ARLINGTON, Va. Texas Rangers Jersey . -- Even if Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals have earned a reputation for quick exits, at least theyve been making the playoffs year after year. Thats not a given this time. And the team is well aware of it: Every time players set foot in the practice facility, they come face to face with a display showing where Washington stands. On Thursday, the Capitals had 70 points, good enough only for 11th place in the 16-team Eastern Conference. The top eight teams qualify for the post-season. "Weve got a board in our dressing room here that says the standings. You walk by it six, seven times a day," right wing Troy Brouwer said. "So theres no way to be immune to whats going on." Washington hasnt missed the playoffs since the 2006-07 season, although its never been past the second round in that span. At the moment, the fading Capitals have won only one of their last six games heading into Friday night against the visiting Vancouver Canucks, who are 10th in the West. "The desperate level," Brouwer said, "is getting up there." Washington has 15 games left in the regular season. Its not a particularly easy schedule, either, with 10 games against teams currently in playoff position, including a daunting March 18-22 road trip to Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose. "Obviously, were very concerned," coach Adam Oates said. "But the one good thing about hockey is tomorrows another game and you cant get too far ahead or dwell too much on it, because youve got to play tomorrow. Its a must win tomorrow." There have been various problems lately, including poor passing and puck possession, leading to turnovers and a lack of shots on goal. Also glaring: Ovechkins sudden lack of scoring. The three-time NHL MVP and team captain leads the league with 44 goals, but he has been held without a point in each of the last four games, matching his worst drought this season. So whats it going to take to get things turned in the right direction before its too late? "It can be one big hit," said Ovechkin, whos been known to dole those out. "Or it can be one good play and everybody (wakes) up and everybody (plays) much better." In a bid to help the playoff push, general manager George McPhee added goalie Jaroslav Halak and left wing Dustin Penner in separate deals at the trade deadline this month, then finally signed 2010 first-round draft pick Evgeny Kuznetsov. But there hasnt been a payoff yet. Penner was thought to be destined for the top forward line, alongside Ovechkin and centre Nicklas Backstrom. But Oates said Thursday, "I dont think he matches well with them." Asked to elaborate, Oates replied: "Hes not the fastest guy in the world. Hes a puck-possession, battle-along-the-wall guy, and I think (Ovechkin and Backstrom) need a quicker guy." Halak, meanwhile, has made three consecutive starts over Braden Holtby. Oates wouldnt say who would be in net Friday. Holtby said all the right things Thursday, though -- about Halak "giving us a chance to win, whenever he plays"; about how "I want to learn from" Halak; about how theres no rivalry between the pair. Holtby also gave a frank assessment about what Washington needs to do now. "Everyone knows," Holtby said, "that we have to have at least 10 wins, probably, in these last 15 -- or more -- to have a chance." Notes: D Dmitry Orlov signed a $4 million, two-year contract extension. "Good for him," Ovechkin said, "and good for us." Orlov was suspended by the NHL for two games this month after launching into an opponent and drawing a major penalty that helped the Flyers rally for a 5-4 overtime victory. ... C Brooks Laich, who missed two of the last four games with a groin injury, saw a doctor and will be monitored day by day, according to Oates. Its possible Laich will play Friday. ... C Mikhail Grabovski skated before Thursdays practice as he deals with a left ankle injury. "Until he can practice with us, I think hes a ways away," Oates said. Derek Holland Texas Rangers Jersey . -- Ernie Els hardly ever catches a break at the Match Play Championship. Elvis Andrus Authentic Jersey .53 ERA in those games. On Tuesday night, he pitched seven solid innings and finally got his first victory as the Royals beat the Houston Astros 4-2. "Im just really proud for him because that was like his fifth time hes gone for his first win and hes had an opportunity to win ballgames two or three times and we couldnt hold it for him," Royals manager Ned Yost said.HOUSTON - The Houston Astros said Monday that they have been the victims of hackers who accessed their servers and published months of internal trade talks on the Internet. "It was an illegal activity and were going to pursue it and try and find out who did it and prosecute," general manager Jeff Luhnow said. The team is working with the FBI and Major League Baseball security to try who was responsible for the breach. Luhnow said the team learned of the hacking about a month ago. The team responded on Monday after the website Deadspin.com published a story about the breach. Among the items involved talks with Miami to trade 2012 top overall pick Carlos Correa and rookie George Springer for Marlins star slugger Giancarlo Stanton. Luhnow said some of the information was accurate and some was not, but he wouldnt discuss what portions fell into which category. He said the Astros have since upgraded the security on their system. "I dont know if anybody can say for sure that any system is 100 per cent secure, but were working on it," Luhnow said. "Weve done a security review and were going to continue to do more. Obviously information is important in our industry as it is in any industry, and we want to do everything we can to protect the information." Luhnow has reached out to other teams to apologize that theey were involved in the breach as well. Mithch Moreland Authentic Jersey. . "Some of it is not accurate and theres information out there that affects other teams and individual players thats not accurate," he said. "And just in general when you have a conversation with another team its a conversation between two individuals or two clubs. Its not meant to be shared with the world. So I feel bad about that." The Astros rely heavily on sabermetrics in their evaluation of players and have been open about the fact that they use an online database to house their proprietary information. Luhnow isnt sure if thats why they were targeted, but he knows they are far from the only team which stores data about players and trades online. "You have to think about it: its the double-edged sword of technology makes things easier, but if things like this are capable of happening its definitely a risk that every team should probably think about now in light of this happening to us," he said. "It happened to us. Could it have happened to other clubs? I dont know." "One of the things I have been talking to my counterparts about with other clubs is recommending that everybody take a look at their own security systems and make sure they dont get hacked the way that we were. Because this definitely was an illegal activity," he said, cheap jerseys cheap jerseys from china ' ' '
