Caps are Off Today So It's Let's Go Islanders !?! Time In Bristow

Happy Easter!

With the Caps off till their Tuesday matchup with the Hurricanes in Carolina and the Boston - Montreal game yesterday in the rear view mirror, Caps fans find ourselves rooting for the Islanders tonight as they travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers. Yesterday the Bruins escaped with a point out of one of their two games in hand on the Caps. The eigth place Flyers who are 4-3-3 in their last 10, face an injury depleted Islanders team at home in Philly today. For the Flyers it will be the first time this season they face an Islanders' netminder other than Rick DiPietro who had hip surgery on Wednesday and is out for the rest of the season. The Caps are also two points back of the Flyers who also now have only one game in hand on the Caps.

With Friday evening's 5-3 comeback win over the Atlanta Thrashers, the Caps are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games. That makes them one of the four hottest teams in the Eastern Conference, Pittsburgh is also 7-3-0 in their last 10 games; unfortunately the hottest team in the Eastern Conference is those same pesky Carolina Hurricanes the Caps will meet in Raleigh at the RBC center on Tuesday evening. The only other team with a better record in their last 10 games in the Eastern Conference than the Caps - you guessed right if said those pesky Florida Panthers, the Panthers are 8-1-1 and nipping at the Caps heels, just one point behind Washington. So much for the Southeast division being weaklings and lightweights. The way things are going now in Boston, Philadelphia, Florida and Washington - if Florida and Washington can get past the Hurricanes and each other (Washington plays Florida and Carolina twice in the next two weeks and and in addition to facing Washington twice in their last 6 games, Florida plays Carolina one more time), then they might all find themselves in the playoffs with the Flyers and the Bruins on the outside looking in.

The Bruins next two games are a home and home with the Maple Leafs (who are also 7-3-0 in the last 10) who with two wins in regulation would be tied with Boston. They then play the Senators and Sabres twice each and the Devils once to close out the season - not an easy road by any measure. The Flyers, after finishing their game against the Islanders tonight have six games remaining one more against the Rangers and Islander and 2 each against New Jersey and Pittsburgh. With the match-ups the way they are and the standings as tight as they are (4 points separate seventh place Boston (84 points) and twelfth place Toronto (80 points), pretty much "anything" could happen to the Caps who with 82 points sit "smack dab" in the middle of it all. LETS GO CAPS!!!!!! and for today's game against the Flyers - Lets Go Islanders.