{"id":21625,"date":"2016-04-13T08:04:10","date_gmt":"2016-04-13T15:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/capitals-are-not-skating-away-from-stanley-cup-expectations\/"},"modified":"2016-04-13T08:04:10","modified_gmt":"2016-04-13T15:04:10","slug":"capitals-are-not-skating-away-from-stanley-cup-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/capitals-are-not-skating-away-from-stanley-cup-expectations\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitals are not skating away from Stanley Cup expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON, Va. <\/strong>\u2014 Once again, the Washington Capitals are atop the NHL as the best regular-season team. Once again, the pressure\u2019s on them as the favorite to win the Stanley Cup and prove this year won\u2019t bring another early playoff exit.<\/p>\n

Expectations have never been higher for Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals, six years after their first Presidents\u2019 Trophy and with their window drawing to a close. Being the best team over 82 games was worth nothing to Washington in 2010 when it lost in the first round to the Montreal Canadiens, but this team isn\u2019t running from the notion that it\u2019s Stanley Cup or bust.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to win a championship,\u201d general manager Brian MacLellan said. \u201cAnything less than that is unsuccessful in my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacLellan isn\u2019t the only one who holds that belief. The Capitals finished 11 points ahead of the field and boast the top goal-scorer in Ovechkin, arguably the best goaltender in Braden Holtby and one of the deepest defenses around.<\/p>\n

With the defending-champion Chicago Blackhawks looking not nearly as formidable as years past and no other dominant team in either the East or the West, this looks like the Capitals\u2019 year. Ovechkin has heard that so much and yet hasn\u2019t made it past the second round in seven previous tries.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year you ask me the same question, \u2018This is the year, this is the year?\u2019\u201d Ovechkin said. \u201cYou never know what\u2019s going to happen in the playoffs. It\u2019s a total different thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unpredictability of playoff hockey is the biggest obstacle standing in the Capitals\u2019 way. So much has to go right, from health to matchups to goaltending, and only eight of 29 Presidents\u2019 Trophy winners have gone on to win the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

Coach Barry Trotz brushes off the idea that winning the Presidents\u2019 Trophy is a disadvantage. He\u2019ll take the home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs, which is especially valuable to a team that won 29 of 41 games in its own rink.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t go to the bank and they\u2019re going to give me anything,\u201d Trotz said. \u201cOther than (home ice), we\u2019re entitled to nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Capitals\u2019 playoff shirts boast the slogan, \u201cEntitled to Nothing,\u201d to drive that point home. Their playoff hats read \u201cXVI,\u201d Roman numerals signifying the 16 wins needed to win the Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s our mentality, and it\u2019s a good thing,\u201d Ovechkin said.<\/p>\n

Center Nicklas Backstrom remembers that empty feeling from six years ago when hot goaltender Jaroslav Halak ended the Capitals\u2019 season in seven games. When they were on the verge of winning the Presidents\u2019 Trophy last month with seven games to spare, Backstrom deadpanned that \u201cit doesn\u2019t mean anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

That loss is still an open wound in Washington.<\/p>\n

Five players remain who took part in that series, and defenseman Karl Alzner said this group is wiser and less arrogant than in 2010 when there was a noticeable \u201cstrut\u201d in their step entering the playoffs. Ovechkin, Backstrom, Alzner, defenseman John Carlson and forward Jason Chimera are still around, but they\u2019ve been joined by veteran defensemen Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen, Cup-winning forward Justin Williams and blossoming star center Evgeny Kuznetsov \u2014 players who don\u2019t bear those scars.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that you have a mental block sometimes against teams, players, whatever it is \u2014 goalies,\u201d Alzner said. \u201cBringing in new players, new faces that don\u2019t have that mental block helps you get over it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trotz is also fresh, in his second season with the Capitals after 15 years with the Nashville Predators. But this is also uncharted territory for Trotz, who said he\u2019s never gone into a playoff series as the prohibitive favorite, something Washington will be when it opens against the Philadelphia Flyers.<\/p>\n

The regular-season success made the Capitals justifiable Cup favorites. Ovechkin said this team is much stronger mentally than in years past, and former coach Bruce Boudreau sees a group more prepared for Presidents\u2019 Trophy expectations than when he was behind the bench in 2010.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we won the Presidents\u2019 Trophy, they were young,\u201d said Boudreau, now coach of the Anaheim Ducks. \u201cSometimes when you\u2019re young, you think you\u2019ve got the world by the tail and everything is going to happen great. These guys have gone through some rough times since that time, and so they know what they\u2019re doing. … They\u2019re ready to have their turn.\u201d<\/p>\n

And not just the Capitals\u2019 turn to make the conference final for the first time since 1998. That would be a step forward and a sign of progress, but with Ovechkin nearing the end of his prime and so much going for them, the Capitals have a bigger opportunity to seize.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to win it all,\u201d MacLellan said. \u201cI don\u2019t know that if we get to the third round, does it make us feel any better? No. The only thing that makes you feel better is you win. … We recognize where we\u2019re at and we want to win a championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/SWhyno .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON, Va. \u2014 Once again, the Washington Capitals are atop the NHL as the best regular-season team. Once again, the pressure\u2019s on them as the favorite to win the Stanley Cup and prove this year won\u2019t bring another early playoff exit. Expectations have never been higher for Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals, six years after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-21625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21625"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=21625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}