And So It Goes

There was very little reason to expect the Caps to make very much noise tonight. Given all the injuries and call-ups and the brutal schedule, if you had told me you thought the Caps would win this game with any sort of ease, I would have immediately had you institutionalized. So the final score is no surprise. What did surprise me, however, was the fact that the Caps managed to hang with the Devils for most of the game, losing on a few isolated defensive lapses rather than being outright dominated like I thought they would be. And at least they made it interesting at the end.

So why am I so disappointed by this loss? Under the circumstances, it is definitely a moral victory for the team. Thing is, I don't know if I can be satisfied with moral victories anymore. I know the Caps are "rebuilding" and at this point it isn't necessarily justified to expect a team that will compete for the playoffs, but here I am, growing increasingly frustrated by their current slump. They really could have used a win in this one, especially after scoring first. They now face the daunting task of going into Manhattan needing a win to avoid going 0-4 in the first four games of the five in seven stretch.

I guess it's just a question of expectations. At the beginning of the year, if you would have told me the Caps would be where they are at this point in the season, I would have been encouraged. But somewhere along the line (probably the 7-1-1 stretch) something changed. Suddenly, I look at games as "should win" rather than "could win". Am I wrong to have these sorts of expectations? Or are the Caps really that far ahead of schedule in their development that they (and I) should expect better of themselves?