Helping hands
Team strength takes pressure off Caps' Bondra
Posted: Tuesday June 09, 1998 01:46 AM
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Capital gains: Bondra has led the Capitals in scoring for each of the last four seasons () |
DETROIT (AP) -- Peter Bondra always
felt he had to be the best player on the ice for the Capitals -- until he
got a little help from his friends.
Washington has been able to surround him with others who can also carry
the offense. As a result, the Capitals are in the Stanley Cup finals for
the first time in their 24-year history. They open the best-of-seven series
against the defending champion Detroit Red Wings on
Tuesday night at Joe Louis Arena.
"The big story this year was that not just one or two players can win a
game for us," Bondra said Monday. "Now, we have players like Brian Bellows and
Joe Juneau who also
can score. It's always pressure on the goal-scorer. But not much. I know I
don't have to score every night."
It wasn't always that way.
Bondra was playing in Czechoslovakia in 1989 when he heard that an NHL
scout was coming to his town to watch another player. He knew that might be
his only chance, so he geared up for that game.
"I wanted to show what kind of player I was," Bondra said. "I think I
scored two goals. A few days later, the NHL scout was in town again, and he
came to my house."
The Capitals took Bondra in the eighth round of the 1990 draft. It proved
a wise choice. A four-time All-Star, Bondra has led the Capitals in scoring
each of the last four seasons, scoring 52 goals in two of the last three
years.
During the playoffs, however, the Capitals have been able to spread the
scoring around. Sergei Gonchar has
seven goals and 10 points. Bondra, Juneau and Richard Zednik
each have six goals. Bellows has four goals and 10 points. Adam Oates has five
goals and 14 points, and Andrei
Nikolishin has one goal and 12 points.
The difference hasn't gone unnoticed by the Red Wings, bidding to become
the first team since the 1992 Pittsburgh Penguins to
repeat as champions.
"Everything used to be on his shoulders," Detroit coach Scotty Bowman
said of Bondra. "Now he has got a lot of support. Now, they have a European
line -- like we've had -- with Nikolishin, Zednik and Bondra. They have
some good strength down the middle."
It shows, too. The Capitals went through the first three rounds of the
playoffs with a 12-5 record, putting the 30-year-old Bondra one step away
from a longtime goal.
"Ever since I came over to the NHL, this has been my dream, to play for
the Stanley Cup, to get in the finals," Bondra said. "It's still only a
dream. But now we have a chance to make the dream come true."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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