Weekly Snapshot, Oct. 24

A weekly peek at the state of the Washington Capitals.

Record/Standings Position: 5-3-0 (10 points), 2nd Southeast Division/4th Eastern Conference/9th NHL

Last Week's Games:
* Lost, 3-1, vs. Boston
* Lost, 4-1, at Boston
* Won, 4-3 (OT), vs. Atlanta

This Week's Games:
* Wednesday at Carolina Hurricanes (7:00 p.m., CSN-HD)
* Thursday at Minnesota Wild (8 p.m., CSN-HD)
* Saturday at Calgary Flames (10 p.m., CSN-HD)

Injuries: Matt Bradley (day-to-day), Mike Green (day-to-day), Semyon Varlamov (day-to-day).

Recent Transactions: Recalled Mathieu Perreault and Jay Beagle from Hershey (Oct. 23).

Top Storylines:
* The Caps are still looking frazzled by other teams' clog-up-the-middle style.
* Varlamov hasn't looked fully healthy yet -- playing in just 103 minutes so far.
* The decision to give contract extensions to John Erskine and Tyler Sloan last season is looking worse and worse by the day.

Top Line (Who's Hot?): Neuvirth (2.53 GAA, .919 save percentage); Alex Semin (fourth career hat trick last night); Brooks Laich (team-leading plus-six so far).

Scratches (Who's Not?): Alex Ovechkin (no points last week); Nicklas Backstrom (team-worst minus-three, just four points); eight Caps without any points yet.