With only a handful of games to go it might be time to hit the panic button and start worrying about the Washington Capitals play.
The season end near its end, closing the playoff race is anything but over in the Southeastern Division. The Capitals have won only five of their last 12 and have allowed the Carolina Hurricanes to sneak back into the playoff race. The slump started right around the trade deadline when many teams, including Carolina, upgraded and the Capitals did not.
A major criticism of the Capitals was that they did not upgrade their goaltending. Jose Theodore was an emergency signing in the off-season when General Manager George McPhee was unable to close the deal with last year's trade deadline prize, Cristobal Huet. Theodore has been inconsistent and down right scary through most of the season.
The Caps have some great talent in the system at the goaltender position but neither Michal Neuvirth nor Simeon Varlamov is NHL ready. Heading into the playoffs, it would have been nice for the Capitals to have a somewhat proven goalie. Martin Gerber was sitting on wavers during much of deadline day and they failed to pick him up. Not only did they not pick him up but also Gerber then beat them that night and was a major force in last night's loss.
After last night's shootout loss to Toronto, Brooks Laich said the team needs to play with more energy. He said no one is coming off the ice exhausted anymore and that is necessary if you are going to win games. Boudreau has tried everything but it doesn't seem like anything he can do is helping.
Alex Ovechkin seems to be the only one playing consistently right now and even then he is still a big distraction. He now has 51 goals and he of course was not going to do that quietly. The over enthusiastic celebration he did after his 50th goal in Tampa Bay caused quite a stir in the hockey community. While it can be said that he is just trying to make hockey more popular, it doesn't help the Capitals. That should be his first priority.
The Capitals have one of the easiest schedules down the stretch and if they go any less than .500 it is a major step backward for the franchise. They can close the door on the division in the coming week and if there is any hope for them to escape the first round they must do it. Not only is the team visibly tired but they also need to get their confidence back.
Currently they have a first round match-up against the Pittsburgh Penguins, their archrivals. The Carolina Hurricanes have ganged up on the Caps as of late and they are not a team Washington wants to face. Pittsburgh has been tired all year and has won only one game against the Caps all year. Winning is not necessarily required right now but certainly would be a good sign that the Capitals are playoff-ready.
You can reach this columnist at atomlinson@theeagleonline.com.
