Pluses, minuses for Capitals-Flyers, Blues-Ducks

Each Wednesday throughout the regular season, Kevin Weekes will be offering his pluses and minuses for the teams competing in the NBCSN Wednesday Night Hockey game in his Weekes on the Web blog.

The Washington Capitals (38-21-7) look to take sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division, and the Philadelphia Flyers (32-26-8) seek to gain in the wild-card race when they play at Wells Fargo Center (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS).
Then, the St. Louis Blues (34-25-6), who have lost four of six (2-3-1), visit the Anaheim Ducks (26-32-9) at Honda Center (10 p.m. ET, NBCSN).
Here's my breakdown of the games:

Capitals

Pluses:Alex Ovechkin has been great. He's scored 45 goals and is five away from his eighth 50-goal season. Forwards Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov, and defenseman John Carlson, have also been consistent with each getting at least 57 points this season.
Somehow, the Capitals have no injuries right now. Everyone on the roster is healthy and at this time of the year, when every game and point matters, that's huge. And having the NHL mandated five-day break has helped them regenerate and recuperate after their run to the Stanley Cup last season.
Minuses:They have been on a nice run lately, going 10-3-1 in their past 14 games, but have a tough schedule coming up. After this game, four of their next seven are against the Winnipeg Jets, Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning (twice). Even when not playing those teams, they're going to get everybody's best game being the defending champion.
The Capitals have been inconsistent, even during this recent stretch. They lost 5-2 at the Buffalo Sabres and Ducks, two teams they are better than and should have defeated. Prior to this run, they lost seven straight games (0-5-2) while allowing at least six goals in four of those games. That can't happen if they want to go far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Flyers

Pluses: Claude Giroux (70 points; 19 goals, 51 assists) has been terrific following up his MVP-caliber season in 2017-18 and Travis Konecny has stepped up his game. Between those two and Sean Couturier, that's a formidable amount of offense.
They are playing meaningful games after a tough few months to start the season. The Flyers lost eight straight at one point and were in last in the Eastern Conference but have something to play for with a month left.
Minuses:The goalie situation has made it tough for the Flyers, who set an NHL record using eight of them this season. Carter Hart, who is thought to be their goalie of the future, is injured. Brian Elliott has played well in this recent stretch, but it's tough to be consistent with that many goalies.
I think it took too long to make the coaching change when they fired Dave Hakstol. Had it been done earlier, they wouldn't have had that uncertainty surrounding them and could've moved forward with a different voice.
It was also a negative with all the distractions surrounding the Wayne Simmonds situation. He always gave his best to them and everyone on the team loved him, so it was tough to see him get traded to the Nashville Predators prior to the 2019 NHL Trade Deadline.

Blues

Pluses:The goaltending with Jordan Binnington and Jake Allen has stabilized the Blues, along with a commitment to defense. Binnington must be in the Calder Trophy conversation. He's 15-3-1 with a 1.68 goals-against average, .933 save percentage and five shutouts. St. Louis is 13-3-1 while allowing 1.94 goals per game since Jan. 23.
Vladimir Tarasenko has found his game. He had 11 goals on Jan 1 and has 16 in 27 games since. Remember, he's scored at least 33 goals in each of the past four seasons and could make it five straight if he gets six more this season. The only other active player with five straight seasons of at least 33 goals is Ovechkin.
Minuses:Almost everybody not named Ryan O'Reilly underperformed in the first half of the season. Next to O'Reilly (63 points) and Tarasenko (54 points), Brayden Schenn is third on the Blues with 39 and David Perron (35) is fourth. The only other player with at least 30 points is Alex Pietrangelo (30).
Injuries have taken a toll on the Blues, who are without forwards Perron and Schenn, although Schenn could return for the game. Jaden Schwartz, Alexander Steen and Pietrangelo are a few of the other players who have missed time this season.

Ducks

Pluses:They've had good goaltending all season long. John Gibson returned from injury and made 25 saves in a 2-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. Ryan Miller set the record for most wins by a United-States born goalie, and rookie Kevin Boyle has played well when called upon in the wake of injuries to Gibson, Miller and Chad Johnson.
They also haven't yet been officially eliminated from the playoff race, although a lot of things would need to happen for them to make up ground. But considering they were 2-15-4 from Dec. 18 to Feb. 9, that says something.
Minuses:Injuries have hurt them. Besides the goalies, they've been without forwards Ondrej Kase, Devin Shore, Nick Ritchie and Derek Grant. Corey Perry also missed the first half of the season with an MCL injury but has four points (two points, two assists) in 16 games since returning.
Like the Flyers, they waited too long to change the coach. General manager Bob Murray said he wouldn't fire Randy Carlyle but did so a few weeks later. There were valuable games and points the Ducks were losing during that stretch when something should've been done.