With Olympic Break Looming, Capitals Remain Focused

By: Justin Creech
The Washington Capitals returned to practice Tuesday morning at Kettler Capitals Iceplex fresh off their scintillating, 5-4, come from behind overtime win against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday afternoon at Verizon Center.
With their winning streak now at 14 games and with just three games remaining until the Olympic break, the Capitals will attempt to inch closer to tying the NHL record for consecutive regular season wins, which is 17 set by the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins, tomorrow night at Bell Centre against the Montreal Canadiens.
A win over the Canadiens, coupled with a win over the Ottawa Senators Thursday night in Ottawa would put the Capitals in position to tie the Penguins record Saturday night, in St. Louis at Scottrade Center, against the Blues.
With the players set to go on a two week hiatus due to the upcoming Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, the potential for the Capitals to look past these next three games to their two week vacation is possible.
But, not according to them.
“I think it’ll be alright for us,” said Capitals right wing Eric Fehr. “We know the break is going to be there, so, we’ve just got to stay focused for a week and hopefully get some wins and get rewarded.”
Wins, obviously, have not been a problem for the Capitals lately, which is why some observers say the Olympic break is coming at such an inopportune time. With the potential to tie and possibly set an NHL record, a break of the Capitals momentum could halt those possibilities.
“I think in an ideal world, when you’re playing well you want to keep playing, and obviously we’ve been playing well lately,” said center Brendan Morrison. “But, you can only control the things you can control, and we can’t control [the Olympic break]. So, we can’t sit here and worry about what’s going to happen. We’ve got to worry about what’s going to happen tomorrow night.”
The Capitals ability to stay focused and handle adversity has been key during their current winning streak. Twice during their current streak, the Capitals have overcome 4-1 deficits; the first coming against the Florida Panthers on January 13, and again on Sunday against the Penguins.
Their ability to handle less than ideal circumstances is one reason the Capitals are not worried about the Olympic break.
“Streaks don’t come around that often because they are really tough to maintain,” said the Capitals’ Brooks Laich. “They’re tough physically with a lot of hockey, and mentally they are tough because every night you have to be your sharpest and be your best. There have been nights when we haven’t been, and you can see that maybe it’s wearing on us a little bit, but somehow we find a way to pull through it. So, for a lot of our guys who have played a lot of hockey, I think the break will be nice for them to get some rest.”
Familiarity with the situation is another factor the Capitals feel will help them deal with the two week layoff as many of the players have dealt with the upcoming break on one or more occasions.
Morrison, Tom Poti, Brian Pothier, Jose Theodore, Matt Bradley and Mike Knuble have dealt with the Olympic interruption in 2002 and 2006 while players such as Laich, Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom, Tomas Fleischmann and Jeff Schultz are experiencing the break for the second, or even first time.
“It’s a different situation for a lot of guys having 10 or 12 days off to basically do nothing,” said Poti. “You’ve got to be able to get away from it and forget about hockey for a while, but when you come back you’ve got to be able to flip that switch and get right back at it the way we were before.”
Said Laich. “When I was here in [2006] I wasn’t a full-time NHLer yet, so I didn’t find out until the day before the Olympic break that I was going to have it off. This year I know I have it off, so it’s a little different. I can actually plan. I’ve been planning to go home and see some family, and my niece is getting baptized, so it should be fun.”
Even with the two week layoff, the Capitals don’t feel they will lose any momentum before, or after the break.
“I think for most of us it will be nice to have that two weeks off to refresh and regenerate our bodies,” said Poti. “Then [we’ll] make another push after the break.”