The start of the 2013 season brought a tremendous sigh of relief to the NHL.
After a four-month lockout, things were back to normal. Or were they?
Once teams started reporting to training camp, a basic league-wide philosophy was evoked almost universally. With a 48-game season, it was all about getting off to a hot start. Begin the season slowly and a team would likely get buried.
That idea certainly made sense, but it was not true. Case in point: the Washington Capitals.
The Capitals got off to a miserable start under rookie head coach Adam Oates. After their first 11 games, Washington was 2-8-1 and were in last place in the Southeast Division.
It appeared that Alex Ovechkin was just a shell of the superstar he had been earlier in his career and that Oates had to go through quite a bit of growing pains.
But after a 5-2 home loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in early February, the Capitals started to improve. They won six of their next nine games to find their stride, but they appeared to be in over their heads when the high- ...
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Article written by Steve Silverman