Capitals defenseman Jeff Schultz has requested a trade, according to his agent, Jarrett Bousquet.

Frustrated by a lack of playing time for the second year in a row and limited communication from two separate Washington coaching staffs, former coach Dale Hunter and current coach Adam Oates, Schultz wants a fresh start elsewhere.

The trade request was initially made in mid-March, according to Bousquet. Schultz was hoping to be moved by the April 3 trade deadline, but that didn’t happen.

“Jeff would love to be there. He loves his teammates and the Capitals have been good to him over the years when they drafted him,” Bousquet said. “It’s just that now it’s to the point where playing in the National Hockey League takes precedence over not playing for [the Caps]. We feel for Jeff if he’s not going to be utilized in Washington that there are other teams that can utilize his talents elsewhere.”

Schultz, 27, was drafted by Washington in 2004 and has spent his entire career with the organization. But he hasn’t figured much in the team’s plans the past two seasons. Schultz was routinely a healthy scratch during this past lockout-shortened season. He appeared in just 26 of 48 games and none after March 31 or during the Stanley Cup playoffs. The year before Schultz appeared in 54 games out of 82 – though he did play in 10 of the Caps’ 14 playoff games in 2011-12.

“I think Jeff’s always made it known if he’s gonna be healthy scratched that he would like to play in the league,” Bousquet said. “He does have a good relationship with [McPhee] and has spoken with him and George has told him he wants to do what’s best for him. But saying and doing are two different things.”

Salary is an issue. Schultz signed a four-year, $11 million contract extension after the 2009-10 season when he led all NHL players in plus-minus (+50). And while that stat is of questionable value, that same year Schultz was on the ice for just 1.61 goals against/60 minutes. No other Caps player was better in that category and only three NHL blueliners who appeared in 70 games or more that season were below that number.

But the hard fact is Schultz counts $2.75 million against the salary cap for next year and that’s a lot for a player who is a consistent healthy scratch. It doesn’t help that the NHL salary cap is dropping to $64.3 million next season. Washington also has two pending unrestricted free agents in forwards Mike Ribeiro and Matt Hendricks and two restricted free agents due raises in defenseman Karl Alzner and forward Marcus Johansson and not much money to work with.   

“To see him drafted and to have played well for Washington, to see players just come in and be given the opportunity and Jeff left to rot there, it’s just not professional,” Bousquet said.  He later added: “It’s not logical to have that kind of cap hit and a player of his ability to be just sitting and watching night-in and night-out.”

Schultz had previously been a full-time player with 72 games in 2007-08, 64 in 2008-09, 73 in 2009-10 and 72 in 2010-11. That GA/60 number was a solid 2.27 in 2010-11 and 2.11 GA/60 in 2011-12. But he fell to a career-worst 2.92 in 2013. On a crowded left side of the blueline, Schultz was behind Karl Alzner, Jack Hillen and John Erskine.

And because Oates prefers not to move those players to the right and away from their natural side, that wasn’t an option for Schultz. So when injuries hit in early March, it was instead minor-leaguer Steve Oleksy who was recalled from AHL Hershey on March 5 to fill the right side. He never left the lineup, playing the final 28 games and all seven in the playoff series against the New York Rangers. Schultz and fellow defenseman Tom Poti were the usual healthy scratches.

Drafted No. 27 overall in 2004 – two spots ahead of fellow defenseman Mike Green and in the same draft class as star winger Alex Ovechkin – Schultz made his NHL debut on Dec. 22, 2006. Bousquet said he’s left it up to the Caps to actually make a deal for Schultz, but claims that there are teams that have expressed interest in his client and expressed surprise he wasn’t playing at all.

Schultz is already back home in his native Calgary and has begun his offseason training program. He has one year left on his contract and is an unrestricted free agent after next season.

“I don’t think George has tried that hard to trade him,” Bousquet said. “Because he’s only 27-years-old. When they signed him he was playing 20 minutes a night. He’s a good cap hit and he’s an every-day player. He’s played almost 400 games and [29] playoff games. He’s still a young guy. He can still learn and coaches can still work with him and develop him. Just to let him sit there and not play and not communicate with him and not trade him is extremely frustrating.”

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The value of Caps free agent forward Matt Hendricks

Brian McNally

May 20, 12:00 AM May 20, 01:55 PM

There aren’t a ton of internal decisions for Capitals general manager George McPhee to make this summer. He has four unrestricted free agents pending July 5. Defenseman Tom Poti and forward Wojtek Wolski won’t be back for sure. We’re unclear on the status of forwards Matt Hendricks and Mike Ribeiro.

