Gameday, Panthers @ Capitals, L, 0-5

The Panthers are 3-0-1 in their last 4 games. Let's hope they ride that streak right into DC and come out 4-0-1. The Capitals have the worst record in the league, but desperate teams can be scary. So the Panthers will be ready and hopefully really take it to them. It would be amazing for José to beat his former team after that win in Philly...what an end to the road trip that would be!!

Struggling Capitals host improving Panthers

I was a bit annoyed by one sentence in that preview:  The goaltending is still not great, but is has improved of late. The Panthers have yielded 11 goals in the past four contests after giving up 23 during the five-game skid.

You can tell this was written by an NHL.com writer who didn't actually watch much if any of the games, because goaltending was never the issue. That irritated me, but José will prove people wrong yet again.

Not much good to say about this game. The Panthers didn't show up to play at all, and the Capitals were a desperate team that needed to win. And they worked harder. I'm not going to say José was perfect, but this loss is not about him or goaltending. The Panthers didn't have jump from the first drop puck. The unfortunate thing is that the fact that the team didn't come to play left their goalie out to dry. He was pulled in the 3rd period after 5 goals. 

But a friend of mine pointed this moment out...after he was taken out a fan wearing a José Caps jersey turned her back so that his name and number could be seen as he going down the tunnel. I thought that was a super sweet thing to do, even if he probably didn't see it. That's a true fan.

And hopefully the Panthers can take revenge when the Capitals come to Florida on Tuesday. And the Panthers get to be home tonight, and that's awesome because José will get to have some daddy hugs from Romi.