Capitals running away with division, but weak links showing
The biggest advantage of setting the bar low is in making it relatively easy to reach.
That part, the Washington Capitals seem to have figured out. Then again it shouldn't be that hard when you're the league's most explosive team and you own the Southeast.
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| Alexander Ovechkin leads the Capitals with 28 goals and 29 assists in 38 games played. (Getty Images) |
But the Caps have much bigger goals in mind this season, and despite a winning trip, they have to be wondering if the goaltending and defensive soft spots that ultimately undermined them last season in the playoffs could do so again.
Washington should have a better idea when Semyon Varlamov returns, possibly in the next few weeks. Varlamov is technically a rookie goalie, the 22-year-old became the go-to guy during last spring's playoffs and sparkled before getting hurt in December. He'll have to stay healthy if the Capitals hope to go deep this season.
It's critical to them. Washington has been generally better in its own end this season than last, but there are still issues along the blue line and the quality gap between Varlamov and their other goalies Jose Theodore and Michael Neuvirth is obvious.
Still the Caps have been winning enough to stay in the race for the Eastern Conference title since Varlamov went down mainly because they can score more goals than anyone else.
"Yeah, we have been relying too much on our firepower lately and it's kind of a dangerous road to be going down," said Brendan Morrison, after the Caps finished the trip with a 5-4 comeback shootout victory in Florida. "We're an underrated defensive team, and when we're playing our best hockey we're playing good defensively. But lately we haven't been committed to playing in our own end and we've given up a lot of goals."
Obviously that's a concern for Washington even as Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin, Mike Green and company keep lighting it up. Just less so these days than the weak starts by a team that may be challenged to avoid having complacency set in. Washington dug deep holes early in all three games against inferior teams during the Southeast trip, but won two and nearly the third because it was able to crank up the attack into overdrive.
"It makes things more interesting," veteran Mike Knuble said.
If not necessarily desirable. Like most of the other players on the team, Knuble conceded the recent trend of poor starts has become a bit disconcerting. But Knuble said the redeeming factor remains the Capitals' ability to explode at any time.
"We're a team that has the confidence to know we can come back when we're down," Knuble said. "Our starts haven't been great lately, and that's not necessarily the way you want to do it, but I don't think what we've seen is really an indication.
"We've been on the road a ton and this is a tough part of the year, so maybe guys are getting worn down a little bit. But this group is hungry. They've all kind of come up together and took some tough losses last year and the year before and now they're ready to take the next step. So there's no real danger of getting complacent here, not when we still have things to shoot for like a higher seed or a first place in the conference."
Washington was humming along toward those goals until the Christmas break and managed a decisive statement win against East-leading New Jersey in the first game back. But then the organization made the surprise move to trade popular captain Chris Clark to Columbus a few days later and the Capitals game has been uneven since.
"I don't think anybody was really expecting it, but unfortunately that's the business," Brian Pothier said. "Chris is a good friend to all of us, and to lose him was a big deal for us."
The Caps lost three in a row after the trade and then got back on track with three straight wins when Ovechkin was named captain. But no one in the room will argue the team is playing anywhere near its best hockey in the last few weeks.
"We haven't been focused and ready to play a lot of nights, and that's inexcusable really," Morrison said. "Some teams do that, but if you're a great team, and we want to be a great team, you don't.
"We got some work to do. But the key is to be playing well down the stretch and heading into the playoff. That's our main focus."
