when Patric Hornqvist and Tom Kuhnhackl scored goals one minute apart, the difference being theirs were in the first period while Crosby’s were in the second. That loss last postseason was a turning point for the series: Chasing the game, rallying in the third, but falling short, and leaving frustrated.

Coach Barry Trotz said the mindset for his team following that game isn’t the same as it is following Game 1.

“Our mindset wasn’t ‘here we go again.’ I’ve seen that,” he said. “I think we’re in a different place. I think we feel we can still build on our game. Last year we came at them real hard and were like ‘what else can we do?’ Well, I don’t have that feeling this year. I know we can do more. We know we can do more.”

Even after throwing everything at Fleury in the third period? Wasn’t that frustrating?

“Absolutely not. Not at all. I could lie to you and say that, but I swear to God,” he said, as Trotz placed his hand on the podium like he was being sworn in to testify.

“Seriously, that’s the change in our team. We’re not backing off. We’ve learned to go forward. We’ve learned to park things. That’s where the change is.”

Game 2 between the Capitals and Penguins is in D.C. on Saturday night.

—

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

MORE FROM YAHOO SPORTS