Let’s look at Hendricks. It is obvious other teams are interested (Boston, New York Rangers) just from the chatter rising from beat reporters in those cities since the NHL trade deadline on April 3. The latest came from Larry Brooks of the New York Post just Monday morning. The Caps were in the middle of a playoff run in early April so trading a versatile asset like Hendricks wasn’t a realistic option – even if his contract was expiring. The return wouldn’t have been worth the loss.

But Hendricks is just six weeks away from being able to negotiate with any team in the league. Few players are tougher. Hendricks always seems to be limping around the locker room with some ailment. He’s part of Washington’s leadership group even if he doesn’t have a letter on his jersey. He’s not much of an offensive threat – optimistically, he’s a 20-point scorer in a full year – but he’s a fine penalty killer and can play center or fill in on a higher line, if needed. He also is freakishly good in shootouts.  The problem McPhee faces: What is all of that worth? Hendricks is 32 on June 17. This is almost certainly going to be the only “big” contract of his career.

“When you’re in a cap world, sometimes you just don’t have choices,” McPhee said last week. “This is what you have to work with and if it doesn’t fit for them you move on, you get someone else and that’s the world we live in now.”

Hendricks came to Washington before the 2010-11 season with just 60 NHL games under his belt, but he had played for then-coach Bruce Boudreau at Hershey. And Hendricks made an impression right away in training camp, earning a spot on the opening night roster that season and playing in 77 games. In three years with the Caps he has missed nine regular-season games total. He has appeared in 26 of 30 Stanley Cup playoff games for the team.

But Hendricks had a salary-cap hit of just $825,000 on his expiring contract – a two-year extension he signed in February of 2011. Could he double that on the open market? It depends how much a team is willing to pay primarily a fourth-line player. In the neighborhood of even $1.5 of seems steep. But that’s the whole point of the open market. It inflates salaries. And you can’t blame a player for taking advantage of it.

“Selfish? I don’t know if that’s the right word,” Hendricks said last week when asked if it was time to think of himself. “It’s a business, and it’s part of the business. It’s a big part of the business when it comes to players’ salaries, I would assume. In my opinion. You know, you want to get what you feel you deserve and what is right, and that’s what happens in the negotiating process.”

Hendricks had five goals and three assists in 48 games this season. But his value is measured beyond points. He is a vocal presence in the dressing room, a source of energy on and off the ice, and almost always willing to pay a physical price to help his team win. Hendricks was credited with seven blocked shots in Game 5 of the playoff series against the Rangers – a 2-1 overtime win for the Caps, who had to kill off multiple New York power plays late in the second period and third period. McPhee flatly said he “loved everything about” Hendricks.

“He fights, he hits, he’s a good leader in the dressing room,” forward Jay Beagle said. “He scores big goals and he’s got that shootout move that not many guys can do. I’ve tried it. I can’t do it. He’s a total package player, really. You need those guys on your team. He’ll go down and take a puck off the face if he has to block one. He’ll do it. He’s a good role player and those guys are hard to come by.”

But it’s also true that there is a finite amount of money for McPhee to improve his club. Is paying a fourth-line player $1.5 million – or even higher – a realistic scenario? Maybe Hendricks won’t get that much on the open market and maybe he’s willing to take less to stay in a city he says has been good to him. But someone could be squeezed out if the Caps don’t get creative.

“[Hendricks] obviously does all the things that you’d want your typical fourth-liner to do,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “It’s hard, though, with just the way everything works and trying to fit all the guys in under cap and the amount of players and this and that and him being in the position that he’s in. It would suck to see a guy like that go.”

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Caps forward Wojtek Wolski signs with KHL club

Brian McNally

May 20, 12:00 AM May 20, 10:55 AM

Capitals free agent forward Wojtek Wolski has signed a contract with Kontinental Hockey League club Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, the team announced on Monday.

Wolski, 27, was not expected back in Washington, which took a flyer on the former first-round draft pick last summer for $600,000. But it became clear quickly that Wolski wasn’t in the Caps’ long-term plans. He appeared in just 27 of 48 games during the lockout-shortened 2013 season and did not dress at all during the Stanley Cup playoffs.

A Poland native who grew up in suburban Toronto, Wolski played in Poland during the lockout for KH Sanok. He registered four goals and five assists for Washington, but didn’t play in 21 of the final 29 regular-season contests.

