Sweden Takes Over the Verizon Center

Nick Perretti

The Capitals are down 2-0, and 4 residents of Sweden are to blame.

Before the playoffs started, I mentioned in my blog, that Capitals success would depend on the play of role players such as Brooks Laich and Tomas Fleischmann. So far  they haven't produced, but their Swedish counter-parts on the Rangers have taken their game to a whole new level.

We already know how dominant Swedish goalie Henrik Lundqvist has been this series, but how about veteran forward Markus Naslund?  The 35-year-old elder statesman of the Rangers, has 3 points so far in the postseason--one being an assist to Ryan Callahan, for the only goal scored in Game 2.  To make that pass, Naslund made a nice play deking past Tom Poti, making a crip pass to Callahan.  Naslund also had a goal in Game 1.A rejuvenated Markus Naslund puts a monster hit on defenseman Mike Green. Photo by Nick Perretti

Meanwhile, fellow Swede Fredrik Sjostrom has been doing things that don't show up in the boxscore.  The New York Rangers led the league in penalty kills this season, stopping their opponents powerplay 87.8 percent of the time.  A large part of that succes is due to the play of Sjostrom.  Sjostrom, arguably the fastest play on the Rangers, blocked shots, dove for pucks and has made all the little plays to help his team win Game 2.  This unsung hero has not gone un-noticed.

Small plays and the little things are what the Capitals have lacked thus far in the series.  Where has Brooks Laich been?  Where has Sergei Federov's leadership been?  Where has fellow Swede Nicklas Backstrom and his 88-points been?

Backstrom in my eyes has been one of the biggest disappointmentss thus far for the Caps.  Backstrom was the catalyst for the Washington Capitals during the regular season.  The Caps were at their best when Backstrom was setting up the likes of Ovechkin and Alexandr Semin.  

With Backstrom no-where to be found, Ovechkin has been pressed to score--trying to shoot through 3 Rangers, resulting in a flurry of blocked shots.  It hasn't worked so far and will not work in the future. 

In order for the Ovechkin and the Capitals to regain their swagger, Backstrom must produce.  Maybe he should take a lesson from his fellow country-men on the other side.