Washington Capitals Tickets

Washington Capitals 2010-11 Mid-Season Review The Washington Capitals have been disappointing in the first half of the season, but they are so talented that they are still just barely trailing the Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Southeast Division.

Star Alexander Ovechkin's production has taken a serious dip from last year, and suddenly the debate over whether or not he is better than Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby has faded into the background. Ovechkin got the better end of the Winter Classic matchup, but Crosby has put up
significantly more points this year despite missing time with an injury.

Ovechkin actually just recently recorded his first hat trick of the season, causing some to wonder whether he is starting to back to being the league's star players. Head coach Bruce Boudreau seemed to take exception to the fact that some thought Ovechkin wasn't playing well, saying he has been fantastic all season long.

The team's goaltending has obviously been a hot-button issue all season long after the Capitals decided against bringing back veteran Jose Theodore. Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth has split time in net and each has had their hot and cold streaks. It will be interesting to see who gets the starts come playoff time.

Varlamov has clearly been the better goaltender statistically speaking, but he has struggled to stay healthy.

Despite their relatively disappointing first half, it would be a shock if Washington didn't really pick things up from this point forward and overtake the Lightning. In fact, the Capitals would still probably be the favorite to clinch the top record and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs.