With The Breaks Now Over The Washington Capitals Have A Rough Road Ahead

Instead of having one long Olympic break, the National Hockey League basically gave the Washington Capitals two mini breaks. The first break came early in February, from the 3rd to the 7th. The Caps then played five games in ten nights before going on another five day break that is just ending now. It’s not the break that some would want, but in a long season I suppose you take what you can get.

In February so far the Capitals have played in seven games in twenty-three or twenty-four days. I hope the team enjoyed that break and used it to refresh and refocus because now that these mini Olympic breaks are over the schedule is about to get pretty compacted.

Over the next two months, and a little more than that, the Capitals will play in thirty games. To compare how squished together the next two months of games will be in comparison to the last month they play thirty games in sixty-five days. In February they basically averaged a game every three days, while going forward they essentially play a game every other day for two months.

Like I said, I hope the team has used this time to refresh.

What lies ahead in these next 30 games? Most of it will not be easy. Lets just go through a couple of things you can expect in the next couple of months for the Washington Capitals.

The home and road splits are fairly even to end this season. With 30 games left the team has fourteen home games and sixteen road games to go. March is a little more home friendly with seven of the thirteen games at home. In April they have six home games out of fourteen total games.

The thing to look out for in April is the end. Between the 14th and 29th of that month the Capitals play nine games. Nine games in sixteen days. Seven of those games will be on the road. To make things potentially worse four of those games are against some of the best teams the NHL currently has to offer, we’ll see what happens between now and then. In that stretch of games they play Toronto twice, once at home. On the road they play Colorado, Vegas and the Rangers.

After the Capitals make it through that stretch, congratulations, the playoffs start.

That end to the month putting a nice wrap on a tough April where Washington will play in fourteen games in twenty-seven days. Nine of those games coming against teams that I would call definite playoff teams.

April is not alone in being tough. Out of the thirty games remaining they play seventeen times against teams that will likely make the playoffs.

Washington is also not done against the top teams in their own division. They play the division leading Hurricanes three more times this season, twice at home. They play the Rangers two more times, both of those games in Madison Square Garden. Finally they play the Penguins just one more time this season, that coming on the road near the start of April.

All of these games could be used to move the metro division standings. As we currently sit Washington is nine points out of first place, five points out of second place and four points out of third place in the division. They have played two less games than the leader Hurricanes, they have played the same amount of games as the second place Penguins and two less than the third place Rangers.

The Capitals are also three points up over the Boston Bruins in the wild card race having played two more games than the B’s. That race is far from over as well folks. Again, all of these numbers could change between now and the next few days that you may read this.

It’s not all harsh though. The breaks are not quite all done. The Caps do have three two days breaks in March. One in the first week, one in the second week and another in the third week. They also end March and begin April on another five day break. We will see how huge that break could be when that time comes.

I don’t think I am alone when I say this has been a bit of a bizarre season for the Caps. A great start with a lot of injuries and illness related absences followed by the team getting healthier then struggling more and more. It has not been an easy season for the team from the nation’s capital.

Unfortunately for them, in a tough race, the season won’t get any easier. There will be a lot of games coming up and in not that much time. Can this older team fight off fatigue and potential injury? Can they find that extra gear late in a tough season and make a run?