Owner loses patience as Capitals come up small

What’s happening to the Washington Capitals lately?

On Monday, they were demolished 5-0 in Carolina, moving owner Ted Leonsis to post this on his blog the following day: “That was the worst game of the season; we came up small when we needed to come up big and win a game on the road. Another wasted opportunity to get two points and move up in the standings. An unacceptable performance.”

Troy Brouwer told reporters: “Embarrassing effort, right from the start. We weren’t ready to play. Gave up chances, gave the puck away, didn’t get the puck in deep. Just all around embarrassing.”

Added Mike Knuble: “This time of year you’ve got to be playing good hockey, but to come out and just stink right out of the gate – play sloppy, not characteristic of how we’re gonna play – it’s very disappointing for our group.”

Said Jeff Halpern: “We were bad at the beginning of the game, bad in the middle of the game, bad at the end of the game. That’s really all there is. We were just bad all night.”

Really bad when it’s considered it happened against backup Carolina goaltender Justin Peters, who replaced injured No. 1 Cam Ward.

Peters had to make only 17 stops for his first NHL shutout, and his first at any level since Dec. 11, 2009, when he shut out the Hershey Bears while playing for the American Hockey League’s Albany River Rats.