Can the Capitals Rebound From a Disastrous Weekend?

Heading into the home stretch, teams need to win key games to make the playoffs.

Or stay in the race, if they're on the outside looking in.

Making big plays and keeping composure are huge at this time of the year.

For the Washington Capitals, who didn't exhibit either of the above traits in the dying moments in their last two back-to-back heart breakers this past weekend, that mistake could come back to haunt them.

On Saturday in Boston, veteran Donald Brashear took the equivalent of a triple-minor late in the third period, and the Caps gave up two goals in the last 5:01 in 5-on-3 disadvantage situations. The Caps fell to the Bruins 2-1.

The following afternoon, the Caps and Penguins battled to a 2-2 tie and appeared headed for OT, with both teams settling for at least a point. However, rookie Nicklas Backstrom's clearing attempt went into his own net with just 28 seconds left, and Washington fell again in regulation.

(And nope, no Steve Smith jokes from me today. Yes, the guy who scored into his own net on his birthday, helping his Oilers get eliminated in the Stanley Cup playoffs against Calgary in 1986.)

With Southeast division rival Carolina—the team Washington is chasing for the division title—and number eight seed Philadelphia winning on the weekend, the two losses were crippling blows for Alexander Ovechkin and the Caps.

Instead of picking up a minimum of two out of four possible points, the Capitals had nothing to show for their efforts.

With only an even dozen games remaining, Washington (72 points) now trails the Hurricanes (79) by seven points in the division, and is behind the Flyers (78) by six for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.

The Capitals are off until Wednesday, and then begin a crucial three-game homestand against Calgary (82), Atlanta (68), and Boston (80).

Out of those three, only the Thrasher game can be considered a gimme, but Washington will have to find a way to win all three.

The Caps lost 2-1 to Boston on Saturday, but whipped the B's 10-2 just five days prior to that, so another victory isn't out of the question.

Regardless, Washington will need to sweep the homestand and hope that the Hurricanes and/or Flyers start losing.

If not, then the Cinderella Caps' season will come to a crashing halt.

Still, Bruce Boudreau's squad has come a long way.

The rise of the Capitals, who were an embarrassing 6-13-1 when they hired Boudreau on Thanksgiving, has been one of the feel-good stories of the current season.

Ovechkin has been exciting to watch this season, and has a shot at 60 goals, being just six shy at this point.

Before Sunday's mistake, Backstrom was having a great year with 58 points.

Long-time Caps goaltender Olaf Kolzig will notch win number 300 with his next victory, while newcomer Cristobal Huet has been stellar for Washington too.

But they will need to regroup starting Wednesday if they want to don't want the clock to strike midnight.