Not even a pair of goals by Alex Ovechkin could raise the game of the Washington Capitals. They lose, again. The Caps drop their 8th straight and officially have the worse record in their last ten games in the league (1-6-3).
The Capitals seemed destined to end the season last place in the Southeast for the third season in a row. Now this team is nothing more than stepping stones for teams positioning for the post season. They looked like a stepped on team as well.
Two bad turnovers by Capitals’ defensemen lead to softie goals. It seems like the Caps are content on shooting themselves in the foot night after night. Fans complain of management overlooking juicy free agents for prospects that don’t seem ready to play in the league and I am starting to buy their arguments.
Goaltending is an obvious problem. You never really know how good Olaf Kolzig is until he is injured. Brent Johnson just looked uncomfortable in net, Fredric Cassivi wishes he was back in Hershey (at least they have a winning team).
Defense is young and very thin. The talent on the blue line always looks a step away from being great. But they also have games like this, giving up bad turnovers. Mike Green suddenly has hands of stone and opponent teams are bearing down on the inexperienced d-man.
Offense looks like a mess. There doesn’t seem to be any lines that are working well together. Lines change more than Ellen Degeneres’ outfit on Oscar night. Donald Brashear is getting time on the top line, something is wrong with that.
The Capitals can not just allow division teams to man handle them. You can afford to lose every non conference game and half of your eastern games, but if you can’t win against your division rivals, forget it. Pack it up, because you are not going anywhere.
So that’s it, the season’s done with 12 games left to play. Capitals will start looking at some of their younger players to see who is ready to play in the majors next year. GMGM is making his golf plans already, and Ted Leonsis will talk about the few bright spots of the year and ask for you to re-up for next season. Selling season tickets is all the Caps have left to do. Even that seems an impossible endeavor.
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