My three things about the Stanley Cup Final (updated after Game 5)

As my friend and I were watching Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers, we spoke about the stark contrast between the two defenses playing in the Final, and the defense of the Washington Capitals.

There was so much difference between the Capitals’ defense and the Stanley Cup defenses that we didn’t really know where to start.

As I continue to watch this wildly entertaining series and the Capitals’ first round ousting by the Montreal Canadiens becomes further and further away by the way, I feel like there are certainly aspects of the Blackhawks and Flyers that Capitals fans can examine when trying to figure out how  the Capitals could be in the Final this time next year. I have three things that Capitals fans can take from the Blackhawks and Flyers listed below:

-The regular season is 82 practice games. The Flyers were an unwatchable bunch for much of the regular season, as they appeared to be just going through the motions at times under old head coach John Stevens, and dysfunctional as they struggled to grasp the new systems brought in by new head coach Peter Laviolette.

I was at Verizon Center on January 17 when the Capitals defeated the Flyers, 5-3. The Flyers looked good at the beginning of the game, but once they fell behind, they left their offensive schemes behind, as well. The Flyers would gain the Capitals’ zone and wildly heave pucks towards the Capitals’ net, and were always one and done – even if they actually did manage to hit the net.

The Flyers clinched a playoff berth on the strength of a shootout in their final game of the season and earned the Eastern Conference’s No. 7 seed, which brought about with the New Jersey Devils, whom the Flyers matched up well against. The Flyers disposed of the Devils in quick order, and got on a roll in the next round against the Boston Bruins once they got down, 3-0, in the series.

At that point, it became all systems go for the Flyers. Suddenly, it seemed as though Laviolette’s systems all began to click for the Flyers, who were creating tic-tac-toe plays in the offensive zone and were very quick in turning their opportunities into goals after being slow to create any offensive opportunities in the regular season. And those one-and-done offensive trips in January? The Flyers now were crashing the net with vigor.

All of that carried right on into the Montreal series in the Eastern Conference Final and into the Stanley Cup Final. It also helped that the Flyers had mostly all of their skaters on the ice and not in the trainer’s room. The talent that many thought would be displayed all regular season was finally being displayed in the playoffs.

On the other hand, the Blackhawks played extremely well all season and finished as the No. 2 seed in the West. But the Blackhawks were chasing the Sharks and vice-versa for the top spot all season, and also don’t play in the Southeast Division — the Blackhawks had two other 100-point squads in their division pushing them in the Detroit Red Wings and Nashville Predators. The Capitals, meanwhile, clinched their division before the season ever started, and as my dad puts it, “were playing bored” at times after New Year’s.

The 121-point Capitals have to win just as many games as anyone else in the playoffs — 16. Once the playoffs begin, that the Capitals earned 121 points in the regular season and won the President’s Trophy means nothing. A seventh-seed like the Flyers can easily get a favorable matchup in the first round and get hot at the right time — maybe the biggest aspect of winning a Cup — while a top seed can easily get an unfavorable matchup like the Capitals did.

-Sound defensive schemes and a shutdown defenseman are both extremely important. The Flyers have been able to contain a potent Blackawks’ offensive attack by a very sound defensive shell that is forcing the Blackhawks to shoot from the perimeter rather than the preferred method of crashing the net, especially in Games 3 and 4, and on the penalty kill. The Blackhawks lost Games 3 and 4, and in both games, unsurprisingly, the Blackhawks’ defensive coverages broke down significantly around their own net. In Game 5, when Philadelphia was running around in the defensive zone and broke away from their defensive shell of Games 3 and 4, the Blackhawks dropped seven goals on them and the Flyers were forced to hear this over and over again.

Both teams feature top shutdown defensemen in Chris Pronger (Flyers) and Duncan Keith (Blackhawks). Pronger’s ice-time for the first five games of the Stanley Cup Final from Game 1 to Game 4: 32:21, 27:52, 32:07, 27:51 and 28:37. Keith: 28:14, 27:02, 30:20, 30:41 and 27:11. For half of any game, each team has a defenseman that will lock down his half of the ice on the defensive end of the ice. Unsurprisingly, when Pronger was beyond brutal in Game 5, the Flyers lost convincingly, which was also the case in Game 3 of the Montreal series.

In Pronger’s case, he forced the Blackhawks to separate usual linemates Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane so that he couldn’t shut down both of them at the same time. Pronger also made linebacker forward Dustin Byfuglien, a usual linemate with Toews and Kane, ineffective for the first four games. Byfuglien, who scored in each of the Blackhawks’ four games against the Sharks in the Western Conference Final, makes a living camping out in front of the opposing goaltenders. Pronger has battled Byfuglien and Pronger, to say the least, has won the battle for the most part. Byfuglien came alive in Game 5, when Pronger was a -5. The Flyers go as Pronger goes, and for that reason, Pronger will be the Conn Smythe winner if Philadelphia wins the Cup.

Each team’s defensive depth also happens to be more than serviceable. Philadelphia has Braydon Coburn, Matt Carle and the notoriously underrated Kimmo Timonen. Chicago boasts Brent Sopel, Brian Campbell and Brent Seabrook. While vulnerable at times, these defenders can more than hold their own.

