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Add “goaltending” to Capitals’ crisis list

St Louis Blues v Washington Capitals

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 29: Goalie Tomas Vokoun #29 of the Washington Capitals gets a drink during the second period against the St. Louis Blues at Verizon Center on November 29, 2011 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

Rob Carr

When it comes to the Washington Capitals’ outlook, there really haven’t been a whole lot of positives beyond Jason Chimera playing out of his mind. Even so, one guy who hasn’t received a ton of blame is goalie Tomas Vokoun, but after a dreadful 5-1 loss against the Claude Giroux-less Philadelphia Flyers, it might be time to beat up on him a bit.

Vokoun was pulled from the game after allowing four goals through two periods and many believed he shouldn’t have even made it that far.

It’s reasonable that (most) people have been fairly easy on Vokoun overall. He’s certainly been much better than Michal Neuvirth and isn’t exactly getting paid up to his expectations, but those aren’t very comforting qualifiers.

Then again, maybe it all comes back to the Capitals trying to force a system that just doesn’t suit them. Perhaps Dale Hunter should take notes from Peter Laviolette’s attacking Flyers and revert to the reckless and fun style that this team made downright sexy reaching back to 2008-09.

Maybe going defense-first fooled people last season, but the Capitals just don’t have the personnel to make it work - and that might just include their top goalie.

Update: Keith Jones and Mike Milbury discuss Vokoun’s issues.