The Capitals finished playing their third game in four nights Monday in Ottawa as the Senators rallied from a 3-1 deficit and won in overtime, 4-3. Saturday, they lost in Toronto in a shoot-out, and Friday, they lost to Montreal in Washington. Six points up for grabs, the Capitals earn only two. Up next, Buffalo on Wednesday. And the Sabres ain’t bad.
Despite owning the best records in the Eastern conference, the Capitals are consistently showing that they have a lot of room for improvement. Rarely does a game go by, even a win, where the Caps just don’t display the killer instinct they’ll need for a successful playoff run.
Some want to say that the recent losses are because of the injury problems, where a third of their opening-night roster is sidelined. But is that really the reason? Their call-ups haven’t played poorly. Even Jay Beagle scored his first NHL goal of the season in the Ottawa loss, and Coach Boudreau keeps praising Mathieu Perreault. We’ll never know for certain if the Capitals would have had a more successful weekend had they been injury-free, but from a fan’s point of view, these past three lackluster efforts are a major cause for concern, particularly for a team that has a lineup pretty well built for a legitimate shot at the Stanley Cup.
