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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– | 20 | Pending. |
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18 | 14 | For the Capitals to reach the 95-point mark, which is pretty much a guaranteed playoff spot, they’re going to have to go 16-8 over their remaining 24 games (as of Monday). Over their past 24 games they’re 12-9-3. |
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19 | 18 | The race of snails to the top of the Southeast Division continues, as the Caps can’t take advantage of the Panthers‘ inconsistency because they themselves are the picture of inconsistency. Mike Green’s return should prove a catalyst to more W’s. “Should” being the operative word. |
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17 | 15 | Only four teams have fewer road wins than Washington’s ten. The Caps’ well has run dry recently with an offense that has scored more than two goals only once in five games. |
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18 | 14 | Wishy-washy Caps were 12-9-1 under former coach Bruce Boudreau, now 17-16-4 under replacement Dale Hunter |
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– | 15 | The NHL only ranks the top sixteen teams, which means … yeah. |
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21 | 23 |
In a desperation-type of situation Monday night in Carolina — with the Hurricanes missing their top goalie, Cam Ward — the Caps went out and disgraced the game of hockey. A 5-0 loss — the game wasn’t as close as the score might indicate — elicits the question: what went so wrong in Washington? Time remains to slip into a playoff spot, but these guys inspire little confidence. Last week: 1-2-0 |
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24 | 24 | 5-8-3 in their last 16 games, the Capitals are one point out of a playoff spot and they did get D Mike Green back in the lineup, which can’t hurt a team that has scored a total of 10 goals in the last six games. Key Injuries: C Nicklas Backstrom (concussion). |
Click on logos for links to full power rankings.
