Monday Musings: Three Regular Season Games to Go

There are only three regular season games left, against Eastern Conference teams who don't have a chance in H-E-double-hockey-sticks of making this year's playoffs (Toronto and Florida). The Stanley Cup playoffs will commence on April 13, with the memory of last year's abrupt first round exodus front and center in the players' minds. We can only hope that we see the return of Tom Poti and Mike Green (after they've had a chance to shake off the rust of course) for the first round. But what we hope not to see once that playoff puck drops, is an opponent skating through multiple Caps players to light it up, as did Les Canadiens last year. It took awhile for we fans to get used to, but the boys have had success with the two-way game and with the exception of an ugly, learning curve, have tightened up the defensive play and boast the lowest number of goals against in their division (192). But as these last few games have proven, the Caps still have some tweaking to do - longtime Caps' scribe Taril El-Bashir breaks it down best. Thankfully, the old guys in the room Mike Knuble and Jason Arnott, are taking the lead in addressing the areas needing improvement.

Until the first faceoff against the lowly Leafs tomorrow, here are some miscellaneous Monday musings:

• On a very sad note, the hockey world sends condolences for the loss of Yale player Mandi Schwartz, who lost her long battle with leukemia yesterday, at the much too young age of 23.
• Another youngster battling the insidious disease, William Shannon, got a smile and a signed sweater from Sasha during Fan Appreciation Night. (stick tap to Kings of Leonsis).
• Alex Ovechkin has been on the celebrity circuit of late, first meeting the First Lady and most recently, the often jailed rap star Lil Wayne. In the words of my teens: That is SO chill.
• Caps get some coverage for being tops in the East from the Canadian press.