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(photo by Patrick McDermott)

Whether fans want to admit it or not, realistically speaking, the competitive portion of the Washington Capitals’ season is over.

Sure, this year’s squad still has plenty of games left on the schedule, but their horrid start (winning just twice in the first 11 games) has all but ensured the Caps will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2006-07 campaign.

While their level of play is significantly better than it was during the first quarter of the season, the Capitals are still struggling to put together a full 60-minute effort on a consistent basis.

They can look great for one or two periods of play, but at some point during a game they begin to face adversity and these players still seem incapable of working through whatever obstacles come their way when the going gets tough.

Heading into the final frame Thursday night, Washington held a 2-1 lead over the New Jersey Devils at the Verizon Center. During an eight-minute span in the third period though, the Caps completely came unglued and as they were whistled for five penalties.

The Devils scored twice and that’s all she wrote. What’s worse is the deciding goal came on a 5-on-3 powerplay for New Jersey — with defensemen John Erskine and Tom Poti both sitting in the penalty box.

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(photo by Eliot J. Schechter)

Don’t look now, but the Washington Capitals have doubled their win total thanks to back-to-back victories over the Florida Panthers. Whether or not that’s a product of the Caps finally starting to resemble a unit that has actually played hockey before or if they’re simply benefiting from playing a mediocre Panthers squad in consecutive outings is up for debate.

Rather than kick a team in one of the rare moments when it’s not down though, I’d prefer to simply share 10 random thoughts after Washington’s 6-5 come-from-behind overtime victory.

• Without a doubt, center Mike Ribeiro has been the team’s best player in 2013. Even though the Caps have struggled to score goals consistently this season, Ribeiro has been the most reliable weapon on offense. Not only that, but the 33-year-old has saved his best work for Washington’s powerplay (four goals and six assists). Best of all, after starting the season with just one goal in his first eight games, Ribeiro has found his scoring touch as well — collecting goals in four of the last five games.
• It should be noted that Ribeiro is in the final season of a five-year, $25-million contract. If I could offer one piece of advice to general manager George McPhee, it would be the pay the 12-year veteran now, because chances are, he’s only going to get more expensive the longer the season goes.Read more →

(photo by Clyde Caplan)

Sure, it took one quarter of the 2013 season, but the Washington Capitals finally put together a 60-minute effort to be proud of — cruising to a much-needed 5-0 victory over the Florida Panthers over the weekend.

Overlooking, for a moment, that the last-place Capitals needed 12 games to put together one respectable performance, this game could easily be the confidence-building effort this franchise has desperately needed.

For starters, the Caps scored a season-high five goals and recorded their first shutout of the season. Just as importantly though, four different players scored goals for Washington and 10 players picked up at least one point against Florida.

Forward Troy Brouwer scored twice and goalie Braden Holtby stopped all 27 shots he faced as the Capitals improved to 3-8-1.

“I thought tonight that we had a really good rhythm for the whole game,” said coach Adam Oates. “We’ve had it at times, but tonight I felt comfortable just rolling [all four lines].”

After the game, the mood in the Capitals’ locker room was much lighter than it’s been for much of the season. It’s amazing what one respectable outing can do for for a franchise.

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(photo by Justin K. Aller)

This might be a tad surprising to hear the day following a disheartening 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins pushed them further into the basement of the NHL standings, but the Washington Capitals aren’t that bad.

Honestly, there are time when they look downright competent on offense, defense and in net.

Unfortunately, those times appear to be few and far between through the first 11 games and the one overriding characteristic of the 2013 Capitals appear to be their complete inability to handle any adversity whatsoever.

“We’re weak mentally right now,” said defensemen Karl Alzner. “When they score a goal, we’re not bouncing back quick enough. When momentum is against us, we’re not fighting past that, whether it’s with a big hit or a fight or something. We’re not an emotional enough team right now, and that’s something that has to change if you want to win.”

During the first period of play in Pittsburgh, the Caps were the better team. They were sound defensively, with forwards eagerly dropping back to clog the Penguins’ passing lanes, which in turn helped create chances on the other end of the ice.

