The Washington Capitals are a playoff team. There really is no debating that I don’t think. This year the eastern conference is a little weaker than what you will normally see. The top teams are great, the middle teams don’t really exist, and the bad teams are pretty far away from the playoff bubble.
Currently, as I write this, the Capitals are in the first wild card position in the east. They are six points out of first place in the division, five points out of third in the metro and they are four points up on Boston who is in the second wild card spot.
Right now the Caps are stuck for the moment. For the next several days this team won’t move in the standings since the teams above them are a little ways away from them and the team behind them will also need a couple of positive results to catch them.
While the Capitals are struggling right now the good news is they are thirteen points away from falling out of the playoffs. Again, this goes to show that the eastern conference playoff race isn’t really a race. If any team currently outside of a playoff spot makes the playoffs out east I and I think many others would be incredibly shocked.
The only thing eastern conference playoff teams are fighting for is positioning. The Capitals current position would have them play the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round.
There is no easy playoff matchup out east. I tend to think if the Caps fall to the second wild card spot they will play either Florida or Tampa Bay. Good luck there. If they stay where they are they play the top team in their division. That will be a hard series. If they move up to second or third in their division they will still have to play the Rangers, Penguins or again, the Hurricanes. The best you can hope for and play for is home ice for a likely very tough first round series.
For teams that miss the playoffs there is usually a stretch in the season where they look back at and say that is where we threw away too many points. That little stretch of the season is what broke us. I feel the Washington Capitals might be in that stretch right now.
Like I said earlier, this is a playoff team, don’t get me wrong. If the Capitals do not play well in this stretch it won’t be playoffs or bust. However, the current stretch the team is in right now could determine if the Capitals make a run towards a division crown or home ice advantage in the first round.
The Capitals are just coming off of the all-star break. The majority of the team just got about five days of rest, excluding a couple of guys. After that break the Caps were looking at a schedule that was potentially very rewarding. The first five games after the break included four teams that will not make the playoffs.
When you’re a playoff team fighting for positioning you have to beat the teams below you in the standings. The Caps have four teams below them in the standings on their schedule. There are ten points up for grabs in the next week and a half and they honestly should be expecting eight out of those ten.
This stretch of games has already started out rough for Washington. They dropped two points on home ice to the Columbus Blue Jackets. They will now go to Montreal to play what some are saying could be one of the worst teams in NHL history. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that should be a pretty convincing win.
After that game they go back home to play an Ottawa Senators team that is having another disappointing year. The Sens are just one point above the Buffalo Sabres in the standings. Think about that one.
The Capitals then go on the road for a couple of games, the first one will be a tough one in Nashville. I thought the Capitals should get eight of ten points in this five game stretch, that was the game I was expecting them to lose. Now, thanks to losing to the Blue Jackets, that needs to be a win.
The Caps finish this potentially crucial stretch by playing another bad team in the Flyers in Philadelphia.
Looking at the rest of the schedule this team does not have another stretch of games like this. They do not have a bunch of games against teams that won’t make the playoffs so close together. This Caps team will either play playoff teams or teams out west fighting to get into the playoffs. None of those teams will be easy.
Which is why this stretch of games against non playoff eastern conference teams is potentially crucial to the Washington Capitals season. The Capitals are coming off a five day break, they then play four non playoff teams and they get another four or five day break after that. You have to make up some ground here.
Eight out of ten points needs to be the end result here in my mind. The bad news is the Capitals have already dropped two of those points. How much more wiggle room does this team have?