Inside The Penalty Box 03.10.08: Southeast Division’s Lackluster Showing

Posted by Neil Borenstein on 03.10.2008

Out of the eight Eastern Conference teams currently in the playoffs, only one of them is a Southeast Division club. In this edition of Inside The Penalty Box, Neil Borenstein takes a look at the division to see if there’s a chance more teams could gain a postseason berth, in addition to a look at the demoralizing rookie mistake that may have cost the Capitals a shot at playing past the regular season.

The Ultimate Rookie MistakeCaps' Nicklas Backstrom Nets Game-Winner – For The Pens!

Photo Credit: thehockeynews.comNicklas Backstrom's rookie mistake on Sunday afternoon set back the Capital's playoff hopes.

Nicklas Backstrom is going to have a rough remainder to the regular season if the Washington Capitals don't make the playoffs.

The 20-year old center made a big rookie mistake with 28 seconds remaining in the Sunday matinee between the Caps and the Pittsburgh Penguins. In an attempt to either clear the puck out of Washington's crease or push it into the pads of goaltender Cristobal Huet, Backstrom put it in the back of his own net. Sidney Crosby was credited with an unassisted goal, his 22nd of the season. And Backstrom's teammates, namely Huet and 54-goal scorer Alexander Ovechkin, were left extremely disappointed in what could be a season-changing blunder.



The Capitals came into the game six points shy of the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Philadelphia Flyers currently occupy that spot with 78 points and 13 games remaining – two more than Washington. A win would have moved the Capitals ahead of the Buffalo Sabres into ninth place (thanks to total wins) and within four points of the inconsistent Flyers – not to mention within five points of the Southeast Division leading Carolina Hurricanes. Instead, they remain in a 10th place tie with the Florida Panthers with only 12 games left on the season.

This is a situation where you really have to feel bad for the kid. There was some commotion in the crease and he was innocently attempting to get the puck out of harms way. His aiming was horrible and it seemed like he was trying to bury a one-timer for his 12th goal of the year. But his defensive instincts had the right intention.

Unfortunately, this is the time of the season when mistakes of that nature cannot happen. The Capitals were 28 seconds away from grabbing at least one point, and every point is crucial right now in a highly competitive Eastern Conference with all but the Tampa Bay Lightning still fighting for a playoff spot. And the way Ovechkin immediately hit the ice and Huet buried his face in the crease expresses just how devastating Backstrom's error really was.

What makes this even more disheartening is that is came on the heels of blowing a one-goal lead late in the third period to the Boston Bruins one night earlier. Thanks to some foolish roughness from enforcer Donald Brashear, the Bruins scored two power play goals with around five minutes remaining in the third to take a victory from the Capitals. That could have been a third straight win stemming from a 10-2 victory five nights earlier against the Bruins. Instead, it was the start of what is now two straight losses.

Until he does something that dramatically changes the Capitals' fortunes for the better, this is something Backstrom is going to have to live with for quite a while. If the Capitals don't make the playoffs, that one moment is going to be looked at as a major reason for it. It's silly because one bad occurrence cannot cost a team a postseason berth. But Backstrom will somehow end up taking a good deal of the blame, and it will lead to a very long offseason for him. He just has to hope that the Capitals can rebound from the loss and get back on track to either take over the Southeast form the Hurricanes, or beat out the rest of the competition for one of the bottom seeds in the entire conference standings.

The Southeast's Playoff Representation

If the playoffs started today, only one team from the Southeast Division would actually be in them. The Atlantic currently owns four playoff contenders (New Jersey Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers), while the Northeast has three (Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres).

Photo Credit: Yahoo! Sports/Getty ImagesThe Carolina Hurricanes are the only Southeast Division team currently in the playoffs.

The Carolina Hurricanes are the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference with 79 points. If it weren't for that whole every division gets a playoff team thing, the Hurricanes would actually be the eighth seed in the East right now, only one point ahead of the Flyers. Outside the Hurricanes, the closest Southeast Division teams toward a playoff berth are the Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers, both of which have 72 points.

Not that this is anything new, but the Southeast Division is really showing this season that it's the weakest in the Eastern Conference, and perhaps the entire NHL. At least the Atlantic and Northeast have remained constantly competitive with several teams occupying playoffs seeds right now.

Unfortunately for this black sheep of the Eastern Conference, I doubt two teams from the division will actually make the playoffs.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are completely out of it and will only be competing for a higher lottery pick than the Western Conference's Los Angeles Kings in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Too bad they're a year early for John Tavares – not that they really need another forward, anyway.

The Atlanta Thrashers are 10 points out, which isn't impossible to make up in 12 games, at least as long as there's help from other teams losing along the way. But the Thrashers have been winners of only one of their last 10 contests, and simply don't have the pieces to put together a very difficult win streak. At this rate, they're going to catch up with the Lightning faster than the Hurricanes.

As far as the Capitals and Panthers are concerned, there is some, albeit slim, hope that they can still make it. Because most of the remaining games are division games, both teams are more likely to make it via un-seeding the Hurricanes rather than moving past both the Buffalo Sabres and Flyers. But it's possible either way.

The Capitals will need to move on from their loss against the Penguins on Sunday afternoon and get themselves focused for Wednesday night in Calgary. They don't really have a strong schedule to close out to regular season, with only two games against Tampa Bay and two against Atlanta as ones that they should, and basically have to, win. There are also a couple of games each against the Panthers and Hurricanes that are must wins. If they can go through those games relatively unscathed and go at least .500 in their games against the Flames, Boston Bruins, Nashville Predators and Chicago Blackhawks, then there might be a chance for Washington. That is asking a lot, though, to basically go 9-3 or so for the remainder of the year.

The Panthers have one fewer game than the Capitals, nine of which are against division opponents. It helps that they have three games against the Thrashers and two against the Lightning. But games against the Capitals and Hurricanes are going to present a challenge for the Panthers, as will inter-conference games against the Islanders and red-hot Rangers.

Unfortunately for Washington and Florida, I doubt either one is going to make it until the playoffs. Out of every team in the Southeast, Carolina has played the best as of late, currently riding a four-game winning streak. And if any team is going to supplant the Flyers in the eighth spot of the Eastern Conference standings, I think it's going to be the Sabres (74 points). Though I don't doubt the Capitals or Panthers could put up a fight in these last few weeks of the season, I just see it as a case of too little, too late. If the Capitals could have held onto their 1-0 lead against the Bruins and gone into overtime with the Penguins, maybe we'd be talking a different story. But both these Southeast Division squads are going to need a minor miracle to receive postseason berths.

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Until next week, you have just been Inside The Penalty Box!

~ Neil Borenstein