Washington Capitals Resiliency: Skating in the Shadow of a Rival

It's a monumental time of the year in the nation's capital, as sports teams in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area are eying down championship opportunities. Needless to say, the Georgetown Hoyas and the George Mason Patriots have a lot to look forward to as we enter the later part of March.

However, it is the Washington Capitals that could really be the story of this region this spring. With just 11 games remaining in the regular season, the Caps are currently sitting second, and just one point behind the first place Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference.

If one were to hop in the time machine from Day 1 of the regular season to today, it would seem like a very reasonable spot for Washington in the standings. However, if you missed every Capitals game in the season up to this point, let it be known that this team has completely transformed in many ways, and that the Capitals' path to triumph might be in shades of the rival Pittsburgh Penguins.

"Alexander Ovechkin is on pace for a career low 35 goals and 85 points." "Capitals are averaging two goals per game." "Capitals are completely helpless on the powerplay". "Mike Green's numbers dropping significantly." "Mike Green playing defense?" "Capitals are averaging just over two goals per game yet they have won eight of their last 10."

"Alexander Ovechkin is back-checking consistently." "Capitals are having a tough time deciding which goalie to go with because all THREE have been playing excellent." Simply, in chronological order, these are headlines you might see of the 2010-2011 Washington Capitals. Any hockey fan would know that these headlines contrast significantly with the features of last year's Capitals team.  One thing that remains constant with this team, however, is criticism. When the Capitals were winning games 6-4, they weren't playing enough defense.

When the Capitals started keeping games tight and winning 2-1, they weren't scoring enough goals. When Alex Ovechkin was scoring over 50 goals a season, he was selfish, didn't pass and floated around waiting for the puck to come to him. When he started to become more defensively focused with his team, he was really starting to get easy to figure out, and his tunnel vision was no longer doing him good.

The fact is, the Washington Capitals will always be under colossal scrutiny because of the way the National Hockey League media has constructed their existence in terms of their once in a decade superstar. The same could be said about the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are also scorched by critics regarding every aspect of play. Like Ovechkin, Penguin's once in a decade superstar, Sidney Crosby, is judged daily, on and off the ice, and people are quick to pounce on every shortcoming he displays.

In reality,the rivalry created between the Caps and Pens have really pushed the two teams to new heights. Unlike other teams in the league, these two face extraordinary pressure to perform, and if it doesn't destroy them, it impels a development process like no other.

Let's take a look at the 2009 Stanley Cup Pittsburgh Penguins team. Midway through the season, the Pens hit a major slump, and it was highly possible that the team would miss the playoffs despite being healthy for the most part. It was also very unlikely that they would be cup contenders. Following the addition of head coach Dan Bylsma, this team was rejuvenated as they had a second half surge in the regular season and finished fifth in the conference.

They later went on to win the championship that year. Like the Penguins, the Capitals realized that they needed to shake up their style in order to be a successful playoff team, and it certainly did not happen overnight. After losing in the first round in a major upset to the Montreal Canadiens (when they were expected to follow up on the Penguins' representation of the east), they truly realized that it doesn't matter what place a team finishes in the standings.

Of course, this early playoff exit caused Washington to experience overwhelming criticism, similar to that of the Penguins in 2008, when they lost in the Stanley Cup finals to the Detroit Red Wings. In the first half of the season, coach Bruce Boudreau came to the conclusion that his team needed to be better defensively in order to have playoff success, and following this was the transformation of the Capitals.

It certainly did not come easy, as the Capitals had a nine game losing streak in December. Many started to question Boudreau's intentions and chime in with their understanding that Washington simply does not have the instruments to build a defensive team like that of the Devils or Bruins. After a couple of months, the Caps started to turn heads, as they began to adapt to the new system and resume their mission to capture the Southeast division that was originally theirs.

Right now this team is not only looking to win their division, but the entire East, and are completely poised for playoff success. They are deep in every department, for they have a very strong and positional defense, explosive offensive weapons who can now play defense, and three athletic and tremendously motivated goaltenders.

If there is anything to be learned, it is that development is complex. Things happen for a reason, and nothing is granted. The Capitals were not going to win the cup immediately following the Penguins just because they were "due." All a team can do is assess the situation and take every necessary step to get where they need to be.

On the long run it is the focus on process, and not the task, that will allow a team to fight through adversity. Will the Great Eight finally have his name engraved on Lord Stanley's Holy Grail? Only time will tell. However, what we do know is that we will see a team that is different from the previous years. We will see a very resilient Capitals team, like the Penguins of 2009.