Capitals Fear a Backlash If They Lose Tonight

The Washington Capitals, who have allowed a 3-1 series lead over the New York Islanders to slip away, have set themselves up to wear the dreaded label of “chokers” if they drop Game 7 tonight.

The winner of the Patrick Division semifinal playoff series meets the Philadelphia Flyers in the division final beginning Monday night. The Capitals finished second to the Flyers in the regular season.

“Everyone expects this team to do well. We believe it ourselves. But we haven’t accomplished anything yet,” Washington’s Bob Gould said. “I hate to think what people will call us if we don’t win the seventh game. They’ll say we choked.”

The Islanders, who have eliminated the Capitals from the playoffs in three of the past four seasons, would become only the third team in NHL history to overcome a deficit of 3-1 or greater to win a seven-game series. The Islanders in 1975 and the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942 both turned the feat after trailing 3-0.

The Capitals, as much as any team, are aware that the Islanders are an accomplished comeback team. New York rallied from a 2-0 deficit two years ago to win three straight games and win a best-of-five opening-round series.

“It’s up there with the best of our comebacks because of the youth we have on the team,” New York’s Duane Sutter said. “No matter who we put in the lineup, when you wear the Islander sweater they demand a lot of pride and character out of you. The 20 guys came through.”

The Islanders’ comeback is more remarkable considering Mike Bossy, Denis Potvin and Brent Sutter are sidelined with injuries. But goaltending by Kelly Hrudey and scoring by Bryan Trottier and Pat LaFontaine have carried New York.

“We came back from 3-1 and now we have to make the most of it,” said Islander Coach Terry Simpson, whose team finished third in the Patrick Division in the regular season. “This is a one-game, sudden-death playoff. This team won’t pack it in. This team has character like the old Islanders.”

Over the years, the Islanders are 19-7 in games when they faced playoff elimination. They have lost only two of 12 opening round series, and are 5-2 in series that go the five- or seven-game limit.

The Capitals have never won a best-of-seven series, and have never won any playoff series in which their opponent won at least one game. (Both series victories were 3-0 sweeps in best-of-five series, including last year’s against the Islanders).

The Capitals, the NHL’s most notorious playoff underachievers of the 1980s, are starting to search their souls for reasons behind their postseason inabilities.

“I’m sure the Islanders are pretty confident right now. They are sticking to Terry Simpson’s game plan,” Gould said. “I’m sure they feel they can play against Washington any game, any night now.

“I don’t know why (these comebacks happen). We need to establish the killer instinct, or hunger or whatever it is. We are still expected to win.”

The Capitals led the series 3-1 after sweeping Games 3 and 4 from the Islanders in the Nassau Coliseum last weekend. But Hrudey made 40 saves in a 4-2 victory in Game 5 in the Capital Centre Tuesday and LaFontaine scored twice and assisted on a third goal in a 5-4 Game 6 victory in the Nassau Coliseum Thursday.

“We’ve been missing the majority of our superstars,” Hrudey said. “But everybody has stood up to be counted. Nobody is hiding. We’re going out to play and be counted, rather than let Washington take it to us and end our season.”