Scoreboard Watch; 2-4-2015

Coming off a great win at home against an always tough Los Angeles Kings team seems the perfect time to do a little bit of scoreboard watching. Through 51 games, the Washington Capitals boast a 25-15-10 record for a respectable 62 points, good for 4th in the Metropolitan divison but tied in points with the New York Rangers, who have a couple games in hand on Washington, and a solid 8 points ahead of the Florida Panthers.  Per SportsClubStats.com, the Capitals have a 95.7% chance of making the playoffs.  Take a look at Japers' Rink for a recap of last night's win.

First, a look at the Eastern Conference standings (courtesy of nhl.com):

In my last Scoreboard report on January 13th, I took note that the Capitals had a tough road ahead of them, and one that posed quite a few challenges. Let's revisit the results from the 13th to today (courtesy of washingtoncapitals.com):

As you can see, the Capitals have posted a 3-4-2 record since my last update, nearly good enough for .500 hockey, which is all they'd really need to play to make the playoffs at this juncture. It would have been nice if the team had picked up a couple more games, especially Nashville and Edmonton in which they lost a solid two goal lead in both outings, but the effect of their record on the standings seems fairly minimized. Let's look at the rest of February (which, coincidentally, will bring us right up to the March 2nd trade deadline, AKA "I Might As Well Not Be At Work" Day):

In the next 12 games, the Capitals have some "should-haves" and some challenges. Of note, the California trip is looming and always provides a challenge to any team trying to maintain momentum. The Capitals California war actually starts at home against Bruce Boudreau's highly skilled Anaheim Ducks team. Mid February sees them on the road in Cali, facing off against San Jose, Los Angeles, and Anaheim again, all respectably solid teams. They cap off that road trip in Pittsburgh, who they have outscored 7-0 in the two previous outings. If you're going to pencil in a game to definitely not miss, I'd suggest making it this one or the next one against the Penguins at Verizon Center, which happens to be in the same month.

In summary, we will want to closely watch how the Capitals fare in the California trip, the two Pittsburgh games, and the Islanders game on the 21st to get a good idea of whether they will be buyers, sellers, or remain in tact come trade deadline. Some very exciting games in the month of February, as the push to the Stanley Cup playoffs begins shortly.  Get stoked!