Washington Capitals Thumbs Up Thumbs Down (CMigrator copy 7)
Washington Capitals 3-4 Tampa Bay Lightning (OT)
Washington Capitals 2-4 Florida Panthers
Thumbs Up:
Brooks Laich: Laich scored his tenth goal of the season against Florida and recorded a primary assist, his sixteenth, on the team's first goal against Tampa Bay. Not many things went right for the Caps this week, and while Laich wasn't phenomenal, he was the only Caps player to score two points.
Mathieu Perreault: When a team loses its superstar offensive players, as the Caps have with Nicklas Bäckström, Mike Green, and Alex Ovechkin, you need your smaller players to step up and become producers. This week, Mathieu Perreault scored just one goal, his eighth, but that goal meant he had four goals and two assists in his last four games, numbers you'd expect from all-stars.
Thumbs Down:
John Carlson: A team that is struggling needs its best players to be its best players, but John Carlson has not been that for the Caps. While he did score a consolation goal against the Panthers, Carlson singlehandedly lost the game against Tampa, going -4 despite the Bolts only scoring four goals and all-around playing awfully. When at his best, John Carlson is one of the Caps' finest, and this sophomore slump is having a bad effect on the team.
Joel Ward: When the Caps signed Joel Ward to a $3 million a year contract on July 1st, it was expected that he would become one of the team's more important players. Forty-nine games, five goals, and nine assists later, and the team seems to be rejecting its decision. Ward averaged just 6.57 of ice time this week, and is falling down the depth chart fast. He could be shipped out sooner rather than later.
