Our weekly look at individual Washington Capitals‘ ups and downs:
| Goalies | Trend | Notes |
| Jose Theodore |  |
Won the week’s marquee match-up with an outstanding 39-save performance against the Pens, but looked terrible and got the early hook in his follow-up effort against the Flames. Just a blip… right? |
| Semyon Varlamov |  |
Had his best game since returning from injury (stopping 29 of 31 shots in a shootout loss in Carolina) and played well in relief of Theodore on Sunday, ending the week with a 2.13 goals against average and .907 save percentage. Keep it up, Varly, and Bruce Boudreau‘s most critical decision will get difficult again. |
| Defensemen | ||
| John Carlson | |
Scored his first NHL goal against the ‘Canes and continues to bring an invaluable skill-set to the back end. But the sooner he can go back to being paired with someone other than John Erskine (be it Shaone Morrisonn or anyone else, really), the better. |
| Joe Corvo |  |
Minus-two with two shot-less games and on the ice for four of the seven even-strength goals (and five of ten overall) that the team allowed on the week. |
| John Erskine | |
Assist in Carolina snapped a 12-game scoreless streak (thanks, Carly!), but the fewer minutes he gets, the better. |
| Mike Green | |
With just one point on the week (a helper against the Pens), you might expect a down arrow. But Green’s defensive play – on the ice for just one goal against in 79:25 of ice time and a plus-three rating – made up for the lack of his usual offensive production and is encouraging heading towards the playoffs. |
| Milan Jurcina |  |
No updated time table as to when Juice will be able to return to action (on or off the ice) from double hernia surgery. |
| Shaone Morrisonn | |
Had a monster nine-hit game against Pittsburgh and missed the next two, but should be good to go this week. |
| Tom Poti | |
Continues to struggle in his own end, on the ice for all three power-play goals against (and the Caps’ last five allowed) and five of ten goals overall this week, but did break a four-games-with-a-minor-penalty streak on Sunday. Not sure the Poti-Corvo pair is really working out. |
| Jeff Schultz | |
Broke a seven-game plus-less streak on Wednesday and a nine-game scoreless streak on Sunday. Hopefully Double Nickel is back on track. |
| Tyler Sloan | |
Played on Thursday, so that’s… um… something. |
| Forwards | ||
| Nicklas Backstrom | |
With a couple of assists on the week, Backstrom became the fifth player in team history to register a 90-point season. |
| Eric Belanger | |
After firing just two shots in his four games prior to Sunday, Belanger launched four at Miikka Kiprusoff (and attempted another six that didn’t find their way on-goal). Still trying to find his groove in D.C., though, and has gone nine games without a goal (registering three helpers along the way). |
| Matt Bradley | |
Minus-two against Pittsburgh and hasn’t scored a goal in his last 24 games. Bradley #needsmorebradley. |
| Jason Chimera | |
Got boarded, cross-checked and then instigated into a fight (which he lost) by the Flames’ Cory Sarich, adding some drama to an otherwise nondescript week. |
| Eric Fehr | |
Scored a big goal against the Pens but then pulled a disappearing act in Carolina and against Calgary. |
| Tomas Fleischmann | |
A couple of plus-one’s to start the week, but just one point and three penalties in three games is bad for a guy who doesn’t bring a whole lot more than offense to the party. |
| Boyd Gordon | |
The Caps have penalty-killed at 84% without Gordon over the last six games. Interesting. |
| Mike Knuble | |
Is scoring a goal from behind the goalie and then winning the game in a shootout enough to get an up arrow for the week? It is when it comes against Pittsburgh. |
| Brooks Laich | |
Poor formerly-beautiful Brooksie. |
| Quintin Laing | |
Had a nice assist on Sunday, but was minus-one in that game and against the Pens. In fact, he’s been a minus-one in three of the last five games for which he’s dressed, and he didn’t block a shot in any of the three games he played this week. |
| Brendan Morrison | |
Won 69% of his draws in the first two games of the week and missed the third with an injury. Has assists in four of his last five and eight of his last 12 games. |
| Alex Ovechkin | |
One goal, two assists and 17 shots on goal in three games, but the impressive number here is 72:17 of ice time and only on the ice for one goal against. |
| Mathieu Perreault | |
Returned from Hershey on Sunday and scored a beauty of a goal… but was minus-one on the afternoon and won just 44% of his 18 draws. Still, it’s hard not to like the li’l spark plug. |
| Alexander Semin | |
A game-changing goal against the Pens (and a clutch shootout tally) and a lamp-lighter against the ‘Canes. A high-sticking penalty against the Pens and an interference penalty against the ‘Canes. This is Sasha. |
| David Steckel | |
The Caps allowed ten goals on the week and Steckel was on the ice for six of them. What’s worse is that four of those six came in just 23:29 of even strength ice time. Nice goal against the Flames, though. |
| Scott Walker | |
Anyone buying “tweaked knee”? |