Our weekly look at individual Washington Capitals‘ ups and downs:
| Goalies | Trend | Notes |
| Michal Neuvirth |  |
Lost in a shootout on Monday night (despite being spotted a three-goal third period lead) and then dropped a 3-2 decision on Saturday. Neuvy has let in some bad goals of late, and has been let down by the guys in front of him even more frequently. Regardless of where the blame is placed – and there’s plenty to go around – his 5-2-2/3.12/.891 line since October is a far cry from the 7-3-0/2.15/.926 mark he posted in that first month of the season. |
| Semyon Varlamov | |
Very solid through two-plus periods against Florida before the wheels came off the wagon, as he allowed nine goals on the next 29 shots he faced. In his last 71:50 of action, Varly has a 7.52 GAA and a .690 save percentage. Yikes. |
| Defensemen | ||
| Karl Alzner | |
Opponents scored seven goals with Alzner on the ice this week, five of which came at even strength. |
| John Carlson | |
On the ice for eight goals against in the week’s four games, Carlson has now been on the ice for more goals against than any Cap. |
| John Erskine |  |
Missed the first two games of the week and played pretty much as expected for the last two, which is to say mediocre. |
| Brian Fahey | |
Was only on the ice for one goal against in the Rangers debacle, and that was actually the first goal against he was on the ice for in his last five games. Still… do not want. |
| Mike Green |  |
Missed the second half of the week due to illness and/or injury, and currently is mired in a ten-game goal-less stretch during which he has just one point. The last time he went double-digit games with just one point? The ten games leading up to Glen Hanlon‘s dismissal. |
| Scott Hannan | |
The current losing streak coincides with Hannan’s young career as a Cap. Coincidence? Perhaps. But the fact that he was on the ice for a team-high nine goals against this week (more than half of the 17 allowed) sure isn’t comforting. Neither is his how much time and space he’s been giving opposing forwards. The “perfect addition,” eh? |
| Tom Poti | |
The last seven goals Poti has been on the ice for have been scored against the Caps (and some have certainly been attributable to his play). Not good. Not even the three assists he had against Toronto before that slide can save him from a down arrow. |
| Jeff Schultz | |
The Caps have given up 16 goals in 10 periods and change since Sarge left Monday night’s game with a broken finger. Just sayin’. |
| Tyler Sloan | |
Was eligible to come off the IR, where he’d been with a groin injury, prior to Sunday night’s game, but didn’t (which probably erases any questions as to the legitimacy of the ailment, as it kept Fahey in the lineup). |
| Forwards | ||
| Nicklas Backstrom | |
Minus-five for the week and a 31.4 faceoff percentage in the last two games owe a lot to the flu bug that has hit the Caps’ room and Backstrom. But what’s the explanation for the rest of the three-points-in-six-games? |
| Matt Bradley | |
Scratched against Florida and then again in New York after posting a minus-2 rating in Saturday night’s 3-2 loss. |
| Jason Chimera | |
With a brutal minus-six week, Chimera now has the worst goal differential on the team (tied with Steckel) and the last dozen goals he’s been on the ice for have been scored into the Caps’ net. Try to wrap your head around how a guy who averaged right around 14 minutes per game last week was on the ice for eight of the 17 goals the team allowed. Chimmer has now gone 11 games without a point. |
| Eric Fehr | |
Goal-less in ten games, Fehr almost gets saved from the down arrow by being the only Cap who wasn’t a minus against the Rangers. Almost. |
| Andrew Gordon | |
Gordon was on the ice for the first two New York goals on Sunday night. |
| Boyd Gordon | |
For a player like Gordon, to get through this week with only two goals against (one coming on the power-play) is a minor victory. |
| Matt Hendricks |  |
Hendricks added a big power-play goal to his two fights for the week, and seems to be making Matt Bradley somewhat expendable (if Bradley isn’t doing that himself), thanks in large part to his versatility. |
| Marcus Johansson | |
After seemingly turning the corner, Johansson looks a bit lost again and failed to register a point this week while getting healthy-scratched against the Avs and capping the week with an 0-for-7 in the dot against the Rangers. |
| D.J. King | |
Fought against the Leafs (yawn) and we scratched thereafter before heading to the IR. |
| Mike Knuble | |
Scored his 250th career goal (one of two for the week), and added an assist, meaning that he had a hand in half of the goals the Caps scored for the week, and scored a third of them himself. |
| Brooks Laich | |
Laich’s gotta score goals… but if he’s not (and he hasn’t during the six-game losing streak), at least he’s not costing the team, as he was only on the ice for two goals-against this week (one of which was shorthanded) and three goals-for. |
| Alex Ovechkin | |
The team’s a mess and he’s the captain. He’s not scoring, they’re not scoring. And they’re not winning. It’s time for the lead-by-example captain to step up and lead-by-example… and hopefully we saw a preview of it when he dropped the mittens on Sunday night. |
| Mathieu Perreault | |
With two of the six goals the Caps scored last week and being on the ice for just one goal against, Perreault probably deserves an up arrow. But then again, these ratings are expectations-based, and two goals in his first game upon recall followed by nothing for three games is pretty much precisely what we expected. |
| Alexander Semin | |
It’s been seven games since Semin has scored and lately he’s been playing through this slump as most of his detractors might have anticipated – lazily and selfishly, most recently by taking a brutal major against Colorado and a minus-three night in New York. |
| David Steckel | |
Two scratches and not much good on either side of ’em. |
