Our weekly look at individual Washington Capitals‘ ups and downs:
| Goalies | Trend | Notes |
| Michal Neuvirth |  |
Was spectacular on Friday night, allowing just one-and-a-half goals on 45 shots against. Wait, what? Have Alex Semin kick it into your own net after you’ve made the save counts as a full goal against? That hardly seems fair. Anyway, Neuvi is 4-0-0/1.38/.961 since getting yanked in back-to-back games in the Sunshine State. |
| Jose Theodore | |
The 3.29 GAA for the week isn’t impressive, but the 3-0-0 record and .913 save percentage are more indicative of the week Jose had – just three of the ten goals he allowed came at five-on-five, and two came three-on-five. |
| Semyon Varlamov |  |
Stopped 26 of 30 starts yesterday in Hershey’s win over the Baby Pens. Could he see a start in D.C. before the break? |
| Defensemen | ||
| Karl Alzner |  |
Played sparingly on Friday night after being recalled, scratched and scratched (and prior to being sent back down to Hershey); maybe we should rename this feature “Capital Karl Alzners,” given how frequently he’s up and down between Chocolatetown and D.C. |
| John Erskine | |
Plus-four for a week that included a fight (which he won)… and some notably questionable on-ice decisions and/or poor execution. |
| Mike Green | |
Returned from suspension with an empty net goal and a plus-two rating in two games in which he led the team in ice time. |
| Shaone Morrisonn | |
Pretty solid week for Mo, whose most impressive recent stat might be that Sunday was his first minus-rating for a game in 14 games (hmm… there’s that number again) and only his second since December 18. |
| Brian Pothier | |
Speaking of plus-minus streaks, Pothier hasn’t been a minus in a game since November 14, and that’s his only game in the red (so to speak) since October 17. Sidenote: the Pothier hip check is one of my favorite semi-regular Caps plays. |
| Tom Poti | |
One goal and three assists and a plus-four rating for the week, but had his worst game in a while on Sunday and was on the ice for seven of the 12 goals the Caps allowed in the four games (five of which came with the Caps down a man or two). |
| Jeff Schultz | |
With a plus-three Sunday, Schultz has now been a plus in his last eight consecutive games, bumping up his plus-minus by 14 during that stretch. Throw in his brilliant outlet pass to Ovechkin on the Caps’ first goal on Sunday (and the accompanying Pierre McGuire love) and a little jawing with the Golden Boy and, yeah, nice week for Mr. Nasty. |
| Tyler Sloan | |
Sloan’s failed clear that was intercepted by Sidney Crosby and deposited behind Jose Theodore to give the Pens a 1-0 lead on Sunday is precisely the type of play he can’t be making in his limited ice time if he wants to see any increase in it. |
| Forwards | ||
| Nicklas Backstrom | |
A couple of goals, eight assists and a plus-six week highlighted by a one-goal, four-assist game at MSG has vaulted Nick into the top four in the League in points, assists and plus-minus (and he’s 11th in goals). Reminder: he’s not yet 23-years-old. |
| Matt Bradley | |
Had a couple of assists on the week and sits a goal and two helpers shy of his career bests. |
| Jason Chimera | |
Scored on a laser of a shot against Atlanta and nearly finished a two-on-one with Eric Fehr in the Pens game (blame a rolling puck for his inability to do so). |
| Eric Fehr | |
Had one of his worst games in a while on Friday night and only four shots on goal in the week’s first four games, but rebounded with a strong effort on Sunday. |
| Tomas Fleischmann |  |
Two power-play assists in Manhattan and a plus-one in each of the other games, but just one shot on goal for a week that ended with him getting pushed around a bit by Pittsburgh. Flash has now gone nine games without a goal (though he does have eight assists in that span). |
| Boyd Gordon | |
Two-thirds of his goal production and a swing from minus-2 to plus-two on the season came this week, and he was only on the ice for one goal that wasn’t scored 5-on-3… and it was a 5-on-4 tally. Good stuff, Gordo. |
| Mike Knuble | |
A game-winner against Pittsburgh would’ve been up arrow-worthy on its own, but his other two goals, three assists, plus-seven and fight in defense of his captain make this Knuble’s best week as a Cap. |
| Brooks Laich | |
Scored the game-winner in Boston and added an assist on Friday night (one of two beautiful set-ups he authored), but the second line’s chemistry seemed a bit off this week. |
| Quintin Laing | |
Still sittin’. |
| Brendan Morrison | |
One assist, minus-three (including minus-two against Pittsburgh) and 42.2% on draws. Better believe George McPhee will spend part of the Olympic break thinking about whether his team needs another scoring-line center. |
| Alex Ovechkin | |
Seven goals (including the Caps’ first hat trick of the season), three assists, plus-six and, most important of all, four more wins for the best player in the world. |
| Alexander Semin | |
Yes, two goals in four games is a 41-goal pace. And the game-winner against the Thrashers was a beauty. But there were some danger signs this week, including six minor penalties. You’ve still got a week left before you’re supposed to be checking out for Vancouver, Sasha. |
| David Steckel | |
Plus-two on the week, and was on the ice for four goals against – two 4-on-5’s and two 3-on-5’s. |