There isn’t much to say, folks.
The Caps lost the Stadium Series game against the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes by a 4-1 score, but it was the overall effort (or lack thereof) that was even more disturbing than what was on the scoreboard.
Without their captain and emotional leader, Alex Ovechkin – who is on bereavement leave over in Russia after the death of his father, Mikhail Ovechkin – the Caps lost for the third time in three tries this week, and are 0-for-4 overall without Ovechkin this season.
Following losses earlier in the week to those same Hurricanes – by a 3-2 score – and to the Florida Panthers – by a 6-3 score – not to mention a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks on home ice last weekend — the Caps have now lost 4-straight games in regulation after what was (supposed to be) a very uplifting 2-1 regulation victory in Boston last Saturday.
As the playoff race in the Eastern Conference tightens, the Caps are pissing away standings points like a dog on a fire hydrant.
The Stadium Series game against the Hurricanes was never really close. The Caps really didn’t even give themselves a chance to win the game.
They gave up an early goal to the Canes, as veteran defenseman Matt Irwin missed his coverage in front of the net. They pissed away two early power plays, not even registering a shot on goal on either of them. And then things pretty much just snowballed from there.
The one highlight of the night for the Caps was Tom Wilson immediately finding his way back onto the scoresheet for the Caps, in his first game back from injury. Willy has played just 9 games so far this season, following offseason ACL surgery and then another separate injury from blocking a shot against the Colorado Avalanche back on January 24th. But in those 9 games he has 3 goals, a 27-goal pace over 82 games.
But that was it. That was THE highlight – singular – of the night for the Caps as they played a pretty piss-poor game from start to finish.
To say that it was an underwhelming or disappointing effort would be an understatement. This team needs standings points right now if they want to make the playoffs for a 9th-straight season, the 2nd-longest active streak in the league behind only the Pittsburgh Penguins. They’re playing as if they have a 20-point cushion and can take it easy, and it’s costing them valuable standings points night after night after night.
Nicklas Backstrom said it best after the game: “No breakouts. No neutral zone play. No forecheck. So, it was pretty flat out there.” Basically, they didn’t do anything well.
They’ll need to figure it out – very quickly – if they want to minimize the damage this past week has done and give themselves a real shot at making the playoffs.
The Caps’ next game is another large one – as they pretty much all will be from this point on – Tuesday night against the Detroit Red Wings, who themselves are now just two points back of the Caps in the Eastern Conference wildcard race.