One of the Caps’ four pending unrestricted free agents, Wolski and defenseman Tom Poti will definitely not return. The other two are center Mike Ribeiro and winger Matt Hendricks. Defenseman Karl Alzner and forward Marcus Johansson are restricted free agents.

As for Wolski, what he called a “crossroads” year for himself turned sour beginning with the lockout. He has played for five different NHL teams (Colorado, Phoenix, New York Rangers, Florida, Washington) since the start of the 2009-10 season and the options in North America were dwindling. Torpedo placed 11th out of 14 teams in the KHL’s West Division last season.

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The Capitals don’t have many decisions to make this summer. When NHL free agency opens on July 5 the two key players they have headed to the open market are center Mike Ribeiro and winger Matt Hendricks.

Ribeiro was acquired at the trade deadline last June to be the second-line center Washington had long sought. He played well early as the team struggled and finished with 13 goals and 36 assists. In the Stanley Cup playoffs first-round series loss to the New York Rangers, Ribeiro had just two points – though one of them was the game-winning goal in overtime of Game 5. But the two sides differed on length of contract right before the April 3 trade deadline with the Caps offering three years. Ribeiro wants more regardless of what exactly the final dollar figures will be.

“If I can stay in the city and retire here, it’s more about the kids. I don’t want to move them too many times,” Ribeiro said of his daughter and two sons. “School – they’re going into high school now, so if I can stay here until they go to college, or stay in the city until they go to college, that’s my focus. It has to be four or five years. I still believe, you know, I can get better. I don’t see myself getting worse.”

But Ribeiro is also 33 and the Caps have been reluctant to hand out long-term contracts like that to players past 30. In a tight salary-cap world it’s a risk general manager George McPhee has not been willing to take very often.

“It’s always a delicate process, whoever you’re negotiating with,” McPhee said. “It’s important to be hard on the merits and soft on the people and do it right. But I’ve never really discussed contract negotiations. As I’ve said 100 times, it never helps the process. And so we’ll get to work on it and see what develops.”

Is there a middle ground there? Ribeiro just concluded a five-year contract worth $25 million. He made $5 million per year. If he wants term, as he’s said repeatedly, how far is he willing to drop his annual price to stay in Washington? And what will other teams on the open market be willing to pay a productive center?

There is only a limited amount of money to pay Ribeiro and Hendricks plus restricted free agents Karl Alzner and Marcus Johansson. An amnesty buyout is a possibility, though McPhee scoffed at the idea of using it. Or a trade could clear more money under next year’s $64.3 million salary cap, if needed.

“Like I said before, I don’t want to be selfish by signing too much and not being able to get other guys here or re-sign guys here,” Ribeiro said. “Once you make the playoffs, you want to go back, and you see the potential that we have here. If we can bring in guys or be better next year as a team, your chance of winning will increase, and that’s where I want to be.”

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The other prominent unrestricted free agent for the Capitals this summer is Matt Hendricks. The veteran winger has set himself up for the one big contract in his NHL career.

Hendricks, 31, was plucked from the Colorado Avalanche organization before the 2010 season and quickly generated a presence in preseason. He has missed just nine games for Washington over the last three seasons. After scoring nine goals his first year here (2010-11), Hendricks signed his first two-year, one-way contract at the NHL level. He made $850,000 each of the last two seasons. That number should rise this summer. So will Hendricks remain in Washington? He hopes he can sign an extension before free agency even hits on July 5. There have been talks between the two sides all season, but other than that Hendricks remained tight lipped.

“Selfish? I don’t know if that’s the right word,” Hendricks said. “It’s a business, and it’s part of the business. It’s a big part of the business when it comes to players’ salaries, I would assume. In my opinion. You know, you want to get what you feel you deserve and what is right, and that’s what happens in the negotiating process.”

Hendricks had five goals and three assists in 48 games this season. But his value must be measured beyond points. He is a vocal presence in the dressing room, a source of energy on and off the ice, and almost always willing to pay a physical price to help his team win. Hendricks was credited with seven blocked shots in Game 5 – a 2-1 overtime win for the Caps, who had to kill off multiple New York power plays late in the second period and third period.

“He fights, he hits, he’s a good leader in the dressing room,” forward Jay Beagle said. “He scores big goals and he’s got that shootout move that not many guys can do. I’ve tried it. I can’t do it. He’s a total package player, really. You need those guys on your team. He’ll go down and take a puck off the face if he has to block one. He’ll do it. He’s a good role player and those guys are hard to come by.”

