The Washington Capitals hockey team, over the past six to seven years, has dominated the southeast division and has made a playoff appearance in all six of those years. This year has been a little different for the hometown Capitals, though.
The Capitals continue to disappoint their fans this season, losing in games where they most need to win. Currently, the Capitals sit at 10-13-1 records, making them 12th in the Eastern Conference and six points out of the playoff cut. This is very unusual for a team that has for most of the time been in the top three of the Eastern Conference.
Playoff hockey is a big deal to me, as I’m sure it is to everyone here in the DC area. This season though, so far, the Capitals are showing us that they most likely will not make the playoffs and it disappoints me greatly. I know there are still 24 games left and that may seem like plenty of time to most people, but the way I see it is that if they don’t start winning games and figure out what is going wrong on the ice then I don’t see them making the playoffs.
The Capitals just recently lost to the Rangers 4-1 and the Islanders 5-2. This season in net Braden Holtby has let up 43 goals, and for the most part hasn’t been as he was last year in the playoffs. This is one way the Caps are losing their games; another is the lack of offense they’re providing. The only guy who has seemed to score consistently for the caps is newcomer Mike Riberio. Players like Nick Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin have been nowhere to be found this season, and that could be one of the big reasons why they have been struggling on offense.
Yes, I agree the Capitals still have some time, but this losing trend in Washington needs to stop. The real question is, will we be rocking the red come May, or will the Capitals be watching the playoffs from their couch? It’s looking more and more like the latter to me.