Capitals Take Stock of Losses

Three games, three losses and each by a goal. That’s the summary of Washington’s first Stanley Cup finals appearance inasmuch as they face elimination after losing, 2-1, to the Detroit Red Wings in Game 3 on Saturday night.

“They are the champs,” Washington forward Craig Berube said when asked about the difference between the teams. “They have been [in the finals three of the last four years]. They know how to win. We don’t know how, that’s the difference. It is not a matter of effort. . . . You have to learn from experience. That is all I can say.”

Washington Coach Ron Wilson added more size to the lineup for Game 3 by playing defenseman Ken Klee and forward Jeff Toms in an attempt to get more toughness from his team. Not everyone got the message.

“I don’t see why you have to be in the finals [before] to know how to play hard,” Wilson said. “I mean, you work so hard to get here and we have had some guys just not play very well at all at this point. And, part of it is how we are playing and a lot of credit has to go to Detroit for not allowing some of our key people to accomplish things.”

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Washington was held to one shot on goal in the first period, which tied a finals record. Not only that, but the Capitals gave up the game’s first goal to Detroit, which is 12-1 in postseason games when it has scored first.

“We had a bad start to the game,” Wilson said. “We basically didn’t show up in the first period.”

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Detroit rookie Tomas Holmstrom is having an outstanding playoff run with seven goals and 18 points in 21 games.

“He doesn’t get as much ice time as some of the others because he is not on the penalty-killing team,” Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman said. “He played some for us in last year’s playoffs but I still consider him a rookie because he really didn’t play that much.”