But it’s also true that there is a $64.3 million salary cap in the NHL next year and there is only a finite amount of money for Washington general manager George McPhee to improve his club. Is paying a fourth-line player north of $1.5 million a realistic scenario? Maybe Hendricks won’t get that much on the open market and maybe he’s willing to take less to stay in a city he says has been good to him. But someone could be squeezed out if the Caps don’t get creative.

“[Hendricks] obviously does all the things that you’d want your typical fourth-liner to do,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “It’s hard though with just the way everything works and trying to fit all the guys in under cap and the amount of players and this and that and him being in the position that he’s in. It would suck to see a guy like that go.”

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The scene is all too familiar now. The long and tortured Stanley Cup playoff history of the Capitals means little to the current generation of players. None of them were born or raised here, after all.

But the stinging defeats of recent years are taking an obvious toll. In the Alex Ovechkin era, Washington has made the playoff six years in a row. They have advanced to the second round three times. They have been eliminated in the first round three times, including 5-0 Monday night in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the New York Rangers.

“We were in the series right now. That’s where it’s disappointing,” center Nicklas Backstrom said. “But it feels like déjà vu.”

Frustration, anger, hurt, confusion…it was all on display yet again in another somber postgame scene in the home locker room. What was left was a team coming to grips with the notion that time is passing swiftly. Chances to compete for a Stanley Cup are fleeting. Does doubt start to creep in?

“A little bit. I don’t know if that’s the right mentality. I’m sure it’s not the right mentality,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “But we all play this game to win and when you see one year after another year disappointments…[Former Caps forward] Mike Knuble would tell us that you blink and the next thing you know you’re in your last couple of years and you haven’t made it to the finals even. You don’t want to see the time tick away. You want to at least get a taste of it before you’re done.”

Mike Green, Alzner’s defense partner, has been here for every excruciating playoff loss dating to 2008. The overtime goal at home against Philadelphia in Game 7. The crushing 6-2 defeat at home in Game 7 against Pittsburgh (2009) and the one that topped them all – Game 7 against Montreal (2010). There was the Tampa Bay loss where a hot team ran into another buzzsaw. And, of course, last year’s 2-1 Game heartbreaker in Game 7 at Madison Square Garden. Now this – a 5-0 Game 7 drubbing that brought back memories of the Pittsburgh loss.

“There’s no point in talking about [the past],” forward Eric Fehr said. “We’re living right now and we lost. That’s it.”

Green was asked during his postgame scrum with reporters if Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was the difference in the series. He gave appropriate credit, lamented how the Caps got away from their game plan on scoring against him…and then sputtered. Green looked away and shook his head. There were no answers to be found.

“This is the best team that we’ve been on,” Green said. “We had the depth, we had the coaching, the structure, the system. Things that happen during series that just seem for whatever reason at the wrong time happen to us. That’s no reflection of the guys in the dressing room or how bad we wanted it. The heart and the depth of the guys throughout the lineup is not the reflection of how it should end.”

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1. And so for the seventh time in their last nine Stanley Cup playoff series the Caps will play a Game 7. The Rangers assured that with a 1-0 victory at Madison Square Garden on Sunday evening. Washington’s checkered history in those games will leave its fans gasping for air for the next 24 hours. It’s why we love this sport – and hate it, too.

The recent versions of this club are 2-4 in Games 7s, including last spring’s loss to the Rangers at MSG on May 12. Overall they are 3-8 in Game 7s and 2-6 at home. You can’t make this stuff up. The Caps may not be the Chicago Cubs or Cleveland Indians or the Buffalo Bills. But their postseason heartbreak ledger is spectacularly underrated.

Still, this is a team that has won elimination road games in Philadelphia (2008), New York (2009), Pittsburgh (2009) and Boston (2012). Missing out on the chance to put the Rangers away Sunday stung – but at least the Caps have a second chance. As long as they leave the frustration of this one behind them and don’t carry it into Monday night, they’ll have a chance. At 2-8-1 in early February they would have taken this in a heartbeat.

“You’d love to play as few games as you can, especially in this rink,” Caps defenseman Karl Alzner said. “It’d be great to win, but there’s nothing you can do about it now. We’re a team that stays positive and [has] a pretty short memory, so that’s good.”

