One to go
Capitals can wrap up first-ever trip to finals
Posted: Monday June 01, 1998 07:56 PM
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Juneau (90) and the Capitals have watched 3-1 series leads disappear before (AP) |
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Washington Capitals, the oldest NHL team never to reach the Stanley Cup finals, are tantalizingly close to getting there.
On Monday, for the first time in the franchise's 24-year history, the Caps donned skates and pads in their practice facility's locker room and sent pucks flying off the boards in the month of June. With a 3-1 series lead over the Buffalo Sabres, a Tuesday night victory is all that's needed to banish memories of mediocre seasons and first-round playoff flops.
"I've never got this far," said seven-year center Joe Juneau, who scored the winning goal in Saturday's 2-0 Game 4 victory in Buffalo. "It's a great feeling to have a chance to be in the show. We all know what's waiting for us, and I don't think anybody's going to relax yet."
The Capitals are to the point where the one-game-at-a-time cliche has become intertwined with the team's unprecedented success. The locker room clipboard that had 16 sheets on it at the start of the playoffs has been stripped down to sheet No. 5 -- as in five games to go to win the Stanley Cup -- and coach Ron Wilson said he doesn't mind his players thinking ahead to the glory of playing in the finals.
"I think it's good to look at that because it motivates you to get the job done," Wilson said. "We've put ourselves in a very good position with three games to win one. We'd obviously like to get it done at home."
By no means are the Capitals writing off the Sabres. After all, if goaltender Dominik Hasek can beat the United States, Canada and Russia in consecutive games to win an Olympic gold medal with the Czech Republic, then he certainly can lead the Sabres back from a 3-1 deficit.
"Their confidence is probably shaken a little bit," Wilson said. "But I don't think anybody outside of their locker room feels they can come back, so that takes away some of the pressure. They're a young team. They're going to play with desperation because they realize that if they lose another game, they're finished. We have to match their desperation with a sense of urgency. Tomorrow is the night we want to get it done. Never take your foot off the poisonous snake is what we sometimes say in the locker room."
Hasek beat the United States, Canada and Russia in consecutive games to win an Olympic gold medal -- now he must do the same with Washington (AP) | |
The Caps have been in this position twice already in the playoffs, putting away Boston in six games and Ottawa in five after taking 3-1 leads. Those were liberating victories because of Washington's history of blowing 3-1 leads -- it's happened three times in the last 11 years -- and Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff and his players are hoping to revive the hex one more time.
"We've got them right where we want them," forward Dixon Ward said. "We set them up perfectly for this situation. Everything is going as planned. Now all we have to do is win three in a row."
So far, the Capitals have scoffed at such talk.
"That's our history, but that's in the past," said forward Peter Bondra, whose still-tender ankle concerns the Caps more than their legacy of choking. "We're improved. We're a different team. We have a different attitude. We have a lot of confidence. We think differently now. We've already won twice."
Perhaps that's because the Capitals are finally getting some of the breaks they didn't seem to get in past years. When asked what the difference was in the series thus far, Wilson didn't hesitate to begin his answer by saying, with all seriousness, "We've had some luck."
Of course, Wilson went on to mention the outstanding play of goalie Olaf Kolzig, his penalty-killing units and the poise of his veterans, but the idea that the Capitals are the beneficiaries of good fortune gets no argument from Buffalo.
"You can't control a hot goaltender or a lucky bounce going in here and there," Ruff said. "The hockey gods control that. We had a 13-game unbeaten streak during the year and an eight-game winning streak in the playoffs already. Three games is not insurmountable."
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NHL Finals