Washington even caught a break just over four minutes into the contest when center Mike Ribeiro scored a goal while Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury had lost his goalie mask. The Caps have been so snakebitten this season, I half expected the officials to wave off the goal because the goalie was defenseless. Mercifully, that didn’t happen.

But whatever good will and momentum the team had working in its favor after 20 minutes, was clearly nowhere to be found during the second period. The Penguins scored five goals in the middle frame — two of Michal Neuvirth and three on Braden Holtby — and the rout was on.

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(photo by Greg Fiume)

Some of you might remember, I was more than a bit skeptical when the Washington Capitals announced the hiring of Adam Oates as the franchise’s 16th coach.

Sure, he was a Hall of Fame player who spent a solid chunk of his career playing for the Caps, but that doesn’t guarantee he’ll be any good as a first-time coach taking on this perennial underachiever of a hockey team.

You might also recall, I was one of the first people out there to try and lower expectations for the 2013 season.

While many local diehards were just happy to have the sport back in their lives after a lengthy lockout, I saw a brand-new coach trying to implement a radically-different system overnight to a roster full of players who may or may not have been in playing shape and wasn’t really sure it could all come together quickly enough to be competitive during this abbreviated season.

And yet, I take absolutely no satisfaction in seeing the writing on the wall from day one. It goes without saying I’d much rather look like a fool for questioning the Oates hiring or going on record as saying I didn’t think this team was going to make the playoffs in 2013, but that doesn’t appear to be an option at the moment.

So right about now, I’m doing my best to try and keep folks from hurting themselves as they jump off the bandwagon as quickly as possible.

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(photo by Brian Murphy)

After the Washington Capitals picked up their first win of the season over the weekend, an amusing statistic made the rounds that stated the team is a perfect 9-0 when defenseman John Erskine scores a goal.

It’s a lighthearted stats since, for his career, the 10-year pro converts on less than four percent of his shots and averages a goal roughly once every 35 shots he takes.

Because Erskine will never be confused for an offensive-minded defense and he’s more than happy staying home while letting his teammates jump up in the play, any time he lights the lamp it’s simply viewed as a bonus.

The same, of course, cannot be said about forward Alex Ovechkin.

Since the moment he came to Washington, Ovechkin has been this franchise’s most important player.

He’s the captain. He’s the face of the franchise. He’s the team’s highest paid player.

For seven years, the Capitals have lived and died with Ovi.

Unfortunately, since the beginning of last season, Ovechkin hasn’t really been Ovechkin.

Sure, he has nights when he shows flashes of his reign as the league’s most lethal player, but it’s crystal clear to anyone watching the Caps these days that the 27-year-old is a shell of his former self.

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(photo by Alex Brandon)

If ever the fans and players of the Washington Capitals needed a harsh reminder that nothing is guaranteed in life, the start of the 2013 season has clearly driven that fact home.

Just two games into the season, the Caps are already showing that this strike-shortened season might not necessarily be all that enjoyable in our nation’s capital.

Losing 6-3 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on the road in the season opener is one thing – after all, they’re a talented team that’s returning the action with all of the major players still in place from the last time they took the ice. But falling 4-2 to the Winnipeg Jets at the Verizon Center in the home opener is much more concerning.

One poor outing can be chalked up as a minor setback, but two straight duds is the start of something more. Unfortunately for the Capitals, they’ve now played two games and in both instances, they’ve been outworked, out-hustled and out-played by their opponent.

“The guys didn’t look like they had much in the tank,” said coach Adam Oates. “I’m sure that’s a product of this season and what happened and our conditioning levels which we talk about every day.”

Oates, of course, is referring to the lengthy lockout that forced the players to take an extended break away from the game.

Because the players are returning to action in various forms of conditioning (which is a polite way of saying – some guys are in much better shape right about now than others), there are going to be days when guys look like they’re playing in quicksand.

There are going to be times, especially early on, when guys want to kick it into high gear and their legs aren’t able to make it happen.

But that’s supposed to be a two-way street. That’s supposed to be an issue for players on both the Capitals and the opposing team. And yet, for two games now, it seems that whoever lines up against Washington is skating at full speed while the Caps are playing catch-up.

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