Why You Are Wrong: Joel Ward Edition

The last thing I want to do today is to read or watch anything about the Washington Capitals.  You can watch all the highlights that you want, or read all of the recaps that you want, but I'm ignoring this team until 7:30pm on Wednesday night.  That being said, I do want to inform you that if you think this is Joel Ward's fault, wrong sir, you are wrong.

When the Rangers snuck in the puck with 6.6 seconds left in the game, I sat there unfazed for a minute, then I realized where I'm from and what teams I root for and it set in, all too familiar.  I had my butt clinched for the previous 10 minutes of ice time, hoping the Caps could just hold off the Rangers and they blew it at the last second?  Of course they did.

Today (and especially last night - as disgusting as that is), I'm sure there are a lot of people that want to blame Joel Ward.  I'm here to inform you that its not his fault.  Consider the following facts:

1. There were 22 seconds left in the game.
2. A penalty meant that we could freely ice the puck and burn even more of the clock.
3. Before the final Power Play, the Rangers had exactly 0 shots on PP for the game.
4. We won the initial face off and Brooks couldn't clear the puck after a hand pass from Beagle (or vice versa).
5. There were 22 seconds left in the game.

I can keep going if you want and talk about examples outside of the final 22 seconds (yet all in the 3rd period): the missed Backstrom break away (second game in a row), the botched 2-on-1 with Semin, or the 3-2 with Ovie...

Or I could talk about the good luck of the Rangers - how Ward's stick just happened to hit the right part of Hagelin to cause a cut (meaning a double-minor*) or how the winning goal barely went in as it ricocheted off the correct part of the post...

No one will remember any of that though.  Everyone will just remember that Ward got a penalty at the end of the game and the Capitals gave up 2 goals in 1:41 seconds to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Simple minds love to take the easy way out - they love blame games on mistakes that happen at the end of games, whether is a penalty in hockey, a walk in baseball, or a missed FG in football.  But the fact of the matter is - all 60 minutes are equal.  A goal in the first minute counts just as much as one in the last.  Unfortunately for the Caps they've now learned this in two games this series, and it will probably cost them a trip to the increasingly elusive Eastern Conference Finals.


*holy crap the NHL has some weird rules.