There was a 10-15 minute stretch in tonight’s game in which the Caps looked absolutely dominant. Passes were crisp and quick, shots were on net, forechecking was in full gear – everything looked great. This was a winning team.

Too bad an entire game happened before that.

And what a wonderful game it was, too. You know, we’re way past the point of excuses, way past the point of blaming injuries or an expected letdown after an emotional handful of games. Losing this game was inexcusable. This is the home stretch – points are harder to come by and you have to be able to beat the teams below you, especially on your own ice. Period. End of story.

Beating the Red Wings and the Devils was great, but the Caps have a lot of Kings-esque teams coming up in the next few weeks and those are the games that will be the most crucial. We know they can bring it against the elite; it’s the rest of the league that’s going to get you.

Quick and dirty recap before we shuffle off to bed and put this one out of our minds for good:

- The score wasn’t too pretty, but the scary thing is it could have been much worse. Both Jose and Quick made some huge saves as defense seemed to be a dirty word out there.

- Too many odd-man rushes. Far too many. The fact that Theodore turned away as many one-on-one breakaways as he did is amazing. You’d think after the fourth or fifth stretch pass the Kings attempted the Caps would have done something to close that off, but that’s clearly asking too much.

- There were stretches tonight where the Caps appeared to be too cutesy and other times where they simply seemed uninterested. No one’s saying that LA is a thrilling team (usually) but if we all have to stay awake for the game, the Caps damn well need to stay awake to play it.

- Ovechkin’s 200th career goal was a thing of beauty – other than that #8 had a quietish night, as LA once again did a pretty good job on him…bastards.

- Boudreau should spend the entirety of the next practice working with the team on clearing the puck off the boards, not over them. Hey, maybe he can stick someone in the penalty box at the time to add a touch of realism to the drill.

- 13 straight games allowing a power play goal. Awesome. (And 2 straight games allowing a shorthanded goal. Awesomer.)

- After a lengthy slump, Brooks Laich now has goals in two straight, both coming as a result of his ability to get to the front of the net. That slapshot he took off the shin wasn’t anything to sneeze at, either – the guy is just money, even on a bad night.

- Was it me or was the officiating very, very bad tonight? It’s not the reason the Caps lost, of course. That was because the Caps were very, very bad tonight.

Oh, and for anyone doing a little scoreboard checking tonight? Yes, the Senators fell to the Bruins in a predictable display of suckitude, leaving the Caps twelve points out of first. That second place berth is feeling more and more permanent.