Not much else to say, it was a gritty performance; wonderful coaching; and a two point night with yet another injury.
And it doesn’t get easier as we flew to Carolina and arrived at 2:00 am and then have to play at 5:00 pm when we are even more shorthanded than when we started the weekend. Life goes on.
At least we get some rest until Wednesday after tonight’s game. We get a chance to heal up, practice and get our bearings. In the nine years we have owned the club, I can’t ever remember the injury bug hitting us like this and I can’t ever remember our club being as deep organizationally and as committed to a system and to winning. I am very happy and very proud. Hope you are as well because what we are doing is quite unusual.
It hit like this in 1999, after the Stanley Cup run, and it ended up with the Caps missing the playoffs.
This year, however, we’re still competitive, as unlike in 1999, the farm system has some talent in it.
Still to have two top six forwards (Fedorov, Semin), another 30 goal scorer (Clark), the NHL’s top offensive defenseman (Green), the team’s usual minutes leader (Poti) on the shelf along with another forward (Fehr) and a even more defensemen (Schultz, Erskine, Pothier, Sloan) it begins to add up. Yesterday’s Carolina game had 10 man-games missed. Ten! That’s half a roster.
Oy.
Ted, can you explain why the team had to travel overnight and arrive at 2 AM? Are there logistical or financial reasons to not fly from Toronto to Carolina in the morning?