Just because it is mid-February doesn’t mean there aren’t important games taking place on a nightly basis. The Wizards and Capitals are both in the midst of one of the most important stretches of their respective seasons. Both are in the top five of their conferences and it is very likely that the Verizon Center will be pulling double duty this spring by managing Wizard and Capitals playoff contests.
The Wizards are heading into the Valentine’s Weekend/All-star break at a mesmerizing stumble. The team is broke, they need to add an extra guard capable of handling the ball not named Andre Miller and they need to hope and pray that Bradley Beal is not  seriously injured. Losers of six in their last eight, the All-Star break could not come at a better time for the players and the front office. Players need to rest, and everyone except John Wall needs to think long and hard to themselves about what they’re going to do in order to help John Wall, and the front office needs to figure out who they’re going to bring in to help John Wall. So basically this whole team revolves around JW2 and thats what should be going on with a lottery pick about to enter his prime having a MVP caliber season. The Wiz have too much fire power to keep struggling like this, look for them to bounce back the last 30 games of the regular season and end up a top three seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.
The Capitals have been playing fairly consistent hockey throughout the year and are in a pretty comfortable spot as far as playoff position goes. Their three game West Coast swing got off to a good start last night as they took down the Sharks with an OT goal from the great JW42. But their back to back with the Kings and Ducks looms large, important to get at least a couple points from those two games. While the Caps are currently in one of the lower playoff spots, their fate is well within their own control. A large number of Metropolitan Division games remain including two with the Penguins, three with the Rangers, and one with the Islanders, all four teams are looking to take over the top spot in the Metropolitan. This team continues to get better, Trotz has given them the coaching leadership that hasn’t been there the past two seasons and the breakneck rate that Ovi goes about scoring goals, along with his occasional defense are positive things for this explosive team. We’ll see what happens at the trade deadline, but improving on a questionable defense would not hurt.
Capitol Street Chronicles 