In what was possibly the biggest Washington Capitals game since Game 5 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals, the Caps fell flat in the great outdoors to the Carolina Hurricanes. Now they’re out of the playoff picture, their percentage to make the playoffs dropped 17 percent while the Buffalo Sabres’ rose to 42 percent as of Sunday morning.
What makes this collapse truly remarkable is that before the Caps lost four in a row, they played one of their best games of the season agains the NHL’s best team the Boston Bruins. Now they sit at fourth place in the Wild Card standings with a 28-24-6 record and the schedule today doing them no favors as the teams in front of them the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins playing each other tonight.
Capitals head Coach Peter Laviolette said after the game, “The atmosphere of tonight, the outdoor game and being (in) this stage, it was not the performance we wanted.”
Now every game from here on out is pretty much a must win if they want to make the playoffs. Or they could sell and try again next year.
"“Our playoff hockey probably starts in this next week here. Otherwise, we’re going to be on the outside looking in. It’s more the realization we need everyone playing a playoff style if we’re going to climb back into this thing.”"
Oshie is right. Whether the roster is the same or if there will be moving parts the Caps have three important games. And that third game is also the first of a weekend Saturday and Sunday back to back.
First up is the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow night who are on the Caps tail in the Wild Card standings. They trail the Caps by just two points. Then on Thursday the Caps will host the Anaheim Ducks. While the Ducks are dead last in the Western Conference this could have all the potential to be a trap game if things go wrong.
On Saturday afternoon they host the third place Metropolitan Division New York Rangers and on Sunday they travel to Buffalo to face the Sabres. If changes don’t happen within the four game stretch changes could happen if the Caps were to lose more than two games in this upcoming stretch.