Unsurprisingly, the news hasn't changed much in Caps nation since it broke yesterday afternoon: Olie Kolzig is on the shelf for three weeks with a knee injury, making it all that much tougher for the team to climb back into a playoff race it has been desperately clinging to lately.
On more nights than everyone watching the team was comfortable with, Kolzig was the only thing standing between the Caps and disaster -- and Saturday night's game against the Rangers, where Kolzig stood on his head to keep the Caps in the game in the first period, was only the latest example of that.
Safe to say, things are pretty glum. When you lose a former Vezina Trophy winner, how could it be any other way? With 25 games to go, the Caps are nine points out of the final playoff spot in the East. Getting to that eighth spot will mean catching Carolina and climbing over four other teams: Boston, the Rangers, the Islanders and Toronto.
The immediate import: Brent Johnson becomes the #1 and Frederic Cassivi gets the call up from Hershey. Johnson has been #1 before in St. Louis, where in the 2001-02 season he won 34 games in 58 starts. For the rest of his career numbers, click here.
The challenge of staying within striking distance of the eighth and final playoff spot starts Thursday night in Tampa. Safe to say, it's probably the biggest challenge of Johnson's career.
