Road Weary Caps Drop Out of the Playoff Picture

Final Score: Florida 4-Washington 2
Goals: FLA:Samuelsson (2), Weiss, Mathias: WSH: Laich, Carlson
Goalies: W- Clemmenson: L- Neuvirth

Summary

It is slowly reaching the point where the Capitals horrendous play on the road might end up costing them. The Capitals continue to not put enough shots on net and showed a complete lack of urgency until they were down 2 late. While there were some positives to takes from the loss in Tampa on Wednesday, it was hard to find too much positive in this one.

Recap

1st: The Caps came up unusually hot to start the game, hiring 9 shots in the first 10 minutes of play, yet we're unable to dent the twine. The offenseive attack slowed considerably in the second half of the period and the Caps entered the locker room tied at zero, thanks in large part to a very sharp period by Neuvirth.

2nd: Unfortuantley, the sharp start from Neuvirth came to an abrupt start early in the frame. Samuelsson caught Neuvirth leaning on an assumed dump into the zone and fired a shot on net that beat a surprised and embarrassed Neuvirth. The Caps answered back later in the period on a great individual effort by Brooks Laich and the Caps and Cats entered the 3rd knotted at 1.

3rd: The tired legs and aversion to the road caught up with DC in the 3rd. The Panthers took the lead for what turned put to be for good 4 minutes into the 3rd on the power play with Hendricks off for goalie interference. About 5 minutes later Weiss scored on an initially disallowed goal to put the game essentially out of reach. The referees intitially washed the goal out thinking Weiss had hit the puck in with his hand, but video review clearly showed it was a good goal. The Capitals tried to wake up and play after that and Carlson scored with 2 mins to go, only to promptly turn it over with the goalie pulled to put the game out of reach.

Star of the Night: Orlov and Laich
Orlov played over 22 minutes and looked sharp all game. Looks like he has all the makings on a mainstay on the backline that will allow Schultz to be moved and lessen the impact of a missing Mike Green. Laich brought his normal strong game.

Goats of the Night: Neuvirth and Semin

The goal from the redline changed the game. That has to be a save. Semin had only 3 shots on goal and none after the 14 minute mark of the 3rd. Unacceptable when you are the offense gun in the line up.

Final Thoughts

It was said about, but the Capitals simply must figure out the road. They cannot play like this and expect any success in the playoffs, let alone make the dance. The Capitals also sorely miss Backstrom. When Perreault plays 15 minutes and centers your top line, you have a major problem.

It would be nice to write these last 2 games off since 3 of the top 5 players were out. But the Caps cannot afford to ever have off games at this point and let's be honest, this is not new. Outside of Wideman and Brouwer the entire team is slumping and if it does not get fixed quick, things might get really ugly.

Capitals visit Montreal Saturday afternoon. Ovechkin returns and loves playing in Canada, so maybe that combined with Hendricks (or Rechlicz even) v Bourque round 2 will be the start of a run.