Added star winger Alex Ovechkin: “Nothing you can do. You’re not gonna cry and say it’s over. Tomorrow is huge.”

2. So what, exactly, went wrong on Sunday? You don’t really need to ask, do you?

“Penalties. Start with penalties. Let’s end with penalties,” forward Troy Brouwer said. “That’s the only thing that stunted our game tonight was it killed our momentum, it killed our progress, it killed our top players who kill penalties. You can’t keep killing six, seven penalties a night and expect to win hockey games.”

Hard to argue with any of that. Brouwer was steamed, but he also wasn’t abdicating responsibility. He admitted the Caps deserved some of the five they took, lamented the retaliatory ones and, yes, was incredulous that the Rangers weren’t whistled for any.

“Seems a bit outlandish” was how Brouwer put it. But he also insisted Washington wasn’t helping itself, either. If you use your speed well then New York will be forced into taking penalties that officials have to call. But by taking penalties players like Ovechkin and Mike Ribeiro – who aren’t on the penalty kill – are essentially stapled to the bench. The players who are on it, like Matt Hendricks, are wasting energy they could be using later in the game. That message will be driven home – again – by the coaching staff at Monday’s meetings.

“I look it at it kind of like that bird that sits on your shoulder. It’s always chirping in your ear,” Hendricks said of the push to be more disciplined. “You need that. It’s one of those aspects of the game, one of the details in the game that always needs to be reiterated, especially in the playoffs when emotions run high and frustrations run high. We need to be a more disciplined hockey team.”

Fair or not, it is galling to some in that locker room – and Oates has mentioned this publically – that a team which plays the way New York does can get away with being the NHL’s least penalized team and has committed only 19 penalties through six games. Some will point out that their best defensemen, players like Ryan McDonagh, Dan Girardi, Anton Stralman etc. – are swift skaters who are usually in good position. That’s definitely true. But the truculence factor is high with that club, too. It’s an interesting dynamic.

“It’s tough. For the last couple of games you’re battling hard and not getting results and our power play is not getting a good chance to get out there, which is unfortunate,” Caps defenseman Steve Oleksy said. “It’s tough to say too much about that. But I don’t think [the Rangers are] playing a perfect game by any means.”

3. So the goalies were pretty good on Sunday. Henrik Lundqvist had 27 saves for New York en route to a shutout. Braden Holtby had 28 for Washington and the only one that beat him was a deflection.

Lundqvist wasn’t tested consistently often. But he made some beauties when he had to, including a save on Ovechkin on the rush as he cut towards the middle maybe 20 feet in front of the net. Later in the second period Ovechkin drilled Girardi and set up his own scoring chance in front that Lundqvist spoiled. And even when Lundqvist missed – as he did on an attempted pokecheck later in the second – Ovechkin couldn’t quite corral the puck as he attempted to wrap home a backhander.   

“You expect him to close [the door] every single night,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “Just the way he plays, obviously, one of the best goalies in the league. We’re lucky we have some of the best scorers in the league and the best playmakers. I just hope that our guys are better than their guys.”

Ovechkin said he didn’t regret his decision to deke on that second-period play. He just missed it, but the chance was there. Ultimately, that’s what matters against a goalie like Lundqvist.

“In a big game like this you don’t want to fall behind early so that’s what I focus on,” Lundqvist said. “As the game moves on I can see the way [Holtby is] playing in the other net, we had a lot of great chances, especially in the second period, but he kept it 1-0. Then I know I have to be sharp. You put a little extra pressure on yourself.”

Indeed, Holtby was good, too. In the third period he made a pad stop on Ryan Callahan during a 2-on-1 rush on the power play with Rick Nash. He swatted away a backhand attempt by Brad Richards in tight late in the second period and stayed strong on a handful of goal mouth scrambles as New York crashed his crease. It didn’t hurt that he helped Washington kill all five penalties.

4. Other than the play, Mrs. Lincoln…The Caps can’t take too many positives out of this one given it was a loss in a critical game and all the penalty drama that ensued. However, they did feel okay about their play 5-on-5. That is a tiny shard to build on as they head into Game 7.

Again, New York was relentless clogging the front of the Lundqvist’s net and making it difficult to get any shots through.

“It’s bodies there, but when you get the puck through it can touch anybody,” Washington center Nicklas Backstrom said. “We’ve just got to keep shooting.”

But Backstrom also noted that the Rangers were the better team in the first and second periods. That has to change tomorrow if the Caps want to keep playing hockey and not pack their gear for the summer.

