At the Intermission . . .

Some random thoughts before Canada decides between Ryan Getzlaf and Jeff Carter. Here at Vic’s, we keep the debate simple. Guacamole or more guacamole?

• Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau is resolutely cheerful about his goaltending situation but imagine how happy he would be if one of Washington’s troika of netminders – Semyon Varlamov, Jose Theodore and Michal Neuvirth – seized the job in a dominating fashion. Varlamov only returned from injury last week so this may be a story that has yet to be written. Beltway hockey fans are sick of hearing muttering about their goaltending as their recent three-game road trip showed, Washington’s high-octane offense can only lift the team out of so many holes. The Caps give up an average of 31 shots a game; they’re going to need someone to stop a few of them this spring.

• Speaking of teams that allow a lot of shots – Hello there, Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks allow 33.2 shots a game, 28^th in the league, the byproduct of a flowing style that leaves large tracts of ice available for opposition forwards to revive their best pond hockey moves. Scott Niedermayer can’t be everywhere at once and that usually leaves Jonas Hiller to deal with the mess. He’ll be worn out by April. The Ducks are still in the Western Conference playoff race so it doesn’t seem likely they will be sellers at the trade deadline. That may change in the summer, though, regardless of where they land. This is a team that falls off markedly once you get past its first line and it could use another quality defenseman.

• The Calgary Flames don’t have an easy path ahead of them if they want to hold on to a playoff spot in the West. The Flames have 20 games remaining after the Olympic break, 11 of them on the road, where they are playing better (15-9-6) than at home (15-14-3). But there are few pushovers in their finish, which includes an Eastern road trip that concludes in Washington. The Flames still have two games left against San Jose (at home), two with Detroit (home and away), two with Vancouver (both away) and two with Colorado (both away), a team that has beaten the Flames in four previous games this season. The one wild card: four games (two in each building) against the Minnesota Wild.

• The Columbus Blue Jackets are 3-1-1 since they replaced Ken Hitchcock as coach with Claude Noel on Feb. 3. Has Noel made that much of a difference in such a short span? Maybe, but look at the play of goalie Steve Mason, who played four of the five games, posting two shutouts. Show me a good goalie and I’ll show you a coach you got really smart overnight.

• The NHL has not committed to making its players available for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and it will be mighty interesting to see how that plays out when the new collective agreement between the league and its players comes up in a couple of years. Expect the league to wield this bargaining chip with a flourish in an attempt to rein in costs. Expect the players to cave on it, too, because most of them are really, really in love with the idea of playing in the Olympics. Even the guys who don’t go must enjoy the opportunity to unwind in the midst of the season. Only the owners are against the idea and we all know they can be swayed if the deal is right.