Capital Spirit

Ted pointed out that even though the Caps haven’t quite done as well as we all would have liked, they’re still 6-2-2 for 14 points, the division lead, and (not that he said it, but it’s true) striking distance of the conference lead.

Look, I don’t want to be accused of drinking Kool-Aid–I prefer Pepsi Max, thank you very much. But 14 points through 10 games is a 114-point pace.

And let’s not forget how much was written about how demanding the Caps’ first seven games were supposed to be. And despite some nail-biters that shouldn’t have been so close, come-from-behinds that shouldn’t have started out that way, a power play that shouldn’t be this iffy, and a four-game skid that had me wondering in print who the Redskins were playing, the Caps are somehow 6-2-2 through the first ten.

I’m not so sure about the Flyers Tuesday night–another Philadelphia at Washington game following Eagles at Skins on Monday night. Eagles fans should be on liquor, and Skins fans should be on Lexapro–somewhere out there, PT Barnum will no doubt be taking frantic notes. So that Flyers game worries me a bit. Return engagements with the Thrashers and Islanders, however, do not. I assume the Caps have learned their lessons from the past few days. So the Caps might make it out of a 13-game October with 8, or even 9, wins, and that’s nothing to sneeze at. The team’s evidently not as bad as it looked during that four-game skid, and the scary part is this: they’re only going to get better as the season progresses.

CAPITAL SPIRIT
HOPEFUL