“You’ve got to give New York credit. They did a good job of holding us at their blue line,”Hendricks said. “There was opportunity for us to put pucks in deep, and we didn’t do that; where we tried to rely on our skill, which, a lot of time it works. Tonight it didn’t. We need to get back to the basics a little bit tomorrow and try to outwork them.”

Given how good Lundqvist is in net, the best bet for Washington, according to Hendricks, is to get pucks out of the defensive zone effectively, get in foot races and try to get New York’s blueliners out of position that way.

“You try to be active to find pucks. There’s definitely bodies in front of you but if you’re active and you try to find it it’s a lot easier,” Lundqvist said. “I felt like I was patient and I waited for the pucks. Holtby was playing really well. He kept them in the game, especially in the second period, so I felt this would be a tight one, maybe one or two goals tops. My focus was to try to shut it down. It definitely helps when the guys play like that in front of you. We really paid the price.”

5. Ovechkin finished with five shots on goal, had another three attempts blocked and missed the net four times. He was credited with three hits and – as dubious as that stat can be – was a definite physical force. Just ask Girardi, who was leveled into the boards with a clean hit. Still, Ovechkin wasn’t exactly declaring this his best game of the series even if the scoring chances were there. He has just one goal and an assist in the series. In Game 7 Washington needs Ovechkin to find a way to break through again after four consecutive scoreless games.

“Well, we lose, so you can’t say it’s my best game,” Ovechkin said.

The Rangers, especially Lundqvist, were aware of Ovechkin at all times and it still didn’t matter. He could have easily scored a goal or two as he used his speed to enter the zone and was constantly probing the defense for opening on the rush.

“I don’t really have to look for [Ovechkin]. I know he’s going to show up sooner or later, he always does,” Lundqvist said. “He had a few chances tonight. I feel like every game he comes up with a couple of big chances. Obviously, he’s one of the key guys for them. I think the first two lines they have, they go a lot across so you have to be aware of that. The other two lines just work hard. It’s definitely a challenge for all of us, obviously for me, too.”

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The Capitals were upset with a lot of calls on Sunday in a 1-0 loss to the New York Rangers. Maybe a better way to say it – they were upset about non-calls. New York, the most disciplined team in the NHL this season, wasn’t whistled for a single penalty. Washington took five – two of them obvious, and dumb, retaliation penalties.

Defenseman Mike Green lost his cool late in the third period when he cross-checked Derek Dorsett in the face after what he felt was a slew foot – that nefarious penalty where a player uses his legs or feet to knock an opponents’ legs or feet out from under him. A lot of times an arm or shoulder is used as leverage to push a player over backwards.

It’s among the game’s dirtier plays. It also appears – after about a dozen re-watchings – that Dorsett was really guilty of an attempted slew foot. But he didn’t succeed. Green stays on his feet, Dorsett is the one who eats the boards and then gets cross-checked in the mouth. It was a terrible undisciplined reaction by Green and it put Washington down a man in a game it trailed late 1-0. The Caps had a right to be upset. But if you try and two-hand someone and miss it’s not a penalty. No different here – though goalie Braden Holtby explains why his teammate didn’t go down.

“The one that we all had a problem with, obviously, was the one on Greenie. I think that’s a play that should be reviewed,” Holtby said. “It’s only because Greenie’s world-class, one of the best skaters in the world, that he didn’t fall on his back there. It’s a dirty slew foot and we’re short-handed from it. That’s the only one I think any of us have a problem with.”

Of course, Green let his emotions get away from him when he retaliated. Same for defenseman Jack Hillen earlier in the game when he caught a sneaky elbow from Rangers captain Ryan Callahan and got hit with a cross-checking penalty of his own. That can’t happen. Brian Boyle’s retaliation penalty in Game 5 on Friday cost the Rangers, who were on a rush up ice at the time and gave up a goal on the ensuing power play.

“I’m not going to comment on what I thought, but it’s a time in a point in the hockey game where we can’t afford to be in the box,” Caps forward Matt Hendricks said.  

That’s a big part of Dorsett’s game. It worked on Sunday. The Caps can’t afford to let him get to them again.

“In the post-season, they’re letting us play a little bit too,” Dorsett said. “You’ve just got to make sure you don’t retaliate and just play hard and try to get under their skin.”

