Postseason fate hinges on road success
The defining two weeks of the Capitals’ season have arrived. Finally in better position in the Eastern Conference playoff chase after a pair of wins over the weekend, the Caps begin a critical five-game road trip at the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
The schedule is daunting. Washington will face a desperate Winnipeg club on Friday at MTS Centre. The Jets are formidable at home with a 21-10-4 record in their first season back in Manitoba in 18 years. They have the ninth-best home points percentage in the NHL this season (.657).
But it gets worse. Two days later the Caps travel to Chicago, where the Blackhawks have the fourth-best points percentage at home (.729). Then comes the mother of all back-to-backs Monday — Detroit, where the Red Wings set an NHL record earlier this season with 23 consecutive wins at Joe Louis Arena. That streak has since ended, but they still lead the NHL in home points percentage (.853).
| Up next |
| Capitals at Islanders |
| When » Tuesday, 7 p.m. |
| Where » Nassau Coliseum, |
| Uniondale, N.Y. |
| TV » CSN+ |
That brutal stretch of road games concludes March 22 at Philadelphia. The Flyers have been hit-or-miss at Wachovia Center with a 17-10-5 record at home. But they are the No.?5 seed in the conference and have beaten Washington in two of three meetings this season.
Being in the lead for the final playoff spot is nice. But even a handful of losses could put their hopes in serious jeopardy again.
“We’ve got to win on the road. We’re in a battle here to make the playoffs,” Caps coach Dale Hunter said. “You’ve got to win on the road. That’s the bottom line. We’ve got to keep playing the same style. It’s playoff kind of hockey out there right now.”
Desperate for a signature win away from home, Washington earned a big one with Saturday’s nail-biting 4-3 win at defending Stanley Cup champion Boston. But it can’t afford to give those points back against the Islanders on Tuesday at Nassau Coliseum. Not only is it the most winnable game of the trip by far — New York is 14th in the conference with 66 points and hasn’t made the playoffs since 2007 — but the Caps won’t be taken by surprise.
That’s because the Caps lost the first two meetings vs. the Islanders 5-3 and 3-0 and needed a miracle comeback to pull out a 3-2 overtime win Feb. 28. Troy Brouwer scored twice in the final four minutes, and Alex Ovechkin won it in the extra period.
“We haven’t been great on the road,” Washington defenseman Dennis Wideman said after Saturday’s win at Boston. “But we know that we were getting down to the nitty-gritty here, and we have to get some wins.”
The Caps (35-28-6, 76 points) are two standings points up on No. 9 Buffalo (33-29-8, 74 points) and four up on No. 9 Winnipeg (32-29-8, 72 points). The Sabres beat Montreal, the Eastern Conference’s worst team, 3-2 in overtime Monday.
