Bumps and Bruises and Voodoo Dolls

This was supposed to be a great year for the Caps. This was supposed to be the year that they finally start to regain some of the respect we lost during the Jagr years. And while there's still time to turn things around to a certain extent, there just seems to be a rash of nonstop bad luck preventing a major renewal, the latest being the injuries to key players Clark and Gordon.

So my question is this - do you get the sense that this season might just be cursed?

Let's break it down...

- Alexander Semin goes down with a sprained ankle in preseason. Preseason. We didn't even make it to the regular season before losing our 38-goal scorer. The injury continues to crop up at inopportune times (read: every other day), keeping Semin out of the lineup and preventing any real chemistry from developing between him and the other forwards.

- A team with three 30+ goal scorers and bolstered by offseason offensive producers Nylander, Kozlov and Poti, finds it impossible to find the back of the net. This makes the fact that both goaltenders are standing on their heads irrelevant, as allowing one or two goals a game doesn't help when you can't score at all.

- Alex Ovechkin tries to kill Chris Clark with a slapshot to the head. At the same time Semin is out once more and Boyd Gordon then goes down with an injury, sending the Caps reeling. For the first time in years the Caps are in last place in the NHL.

- A fifth straight loss in which the Caps look flat and unable to do the basic things correctly costs Glen Hanlon his job.

- On new coach Boudreau's first day of practice with his team, Semin reinjures his ankle. Again. In his fourth game the Caps go to their first shootout of the season and lose Clark, Gordon and possibly Semin to injury. Again.

And so on and so forth...

But don't worry, Caps fans, because here's the good news - not only do we get to play Carolina and Florida in back to back games this weekend, but we also get to see each of them four more times before the season ends. (At least this is the last season with such a lovely schedule.)

The better news? Only 57 games left...and counting.

If you're looking for a gameday preview for our next two games go here and here. I'm running out of ways to make these "intense" division matchups interesting, and I'm inspired by the current writers' strike in Hollywood to just run reruns in protest. Luckily after next week we get a bit of a reprieve from the Southeast and I'll return to my usual witty self.

All photos courtesy of AP