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1. So here we are again. Last year the Capitals and the New York Rangers were tied 2-2 in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup playoff series and Washington was moments away from securing Game 5. Instead, a late Joel Ward penalty led to a game-tying goal by Brad Richards with just seconds remaining. Madison Square Garden exploded and Washington wilted in a devastating overtime loss. The Caps survived Game 6 at home, but ultimately were dispatched in a bitter Game 7 loss in New York.

The tables are turned now. On Friday night at Verizon Center, Washington controlled play in the second and third period and finally, finally broke through with an overtime game winner by veteran center Mike Ribeiro at 9:24 of the extra period. This time the Rangers are left facing elimination at home in Game 6. This time the Caps were the ones joyously careening around their locker room after Game 5. Maybe home-ice advantage really does matter. The road team has yet to win a game in this series. Game 6 will now be at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon in New York.

2. It hasn’t been an easy stretch of hockey for Caps center Mike Ribeiro. The man who was so productive early in the season as the losses mounted and the frustration grew, had yet to score a goal in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup playoff series with the New York Rangers.

But Ribeiro has made his two points count. The first was a fake slap shot that became a pass to defenseman Mike Green for the overtime winner in Game 2. The second was a goal of his own on Friday night when a Karl Alzner point shot was deflected by Troy Brouwer right to Ribeiro, who slammed the puck into the vacant right side of the net for a 2-1 victory.

Ribeiro had two goals and 13 assists in his previous 19 games, including four in the playoffs. Through the first 22 games of the season he had nine goals and 19 assists.

[Ribeiro] was pretty much carrying us for most of the season, just point after point,” Alzner said. “It’s nice to see him put a goal in. good for his confidence. We got that guy going, it’s a big threat on the second line.”

But his recent slump had carried over into the postseason. The second line as a unit had just Ribeiro’s assist and Brouwer’s Game 3 goal to show through the first 16 periods of the series – four games plus Friday’s contest through regulation. But Ribeiro insisted his confidence wasn’t shaken.

“No, just a lot of times way I play is the next shift is a new one,” Ribeiro said. “You’ll make a mistake or you’ll get mad at the refs one shift, but you need to get, especially in playoffs, you stay soggy a bit for a few shifts, but playoff time you don’t have time to waste your energy on the shift that just passed.”

Ribeiro joked that he did some pushups to better prepare for the faceoff circle on Friday. He won 19 of 27 faceoffs (70 percent) on Friday two days after going 2-for-11 in Game 4 on Wednesday. Whatever the reason, he was better prepared to deal with New York’s centers.

“Last game I had a bad game in the circle and a lot of times when you have good games in the circle your focus is better, you start with the puck, you’re not chasing as much,” Ribeiro said. “It was important for me to bounce back. I think I had two and nine last game so it was important for me to be strong in that circle and start with the puck and play well defensively. I felt like last game I was cheating a bit defensively and I think if you play well positioning and work hard good things will happen.”

3. Yes, Ribeiro’s goal was the biggest play of the game Friday night. But back-to-back penalty kills late in the second period gave the Caps a chance at all. Defensemen Jack Hillen (holding) and John Carlson (delay-of-game) put their team in a rough spot. But some stellar penalty killing kept New York off the board four almost four full minutes and kept the game tied 1-1.

“It gave us a little bit of momentum,” defenseman John Erskine said. “But the big thing is guys are paying the price – they’re blocking shots and just blocking out. We’re getting the job done. It was a big part of our win [Friday].”

New York managed just three shots on goal. The Caps blocked seven during that stretch. Paying the price, indeed. Erskine alone had three. Matt Hendricks had one, Steve Oleksy had another. So did Karl Alzner and Hillen. They could have wilted when – just 15 seconds after Hillen’s penalty was killed, Carson flung the puck over the glass in the defensive zone for his penalty. But Washington rallied and responded again. New York’s power play is now 2-for-21 in the series.

“That was a tough part of the game,” Alzner said. “We were all getting a little bit tired, the killers right there when we took two in a row and Carly logs a lot of penalty-kill minutes, so it’s tough to have him in the box. I hate that call just as much as anybody, puck going over the glass, so I knew how badly we need to kill that for him.”

4. Ribeiro made another big contribution aside from the winning goal. His half cross-check, half push so incensed Rangers forward Brian Boyle that he slashed Ribeiro at 7:33 of the second period. The problem? New York was off on a 3-on-1 rush up ice and the whistle put a stop to that. To compound the issue, the Caps needed just 11 seconds for Joel Ward to register the power play goal and tie the game 1-1

“Dumb penalty and you don’t kill those off,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said. “It just happens that way in our game. And that’s a guy that’s playing well for us, but it’s a dumb penalty.”