The Capitals, meanwhile, don’t have much in the way of a defensive scheme on the penalty kill. All season and into the playoffs, their penalty kill was quite passive, as they tended to get into a box, dig into the ice and not move. While Montreal’s penalty kill consistently pressured — but not over-persuing – the puck, Washington let Montreal operate at will around their box on the power play. Before any shutdown defenseman can come in and make an impact to his fullest potential, the penalty kill schematics have to be altered greatly over the offseason. This isn’t like pee-wees, where coaches should be absolutely thrilled with their team if they’ve managed to figure out how to get into a box on the penalty kill.

A shutdown defenseman, though, would for sure be able to make an immediate impact 5-on-5, because the current defenseman with the Pronger and Keith-like minutes is Mike Green (this doesn’t tend to work well in the playoffs, for your information). The Capitals don’t have anything resembling a shutdown defenseman currently, and their defensive depth is extremely suspect as it stands right now. Although Tom Poti played well in the playoffs, in all respect to Poti, he shouldn’t be a team’s top shutdown defender. The Capitals also shouldn’t be banking on two defenders fresh from Hershey — John Carlson and Karl Alzner – to step up to become an elite defensive pair next season.

I’m not familiar enough with the Capitals’ salary cap situation to be able to comment on what free agent defender they should acquire or what defender they should trade for. Some pressure needs to be taken off of Green during a given playoff game, and the Capitals would be well served if they were able to use a shutdown defender on the penalty kill against a good power play like Montreal’s, and henceforth being able to dismiss Green of penalty killing duties. But first, for any defensive acquisition to play up to his given potential, the Capitals need to seriously alter their philosophy on the penalty kill.

Goaltending and a lethal power play are two huge ingredients to a deep Stanley Cup run. My dad has been preaching this to me since I started watching hockey, and every year, it seems like it bears truth. He says that a team’s goaltender must steal a game or two in a series, and a team’s power play has to make their opposition pay at a significant rate to go to the penalty box. 

After a wild 6-5 Chicago win in Game 1, the Blackhawks got a sensational 32-save performance out of Antti Niemi in Game 2, and without that performance, could have very well be down, 3-1 in the series heading into Game 5. Neither team, though, has received particularly sparkling goaltending for the series as a whole. Niemi has been very human in the series, and the chinks in the armor of Michael Leighton were on full display in Games 1 and 5, when he was pulled in each. Although Leighton was very sound in net for Games 2 through 4, the Flyers don’t exactly have a solid No. 1 goalie at this point. Two goalies combined to give up six goals in Game 5, and goaltending will be a major factor if they go on to lose this series because of the difference between Niemi and the Flyers’ goaltending duo.

Though Niemi has been nothing special, he’s certainly given the Blackhawks a solid No. 1 guy through the entire playoffs. He’s kept them in mostly every game in the postseason and has made a few spectacular saves along the way. That stability could end up being the key difference between the Flyers and Blackhawks.

The Flyers have struck on five of 19 power plays for the series, and three of nine opportunities in Games 3 and 4, which was instrumental in getting the series tied up at two after four games. Chicago, meanwhile, only scored one power play goal in Games 3 and 4 — both of which were losses. Chicago is only 3-for-13 on the power play this series, but struck for two of those power play goals during Game 5, which allowed them to maintain separation with Philadelphia throughout the game and get their hands on a 3-2 series lead.

The Capitals had the most lethal power play in the NHL during the regular season, but wilted to the Montreal penalty kill in the playoffs, scoring just once in 33 opportunities. Montreal cut off all passing lanes to Alex Ovechkin once the Capitals got set up in the Canadiens’ zone. The centerpiece of the Capitals’ power play, an Ovechkin one-timer from the left point position off of a point-to-point pass from Green, was henceforth cut off. The Capitals struggled mightily to effectively adjust to the Montreal penalty kill, which accounts for much of the reason that the Capitals didn’t live to see the second round.

The Capitals’ goaltending situation was also not particularly ideal. Although Jose Theodore played very well down the stretch, there was always a fear that he would lay an egg in the playoffs, as Theodore’s career had been marred with inconsistency up to that point. Sure enough, after a solid Game 1, Theodore gave up two goals on the first two shots he faced in Game 2, even though the defense in front of him during the goals resembled that of 10-year-olds at the local rink. After that, the Capitals handed the reigns over to young Semyon Varlamov, who played well (especially in Games 3 and 4), but wasn’t particuarly outstanding in Games 5 through 7.

The Capitals must be able to settle upon their No. 1 goaltender before the playoffs begin next year — goaltending musical chairs just does not get it done for the most part. That responsibility could lie on a number of potential goaltenders, including Varlamov, Michal Neuvirth or a free agent pickup. The Capitals must find consistency out of the position in order to make it through a grueling two-month postseason. Though the Flyers have been able to somehow, some way get by with Leighton and Boucher, the Capitals will in all likelihood need, at the very least, a Niemi-type playoff performance for a deep playoff run.

So there you have it — my three aspects of the current Stanley Cup finalists that Capitals fans can examine with an eye towards their team.