Well, that does it!

Tarik El Bashir has reported that Capitals goaltender Olie Kolzig has suffered a "lower body injury" and will be out for about 3 weeks. Originally, El Bashir believed this to be a groin injury until General Manager George McPhee announced that Kolzig has a knee injury and will be out for at least 3 weeks.

This is the sort of cataclysmic blow that all of the Capitals faithful have feared since the beginning of the season. Obviously, any team losing their starting goaltender is a blow, but other teams have teams with defenses that cover up for their goaltenders inadaquicies (see Andrew Raycroft, Cam Ward, Ed Belfour; all of whom are in the top 30 in wins but have save percentages below .900).

The Capitals allow more shots than anyone (34.2 per game). Kolzig has been a huge reason for their inconsistent success. Kolzig has a .909 save percentage this year.

With this injury, backup Brent Johnson will have to take the reins. This year, he has a 4-7-3 record with a .885 save percentage and 3.86 save percentage (both worse than Kolzig). The Caps defense will have to step up now, if they want to keep their fading playoff hopes from disappearing.