Ribeiro gave his side of the story: “It was a big play in the game: I don’t know. I went to the net, he fell down, I cross-checked him, he turned around and give me a good whack on my calves, but good thing is I don’t have much [muscle] there so it didn’t hurt.”

“That’s a big goal for us. We had a hard time the last few games on the power play,” Ribeiro said. “Keeps us in game, we don’t have to chase, focus better after that and you saw after that, I don’t know if they have a shot in third period. We came pretty hard after that.”

5. Oates decided to change his defensive partners in the second period of Friday’s game. He moved Jack Hillen up with John Carlson while a struggling John Erskine down to the third pair with Steve Oleksy. He did so at the suggestion of defensive assistant coach Calle Johansson.

“I’ve played with [Oleksy] before when I came back off injury [in March]. We’ve been watching each other all year, we know each other’s habits so they want to switch the pairings up it’s nothing to us.”

Erskine took line rushes at Saturday’s practice and was back with Carlson so maybe that was just an in-game adjustment that won’t stick. He was on the ice for Boyle’s first-period goal and struggled with several turnovers early.

“It’s not easy,” Alzner said. “I know what that’s like, though, to change a partner and sometimes it can be tough. But the guys did a good job with that. I don’t think it affected us too much. We’re lucky that the guys are all pros and they know how to figure it out.”

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Tom Wilson has seen two hockey seasons end in two weeks. He hopes things go better for his new team.

The Capitals recalled their 19-year-old winger from AHL Hershey on Thursday one day after the Bears’ season came to an end in a decisive Game 5 loss to Providence on Wednesday night. Wilson learned the news of his promotion on the team bus from Hershey general manager Doug Yingst.

After an all-night bus ride from Providence to central Pennsylvania – and working on less than two hours sleep – Wilson and veteran winger Joey Crabb loaded their equipment into a car and drove to Washington in time for a practice.

Wilson took line rushes with Matt Hendricks and Jay Beagle, which is the fourth line. That would mean he’s set to make his NHL debut in Game 5 of a first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the New York Rangers on Friday night at Verizon Center. Crabb skated with injured forward Brooks Laich (groin surgery) and recent scratches Aaron Volpatti and Wojtek Wolski.

“You never know right? I’m just coming in here learning and not trying to get my expectations up or anything,” Wilson said. “But I’ve been watching every game, I love watching the Caps play. They’ve been very exciting lately and now I’m in the room and it’s very cool.

Washington coach Adam Oates took pains to say no decision has been made yet. Volpatti and Wolski remain options. But the fact is both players are left wings and neither has played in a game recently. Volpatti last appeared in a game on April 27 and Wolski hasn’t been seen since April 11.

Crabb and Wilson, meanwhile, are both right wings and in fine form after playing for Hershey in the Calder Cup playoffs. Crabb had five goals in five games against Providence and in 17 total games in Hershey since being sent down he has 11 goals and 11 assists.

“That goes into the factoring, yeah,” Oates said of Volpatti and Wolski’s inaction.

Wilson just turned 19 on March 29. He was a first-round draft pick last June, No. 16 overall. Ironically, an injury to second-line left wing Martin Erat in Game 4 on Wednesday may have given Wilson the opportunity to play. Erat himself was acquired for Washington’s other first-round draft pick in 2012, right wing Filip Forsberg. He was taken five picks before Wilson, whose stellar play for OHL Plymouth this season (32 goals, 43 assists in 60 games, including playoffs) may have made Forsberg expendable in the first place. Both are right wings, after all.

Wilson was briefly in training camp with Washington in the middle of the OHL season once the NHL lockout ended. He’d been asked to dial back his nasty side on a return trip to Plymouth and work on his offensive game. For the most part he did so successfully. His penalty minutes – 141 last season – dropped modestly to 104 this time around. Wilson did serve a five-game suspension in January for checking an opponent from behind.

He’s a big, physical presence at 6-foot-3, 205 pounds who makes you dream of Milan Lucic. He also hasn’t played in a single NHL game and the Caps would be putting him into a tied playoff game against a disciplined, tested team. Washington would burn a year of Wilson’s three-year entry-level contract if he appeared in six games this spring. That, of course, would mean winning the Rangers series and advancing to the second round. That’s a decision they’d love to face.

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