Our weekly temperature-taking of the mainstream media’s opinions on the Washington Capitals.
| Outlet | This Week | Last Week | What They’re Saying | |
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13 | 16 | The most exciting player in the shootout right now is … Matt Hendricks?! And not only is he embarrassing goalies across the league, he’s also helping the Capitals pick up some important extra points in the tiebreaking skills competition during the stretch run. | |
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15 | 17 | The Caps looked like they might be done when Buffalo whipped them at home early last week, but they rebounded with big wins over Boston and Montreal and are 3-1-1 in their past five. They control their own destiny vis-a-vis holding off Buffalo for 8th and still have designs on first in the Southeast. | |
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17 | 17 | A pair of shootout wins coupled with Toronto’s win over Buffalo puts Washington in an advantageous spot heading into the final week of the season. The finale at Madison Square Garden on Saturday is a preview of Games 1 and 2 of their upcoming playoff series | |
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16 | 19 | Loss of goalie Tomas Vokoun for possibly the rest of the season and playoffs is just more bad news for a franchise that has become accustomed to it in short order. | |
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15 | – | Nicklas Backstrom is back, and the Caps are 8-3-2 in their last 14 games. It’s a cliché, sure, but they will be a dangerous lower seed should they reach the postseason. | |
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18 | 15 | They could have probably wrapped up the eighth spot in the East on Monday with just a one-point effort. It looked that way until Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos scored two goals in the final 70 seconds to beat them, 4-2. Now they have to root for…gulp…Toronto to help them out against Buffalo on Tuesday night. | |
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18 | 20 | On regulation loss in the last seven games and the return of Nicklas Backstrom has the Capitals looking like a playoff team, but that’s far from a sure thing, as they only hold a two-point advantage over the Sabres. If the final week breaks right, including a win Thursday against Florida, the Caps could still catch the division-leading Panthers. Key Injuries: G Tomas Vokoun (lower body). |
Click on logos for links to full power rankings.
