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It seems like it was only yesterday when captain Dale Hunter raised the Prince of Wales trophy above his head last June for all to see at Buffalo's Marine Midland Arena. That was the greatest triumph in Washington Capitals history. No goal had ever meant more than the overtime marker that Joe Juneau deposited past Dominik Hasek in Game Six to propel the Capitals to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Then, the magical slipper fell off. Detroit swept the Capitals, winning the Stanley Cup at MCI Center. Unfortunately for Washington, the tailspin that began in the finals has continued into this month. The once mighty and proud Capitals (9-17-3; 13th in the East) are now ranked with the worst teams in the league. Only Los Angeles and Tampa Bay are worse than the Capitals.

Coach Ron Wilson, one of the greatest motivational coaches in the National Hockey League, has used his entire arsenal of tricks in hopes of helping his team return to its winning ways. A few weeks ago, he canceled practice and took his team bowling. That resulted in one win, but then the club record eight-game road trip began with a thud, losing the first four contests. Worst of all, three of those losses were to the Western Conference's inferior teams - Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose.

Coach Wilson at practice by Jason Sheehan

So, Wilson pulled another card from his sleeve: a four-day hiatus in Las Vegas. The team spent the first two days away from the ice. Some players attended the rodeo, others went golfing and almost everyone gambled. Players spent the last two days refining their skills in a mini-camp at the Las Vegas Ice Gardens. Yet Wilson thinks it's too early to sweat it, despite the porous record and lack of response from his motivational tactics.

"I'm not going to hit the panic button," Wilson said after practice on Dec. 16th. "I don't know what a panic button pushing would do for our team. We've got solutions. We've got to find them and apply them."

Wilson has been particularly upset about the opposition taking liberties with his star players. Two elite scorers, Richard Zednik and Peter Bondra, were targeted by grinders in Anaheim and San Jose, respectively. Zednik didn't make much out of the blind-side hit he received in Anaheim, relegating it to being part of the game. However, it remains one of Wilson's major concerns, because not one player retaliated after both incidents occurred.

"We've tried to address it," Wilson said. "Now the only thing we can see is if people respond. I've challenged some people to rise to the occasion to protect their teammates, and I've challenged the goal scorers to bear down even harder and take care of the scoring chances they do create."

Washington's goal scorers have been hampered by poor production and injuries. The Capitals rank last in the league with 60 goals. In comparison, San Jose is positioned above Washington with 62 goals, while Toronto leads with 98. Washington has been shut out four times in its last 10 games and only has six goals through six games of the eight-game road trip.

"We're kind of pressing a little harder than usual," says Bondra, who leads the team with 12 goals. "But when nothing goes well for you, you try to look at your game and try to maybe press harder on your stick or try to squeeze harder. You try to change some things. It doesn't work well. You just have to relax, have fun and play the game. Playing the system is more important than anything else."

Said left wing Craig Berube: "We haven't scored many goals lately. This last road trip (Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose), we've scored three goals. So you're not going to win many games [with that output]. So [we need to] start hustling, start scoring some goals, keep playing the way we are defensively and we'll start winning."

The Capitals also have put themselves in trouble early in games by allowing the first goal; many of which have come in the first five minutes. Washington has only scored first in one of their last 10 games, and that tally came in a 2-1 loss at San Jose.

Entering the third period without a lead also has been a problem the Capitals have been unable to overcome. In this situation, the Capitals are 0-23-0, proving that poor conditioning might be their undoing.

The slow starts also can lead to a bruised psyche. Yet, not every player thinks the team folds the tent when the opposition scores the game's first goal.

Calle Johansson by Meredith Martini

"I think it's a pretty simple answer," defenseman Calle Johansson said, referring to the slow starts. "We just have to work harder and play smarter. We're just not ready to play the first 10 minutes of the game. We've got to come out more ready to play.

"I think we're in pretty good spirits. We're not that fragile. I think we're pretty close to turning it around. It's not like we're being outplayed. I think we've been playing pretty decent, but we haven't been scoring goals. If we just take care of our own end first and don't let any goals in like we have been, I think we're going to start scoring pretty soon."

Said Berube: "Maybe [we're thinking about it too much]. Last year, we got scored on early all the time, [but] when you're playing with a lead, it's a lot easier to win. We've just got to try to score first a little bit. That'll help."

On the injury front, the Capitals are on pace to match last season's staggering 476 man-games lost to injury. Lately, most injuries have staggered the team's forward corps. Left wing Chris Simon is the most seriously injured Capital. He re-injured his shoulder in the first game of the road trip at Philadelphia on Dec. 5. He will go under the knife for the second time in two seasons and miss the rest of the season.

Playmaking center Adam Oates has missed the last nine games with a groin strain and isn't expected to return until Dec. 26 when the Capitals conclude the road trip in Nashville. In addition to Simon and Oates, the other injured players are Michal Pivonka (shoulder), Yogi Svejkovsky (ankle), center Jan Bulis (ankle) and left wings Tom Chorske (groin) and Richard Zednik (groin). Of these players, excluding Simon, only Chorske will miss a substantial amount of time.

"It's doing a little better," Oates said, referring to his injury. "It's not quite right yet - obviously because I'm not skating - but it's come a long way. I've got a routine I do everyday; exercises. I'm working on it."

Before departing Las Vegas for Chicago, Wilson put the team through a rigorous morning practice. The drills included a positioning drill where defensemen played with their stick handles, holding the blades in their hands. Practice concluded with a drill all players loathe - the dreaded 180-feet stop-and-go routine that lasted 20 minutes.

Caps at practice in Las Vegas by Jason Sheehan

After practice, players left the dressing room looking like they had just run a marathon. Only a handful of Capitals - Bondra, Zednik, Hunter, Mark Tinordi and Berube - looked like they had just completed a short walk in the park. Others, such as Andrei Nikolishin and Dmitri Mironov, appeared to be out-of-shape. Mironov also appears to have an injured groin. He had difficulty walking to the bus, but has not missed a game.

"[Practice] was tough, but it was good," Johansson said. "You need to practice like that every once in awhile. That's part of hockey. You need to do it if you are going to get any better, so you just put your head down and skate."

The trip to Las Vegas paid dividends in Chicago on Dec. 17, where the Capitals snapped a four-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory. It was the first time in weeks that the Capitals gave a full 60-minute effort. Unfortunately, the celebration didn't last long. In the next game at Pittsburgh on Dec. 19, Washington returned to its inconsistent play, getting shut out, 3-0.

The faint smell of optimism in the air is being replaced by a sweaty stench of pessimism as Washington continues to fail in recapturing its magic from last season.

"I think we're close [to winning]," Oates observes. "Obviously, it's the same team that went to the finals last year, so we obviously have it in us. We're just in a major funk trying to conquer some issues. Hopefully, we'll get there."

At least the team had a good time in Las Vegas - much more fun than it's been having on the ice.

"It's been great," goaltender Olie Kolzig said. "It's been relaxing. I played a little golf, just basically relaxed and got away from hockey for a few days. That's what we need, just to get away from the rink for a little bit."

Yet, the season to forget continues as the Washington Capitals continue to plummet down a bottomless pit. The light is getting dimmer, and last season's run to the finals now seems like a faint memory whistling in the wind.

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