The Capitals are seizing their moment

The Capitals have always had amazing high-end talent. For the first time in a long time, it’s mid-May and they also look like a team with superior depth and belief.

They followed a cruise of a win in Game 1 by trouncing the Lightning in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday, 6-2. They trailed 2-1 after the first period but mounted a total onslaught from there: three unanswered goals in the second, two more in the third to empty out Amalie Arena with almost a half-period left to play. The Lightning were the best team in the conference this year, but they’ve been overwhelmed in their own house.

Backstrom has an apparent hand or wrist injury and hasn’t played since Game 5 of the second-round series against the Penguins. The Caps are not a better team without him, but his absence seems to have brought third-line pivot Lars Eller out of his shell.

A suspension to reckless but useful winger Tom Wilson in the middle of the last round had a similar effect, with talented scorer Jakub Vrana emerging down the stretch of that series.

The Capitals still don’t have Backstrom, and it’s not clear when he’ll return. But they look deeper and fiercer now than ever before. If and when he returns, they’ll be a monster.

Has any team played a better two-game stretch in these playoffs? Almost certainly not.

The Caps have outscored Tampa Bay, 10-4, a margin that paints a good but incomplete picture of how dominant they’ve been. They’ve controlled 52 percent of the even-strength shot attempts and about 60 percent of the scoring chances. But they’ve been better than that, given that they’ve built four-goal leads in both games and had the option to park the bus the rest of the way.

It speaks to how good things are going for Washington that you’ve gotten this far down on the page and not seen the words “Alex Ovechkin.” The best goal-scorer of his generation is going to win the Conn Smythe if his team can win six more games. He added a couple of points on Sunday, including one of the easier goals he’s ever scored on an odd-man rush.

Let this sink in, though: When Ovechkin was on the ice at five-on-five in Game 2, the Capitals controlled just 33 percent of the shot attempts and 44 percent of the scoring chances. The Lightning had the league’s most dangerous finisher chasing the puck around in his own end more often than not, and they still got routed at home.

In large part, that happened because Eller and Vrana were so good together. Barry Trotz put Vrana in Wilson’s place a game and a half into the latter’s three-game suspension in the second round, and Vrana helped push the Capitals through. Now that Wilson’s back, Vrana’s playing on a second line with Eller and T.J. Oshie. That unit had the puck all the time in Sunday’s game. The Caps controlled 70 percent of the even-strength shot attempts when they played.

Who knows if Eller’s just found amazing chemistry with his current linemates, felt deeply inspired with Backstrom out, or what. But his emergence the last two games has been something to see. He had 38 points this year and isn’t an offensive zero by any stretch, but he’s also never scored 20 goals or 40 points in any of his eight full-time NHL seasons.

Eller had a goal in Game 1, then a goal and two assists in Game 2. He’s up to 11 points in 14 playoff games, and he’s done it while playing great, possession-driving hockey.

They know as well as anybody that taking home a 2-0 lead carries no guarantees. The Blue Jackets started 2-0 in D.C. in the first round, then lost the next four. But teams in the Capitals’ current position go on to win their series 81 percent of the time. Even if Backstrom doesn’t return shortly, there’s no reason the Capitals can’t avoid losing four out of five games. They’ve put a golden opportunity well within their reach.