Caps most explosive even without 'O' -- and can play D, too

They remind a lot of people of those Wayne Gretzky-led Oilers teams of the 1980s because of the way they tend to explode offensively.

And that's even when hockey's capital gang doesn't have its best player in the lineup.

The Caps keep showing how many weapons they have beyond Alex Ovechkin (center). (Getty Images)

Go figure this: The Washington Capitals have managed to score more than they usually do when Alexander Ovechkin isn't dressed. In fact, Washington has notched an average of 4.9 goals in the nine games the league's top point-getter has been absent this season -- winning seven of them, we might add. That is nearly a full goal per game better than what they are averaging overall.

Still the cumulative total remains more than 20 percent better than the next-best-producing outfit in the NHL, in large part because Washington already has a league-high six players with 20 or more goals. And by the time all is said and done, the Capitals could have one or two more in the category.

Not that they really need it. The most apparent thing about the Capitals is that lighting the red lamp does not pose much of a problem. The offense is the biggest reason the team has already clinched its third consecutive Southeast Division title, passed the 100-point marker faster than ever in its history and, with a month remaining, seems destined to get the home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs that comes from finishing first overall.

Yet despite all the firepower spread throughout the lineup, there are lingering doubts around the hockey world about the ability of a team with serious Stanley Cup potential to go deep in the playoffs. And that's strictly because of Washington's defense and goaltending.

"It's easy to point to that because we score so many goals and, when you do that, the first thing people say is they can't play defense," center Brendan Morrison said after Ovechkin-less Caps manhandled the Florida Panthers 7-3 on Tuesday. "To be honest, in a way I'm kind of happy that other teams perceive us that way. It's better that our defense is underrated."

Morrison, along with several other Caps and coach Bruce Boudreau, suggests that's because the goals-against numbers everyone looks at are misleading. Washington has actually been a top 10 team defensively at some points in the season, but currently ranks in the middle of the pack, a symptom they say of the team's pedal-to-the-metal style of play. More often than not, it results in Washington being in high-scoring affairs, usually tilted in their direction.

Call it the curse of the cushion.

"A lot of times at beginning of the year, we were in games that we ended up winning 6-4 or 7-5, but that's because we'd get big leads and let up and relax," Boudreau said Tuesday. "We did it for one of their goals in the third period tonight, but for the most part we played solid D when we had to and Theo was there when we didn't play very good defense."

Theo is Jose Theodore, a one-time league MVP and Vezina winner who has never come close to matching the performance he had in his magical 2002 season with the Montreal Canadiens. The 33-year-old veteran was signed to a two-year free-agent deal before last season, had an up-and-down campaign and then lost his starting job to rookie Semyon Varlamov one game into the playoffs.

After enduring the tragic death of his infant son during the summer, Theodore has reclaimed the No. 1 role this season, even if some would say that's mainly because his netminding partner has spent a fair portion of his time on the disabled list. Theodore has put up somewhat pedestrian numbers, although his stats were impacted heavily by a weak start to the season. But he has gone 15-0-2 while keeping his save percentage in the .925 range since mid-January.

Yet in spite of his improved efforts of late, there were plenty of raised eyebrows around the league when Washington did not make a deal for a goaltender at the trade deadline. Instead, Capitals general manager George McPhee made an impressive series of other moves that added depth to his roster of skaters, bringing in gritty forwards Eric Belanger and Scott Walker and defensemen Joe Corvo and Milan Jurcina, while relinquishing only Brian Pothier from his list of regulars.

"We wanted to add depth because when you get to the playoffs, you can go through 15 or 16 forwards or seven or eight defensemen," McPhee said. "We wanted to have a lot of guys who can play, so if you lose somebody, there isn't a drop-off in performance."

Still, McPhee conceded that having so many bodies around is a bit unwieldy as the Capitals get ready for the playoffs. Washington had five healthy scratches joining the suspended Ovechkin in the press box for the Panthers game, but the GM said as long as everyone buys in to the team concept and focuses on the common goal, he doesn't anticipate any problem.

And that's how the Capitals are approaching the concerns about their defense.

"Everybody's got their 'yeah buts,'" veteran forward Mike Knuble said. "Like this team is good, yeah, but here's the chink in the armor where we think we can expose them.

"Everybody's got their perceived weaknesses and sometimes we can get a little loose defensively, but that's kind of the ebb and flow of a game or a season. Obviously that's not a good habit, but we know in playoffs games we'll have to bear down and be tighter. When we commit to it, we know we can do it."