Caps Idle, Others Gain Ground

Today the Caps were idle, probably enjoying a well deserved rest after their 6 game road trip where they went 5 of 6 snapping up 10 points. As it sits now tonight, the caps are 3 points from an 8th place playoff spot and 2 points behind the Southeast Division leader Carolina.

I can't emphasize how important Tuesday's game at the Verizon Center is against Carolina. The Caps are in a must win situation Tuesday night. They will tie for points with the Hurricanes, but unfortunately will not gain the division lead. The Hurricanes still have more wins than the Caps.

The only scenarios that remain would be for Carolina to lose the remaining three games that they have. This would give the Caps an outright division title. This is possible, but not likely. Boston, Philly, and New York all have 91 points, as of tonight. At least one of those teams would need to fall from grace and lose 2 out of 3 (or in New York's case 4) of their remaining games.

It's time to start hoping for some minor miracles from the Hockey Gods. It could be entirely possible that if the Caps win the final three games in regulation, not surrendering any points to any other teams, that they could still not make the playoffs. Lets hope as Caps fans, that this scenario is not the one to come true when all 82 games have finished.