T.J Oshie had two goals and the Capitals crushed the Islanders last night, 7-3. For the Islanders, that's pretty much all she wrote. No playoffs for you and a decent chance your franchise player is going to walk. Bad times.
For the Caps, it's just the opposite. Ovechkin is crushing it (though he didn't score last night) not going anywhere, and the Capitals are definitely going to the playoffs. Odds of that being in the 99.9% range.
As long as the Caps can win one third of their final twelve games, and they've won over half their games so far, they'll make the playoffs. The Sabers almost win a third of their games, so that's almost a guarantee to happen.
For the Captials to miss the Playoffs at this point, it would take a monumental collapse and a record of 2-10 and all five teams below them playing over .500. Its highly unlikely to happen.
Unfortunately, unless the Panthers can squeak into a wildcard spot and set up a match with the Capitals, I don't like any of the potential match-ups the Capitals might get in the first round.
Pittsburgh and Columbus are just superior teams. Philly and New Jersey are teams I think are quite underrated, and so, despite possibly winning their division, the Caps don't look like they'll be getting a very good matchup.
Either way, it's great to see them back in the dance, because it was touch and go there for a while. The team lost a ridiculous amount of talent over the summer, and a few times this season looked to be on the verge of collapse while racking up points in a smoke and mirrors style.
I had originally picked them to miss the playoffs, and I'm extremely happy to be wrong. I do wish, however, that they had found a way to add more at the trade deadline, because they are team that is only a piece or two from being very dangerous (like say a Nate Schmidt and a Marcus Johansen?).
Anyways, twelve more warm up games to go and then it's party time. Could the Capitals finally have some decent playoff luck? People like to write off the Ovechkin era as a team incapable of winning, but they've been insanely unlucky, and nevermind the fact that the stupid NHL seeding system constantly forced the two best teams in the conference (often the league) to play before the Semis or the Finals.
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»