Analyzing The Washington Capitals January Schedule

January looks to be an up and down month when looking at the Washington Capitals schedule.

Eleven Washington Capitals games will be played in the first month of the new decade. There will be some challenging games and some (or most) games against weaker opponents. There will be about the same amount of home and road games, six at home and five on the road. And, of course, we have the all-star break towards the end of the month.

We’ll see if the Capitals can kick off the new year strong and put together a strong January. After this month we’re into February and now we’re getting into the late season and playoffs start getting on people’s minds.

But, before we get there we do have to get through January. And January looks like this.

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The first game is against the Carolina Hurricanes on the third. The Canes have given the Capitals problems since last spring. That obviously being eliminating Washington in the playoffs. So far the Caps are 0-1-1 against Carolina this year. They’ve scored six goals and been scored on nine times.

The Caps haven’t been dominated by Carolina this year. In both games this year the Capitals had more scoring chances during the game and they won the shot attempts battle in the first game of the season. This will still be a giant test though.

The next game will be on Sunday the 5th against the San Jose Sharks. This kicks off a week that has four games but honestly three of the four games comes against weak competition. The first being against the Sharks who are having a bad season and who Washington dominated in San Jose. They won that game 5-2 and that score line doesn’t show how one-sided that game was.

The Ottawa Senators then come to town on Tuesday. The Sens again being a bottom team this year, the Caps should be able to handle them on home ice. It’s the first meeting between these teams this year, the Caps went 3-0-0 against them last season scoring 14 goals and allowing just four goals.

The Caps then get another challenge on the 8th when they go to Philadelphia to play the rival Flyers. The Flyers have been a pretty good team all year, they’ve been in the playoffs mostly all year and they currently hold the second wild card spot by four points. They played very well against the Capitals in their first and most recent meeting with Holtby stealing that game in Mid November.

The Capitals will then get a couple of days of in the middle of January before they play the Red Wings at home. Another bad team, to be precise the worst team in the NHL by record and points total. Detroit is currently 10-28-3 with 23 points, the next lowest being the New Jersey Devils who have 34 points. The Caps need to win this game, no ifs ands or buts about it. They won in Detroit earlier this season 5-2.

The next week of January starts with the Hurricanes visiting D.C. We’ve already talked about them and with the game coming up on the third that will or should make this game more and more interesting. If the Capitals lose on the third I’d consider this nearly a must win.

The Caps will then get another couple of days off before another bad team come to visit them, this time in the form of the Devils. We’ve pointed out how bad New Jersey has been this season, that leading to trading a former MVP away. Washington has played NJ already this season and in my opinion it was one of their better games of the year. The Caps were 6-3 winners on the night and dominated large portions of that game.

The Capitals then play another New York area team, this time it will be in New York when they play the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. This is the third meeting between these division rivals both teams taking a win in the previous two, Washington winning 2-1 very early in the season and the Isles taking a win in D.C. just the other day 4-3. This is another team that I think could take down the Capitals if they don’t improve their work rate. Anytime these two teams get together I think it’s a big game for that reason.

After that most Capitals will get a break. There is a nine day gap between games thanks to the all-star break. John Carlson and Braden Holtby being the guys who will represent the team. T.J. Oshie will also have a chance to go to St. Louis to play in an all-star game in his first NHL home.

The Caps then go to Montreal to finish up a quick two game road trip. The Capitals have lost just nine games in regulation so far this season, the Canadiens are one of those losses. That game was possibly the worst game this team has played this season. The final score being 5-2 with Montreal controlling most of that game.

Then Nashville comes to the nation’s capital on the 29th. The first game between these two teams was a wild one, the Predators won that game 6-5. That was a 4-2 game going into the final twenty minutes. It was an interesting third period to say the least.

The Capitals then close the month of January by facing the Senators on the 31st. This game will be in Canada’s capital and it is the second meeting of the season and January. Based on where these two teams are in the standings anytime these two teams clash it should end with a Capitals victory.

There is your month of January. Eleven games will be played and just four of those games come against playoff teams (at least as of this moment). The Capitals have lost a little bit of their lead in the standings, the lead over the second place Islanders now just being six points. This month could be a giant step in cementing their division title.

Beat up on weaker teams, extend your lead, take a break then finish the month strong and head into the final month and a half of the season. In my eyes, an 8-2 month is incredibly doable, and should probably be the expectation. I gave the Capitals losses in Carolina on the third and in New York on the 18th.

What do you think? Is 8-2 too much? What do you think of the January schedule? Well, there is only one way to find out how good or bad a schedule is. That’s playing the games.