Power Rankings: Caps coach sitting in ejection seat

Updated Dec. 13

There will be many Democrats leaving Washington in the new year and it wouldn't be much of a surprise if the guy behind the Capitals bench ends up joining them.

Bruce Boudreau's team still leads the Southeast at 18-11-3 despite a six-game losing streak. (Getty Images)

Bruce Boudreau's job is probably safe until then, if for no other reason that he's going to have a prominent role in the upcoming HBO 24/7 series that features the Caps and the Pittsburgh Penguins leading up to their Winter Classic clash on New Year's Day. The network, the NHL and both clubs have a lot riding on the four-part series and having Boudreau out of the picture when he will be so much a part of it probably wouldn't thrill anyone in the editing room.

Besides, the Caps are still leading their division because of a great start, the Christmas break is coming up and Boudreau has two of his top defensemen out with injuries. But Washington is also coming off a major first-round playoff collapse last season and still has plenty of high-priced superstar talent on its roster. Problem is that right now, Boudreau can't get anything out of them and even acknowledges that the Caps are 'deflated.'

They should be, having lost six games in a row, the latest of which, a 7-0 annihilation by the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, putting an exclamation point on how bad things have become. The stretch includes four losses in a row at home, two against cellar dwellers. Meanwhile, the Capitals have been outscored 22-8 during the slide, they've managed only three power play goals in 27 tries and the save percentage of their goaltenders is a lot closer to the ugly .800 percentage than the mediocre .900.

The big guns aren't helping either with Alex Ovechkin getting only two goals in his last 14 games and Alexander Semin getting none so far in December. Ovechkin did get into a fight Sunday in an effort to wake up his team, except that with the Capitals on a power play a minute later, they were victimized by a short-handed goal.

"I don't have an answer right now," Boudreau said. "I think we have a lot of people feeling sorry for themselves. We have to find a way to get out of this before it's too late."

For whom?

The rankings through Sunday night's games:

RANK	TEAM		MOVE (LW)