With a Philadelphia Flyers win lats night, the Capitals remain in tenth place in the Eastern Conference, sit 4 points out of the coveted 8th and final playoff spot and a Carolina win leaves them 5 points out of the Southeast.
Caps have a big weekend coming up with back to back games on Saturday and Sunday. They travel to Boston for a afternoon showdown in Boston, after last week’s 10-2 squashing of the Bruins in the Verizon Center. Then they make their way back home for a Sunday event with Pittsburgh, featuring again, the Alex Ovechkin/Sidney Crosby showdown. The Pittsburgh game will embark the Caps on a 4 game home stand. The Caps are in a situation where each and every game is becoming that much more important with just 14 games left on the schedule. They have won 4 of their last 5.
Steckel out/Huet Ready … C David Steckel will be out for the next 2 to 3 weeks with a broken finger. Steckel’s injury comes at a bad time with just 14 games remaining. All though not a scorer, Steckel’s presence is ever so important to the Caps as a chief on the penalty kill and his ability to win face offs. G Cristobal Huet, who left the 10-2 win over Boston at the end of the second period, is ready to return. Huet was suffering from back spasms. Fortunately for Coach Bruce Boudreau, he has the difficult problem of playing both Huet and Kolzig. Kolzig has been on fire since the Caps obtained Huet, and Huet is 2-0 with a GAA average of below 2.00 since coming to the Capitals.
Remembering … Corey Masisak writes a nice piece in the Times on remember the Washington Capitals past. Great ides in there. Let’s face it, this young team that has been built here, with the right small tweaks, will join other young teams like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh as possible play off contenders for the next 5 to 7 years. That will generate excite and enthusiasm in Washington for hockey, we see it already in increased attendance numbers. The youthful nature of this Caps team, led by the four young guns is re-generating lost interest from the lock out. Now it is time to wrap it all together and recognize Caps greats is a must and a perfect bridge.
Along with Johansson and the three players with their numbers retired (Dale Hunter, Yvon Labre and Rod Langway) other members could include Mike Gartner, Kevin Hatcher, Scott Stevens and Peter Bondra (not to mention Michael Pivonka, Dennis Maruk and Bengt Gustafsson).
Who’s the 
Caps
ALEXANDER OVECHKIN: Ovie’s racked up 6 goals in the last 3 games. Since a three game point slump, Ovie has generated 6 goals and 8 assists in the last 7 games.
NICKLAS BACKSTROM: Backstrom has 2 goals and 6 assists in the last 4 games. He has 2 goals in consecutive games. Has Backstrom not completely gelled with Ovechkin. Those long assist passes to catch Ovie on a breakaway are nothing short of pure beauty.
BROOKS LAICH: Laich has 6 goals in his lats 8 games, providing the Caps some good scoring outside the potent Line 1.
TOM POTI: Poti has 6 assists in his last 5 games.
CRISTOBAL HUET: Huet is 2-0. In hist 2 starts with the Caps, Huet has stopped 38 of 40 shots, has a save percentage of .950.
OLAF KOLZIG: Kolzig is 2-1 in his last 4 appearances. He has stopped 876 of 91 shots during that stretch, a save percentage of .945. The competition with Huet is causing both goalies to thrive, good news as the Caps go forward.
CAPITALS LEADER BOARD:
- Goals: Alexander Ovechkin, 54
- Assists: Nicklas Backstrom, 47
- Points: Alexander Ovechkin, 92
- PP Goals: Alexander Ovechkin, 18
- PP Assists: Nicklas Backstrom, 18
- Game Winners: Alexander Ovechkin, 9
- + / -: Victor Kozlov, +18
- Defense Scoring: Mike Green, 43 points
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