Shhhh, The Caps Are Back

After starting 2-8-1, the Capitals have quietly surged back into first place in the division and the playoff hunt. Washington has won five straight and 9 of 11 to climb to atop of the Southeast Division and the #3 seed. It also helps that the three worst teams in the conference are in the division and the Caps would be the 7th seed overall in the playoffs or 8th in the Western conference.

The key to the resurgence has been Alex Ovechkin’s return to MVP form as well. The team captain and leader has scored eight goals in the past five games and is tied for the lead for goals in the NHL. After only scoring two goals in his first ten games, the Great 8 has 20 points in the past 11 games.

Overall the team has turned things around from the beginning of the year. Earlier they were only scoring 2.3 goals a game, now they are putting it in the net 3.7 times, and instead of giving up 3.6 goals a game, the keepers are down to 2.2 a game.  The goalies have improved their save percentage from 88% to 92% and the defense has limited their penalties to 2.3 a game, down from 4.7 earlier.

Maybe the team has finally bought into new coach Adam Oates’s system and these playoffs will be better than the bitter disappointments in previous years.  We shall see…