Charged Up in D.C.

It’s all so much clearer now, but in those awful days and nights of late May 1997, Ron Wilson failed to comprehend any of it.

How? Why? What had gone so wrong in such a short time?

Talking about it helped. The phone rang off the hook at Wilson’s Orange County home after the Mighty Ducks fired him as their coach last May 20. There was no shortage of well-wishers.

Wilson spoke to them all, but one caller stood out.

“Someone very big told me he got fired once, but that he landed on his feet,” Wilson said. “He said the same thing would happen to me. He told me this could be the best thing to happen to me.”

Walt Disney Co. Chairman Michael Eisner certainly was right.

One year and 10 days after the Ducks let him and assistant Tim Army go without explanation, Wilson and the Washington Capitals stand only two victories away from the Stanley Cup finals.

“It’s bizarre how fast it’s all come together,” Wilson said an hour or so after the Capitals took a 2-1 series lead with a 4-3 overtime victory Thursday over the Buffalo Sabres in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals. “This is the farthest any Capitals team has ever gone in the playoffs.”

A victory tonight in Game 4 at Marine Midland Arena would all but clinch the Capitals’ first Stanley Cup finals appearance since they joined the NHL in 1974.

Not that long ago, a 3-1 lead meant dread and disappointment for the Capitals and their fans. But with Wilson, Army and new General Manager George McPhee in charge, all things now seem possible in Washington.

Even President Clinton turned up at MCI Center to catch the Capitals in Game 2 against the Sabres.

“That was good for hockey,” Wilson said. “He seemed really into it.”

A Washington columnist used to refer to the Capitals as “the choking dogs” because they had twice in their history squandered 3-1 playoff series leads.

Now, with Wilson creating a new image, longtime Capital critic Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post has dubbed them “the barking dogs.”

Meanwhile back in Anaheim . . .

The fallout from the Ducks’ worst season in their five-year history began Thursday when assistants Don Hay and Walt Kyle were fired.

Wilson already had heard the news. “Walt called me [Wednesday],” Wilson said. “He told me they did it over the phone.”

Wilson, who in 1996-97 led the Ducks to their first winning record and playoff appearance, shook his head in disgust.

Asked if he has spoken to Duck President Tony Tavares or General Manager Jack Ferreira since his firing, Wilson said:

“No. Nothing. I never heard a word from either one. That’s fine. [Eisner] was the only guy to call. I really appreciated Michael saying what he said.”

To be sure, it took time for Eisner’s words to sink in.

By June 9, the Capitals had hired Wilson. By September, training camp began. There was an uncomfortable return to the Arrowhead Pond, which was (deliberately?) overshadowed by Paul Kariya’s signing after a 32-game contract dispute.

But when the Ducks played at Washington on New Year’s Day, Wilson saw it as just another game.

“You know, I finally realized I was in a situation [in Anaheim] that no matter what I did I couldn’t win,” Wilson said. “I was so close to the situation that I just didn’t know any better. Everybody has a boss. I had a boss who didn’t appreciate me.

“This year, I found out it wasn’t me. It has turned out to be the best thing to happen to me.”

Change has been good for Wilson. He laughs and the Capitals laugh right along with him. Or sometimes at him.

Thursday, as Wilson gave a pep talk at the end of the morning workout, veteran Esa Tikkanen sneaked up behind him and slammed a lemon pie into his face.

Happy 43rd birthday, Ron.

“I should have been sharper than that,” Wilson said. “It’s happened a lot in our dressing room this year.”

These days if he says something stupid, as he did when he called the Sabres a chicken . . . team last week, McPhee doesn’t fire off a memo telling him not to do it again. Wilson said he continually received memos from Tavares, asking him to stop being so outspoken.

“Hell, Pierre Page said things 100 times worse than I ever did and he didn’t get fired,” Wilson said, referring to Page’s March 11 comments about the Ducks’ lack of vision for the future.

Freed from what he perceived to be Tavares’ back-seat driving, Wilson has expanded his motivational techniques.

For instance, when the Capitals faced a pivotal game in the last round against the Ottawa Senators, he gathered the players around him in the dressing room.

He handed them a miniature puck and a bunch of Popsicle sticks painted to look like the Capitals and Senators and told them to play like little kids.

And so they did. The relaxed Capitals then eliminated Ottawa and advanced to the conference finals for the first time since 1990.

When Buffalo pest Matthew Barnaby tied the score in Game 2 late in regulation, then taunted the Capitals’ bench, Wilson had just the thing to inspire his team during the break before overtime.

Wilson showed the Capitals a videotape of Barnaby’s celebratory jig. Winger Todd Krygier then won the game for the Capitals with a goal a few minutes into overtime.

“Oh, he’s a great coach,” Barnaby said sarcastically, then added in a more serious tone, “He’s done a good job. Sometimes he takes it too far. Whatever he has to do to inspire his team, I guess.”

Certainly, the Capitals have no complaints.

“I think he brought a different attitude, a different style and the players have responded well to it,” said Krygier, who was involved in a screaming match with Wilson before the Ducks played a game at Chicago in 1995. “At first I was a little concerned when he got the job, but we talked and he told me he’s giving me a clean slate. After I scored the other night, he said, ‘You’re off the hook for Chicago.’

“He’s very knowledgeable. He’s a good technical coach. He knows how to adapt. Obviously, he’s done a great job with this team.”

So is the past finally in the past? Wilson believes it is.

“Everyone thinks I’m motivated to embarrass the Ducks as much as possible,” Wilson said. “That’s not the case at all. I just want to win the Stanley Cup. [But] I wanted to win the Stanley Cup just as much last year.”