The Washington Capitals wrapped up the regular season in less than stellar fashion, slipping at Pittsburgh 5-2 Thursday night to post their first losing month in what has been otherwise an outstanding season.
As they were on track to clinch home ice through the first three rounds for some time, the losses weren’t necessarily that much of a concern (unless they lose game 1 to Montreal, of course). And this month of meandering was more than a mirage but the start of a potential season-ending slide.
However, we are here not to bury the Caps, but to praise them as Alex Ovechkin completed his quest to pass Wayne Gretzky as the all-time NHL career goal scorer.
He wasn’t the only one to enjoy a special season: Dylan Strome, Tom Wilson, Connor McMichael and Aliaksei Protas posted career highs in goals and assists. Jakob Chychrun and Nic Dowd notched career highs in goals while Rasmus Sandin, Martin Fehervary, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Matt Roy recorded career highs in assists.
Will the career seasons continue into May?
Record: 51-22-9 (after a 4-5 April), and their 111 points are 12 better than Carolina for first place in the Metropolitan Division, while also being three clear of Toronto for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
They finished five points behind Winnipeg for the best record in the NHL, as the Jets capture not only their first division title but also collect their first-ever President’s Trophy. For the record, the original Jets franchise that is now the Utah Hockey Club never won the Smythe, Norris or Central Division before moving to Phoenix in 1996, and the current Jets franchise did win the now-defunct Southeast Division while playing as the Atlanta Thrashers in 2007.
Rankings: Second (3.49 goals per game) in the NHL in scoring, while tying for eighth (2.79) in goals against, 13th (23.5%) on the power play and fifth (82.0%) on the penalty kill.
Iceman of the Month: Ovechkin ended his storybook season with a bang, scoring seven goals in eight games. Ovi tied Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894 career goals by scoring twice against Chicago April 4 and passed the Great One two days later with a tally at the New York Islanders. Ovechkin’s 44 goals ranked third in the league this season despite his 16-game absence recovering from a broken leg and he wraps up the regular season with 897, three more than Gretzky.
Hot Sticks and Cool Pads: Strome led the team with 12 points in April, and the center’s six goals included his first hat trick since coming to Washington. John Carlson paced the defensemen with five points (all assists) while Charlie Lindgren went 4-2 with a 3.11 goals against average.
OVI-DOMETER: Ovechkin’s NHL record of 897 goals is the pinnacle, right? Well, there are those who celebrate the WHA of the 1970s, a league not on the same level with the NHL, but one that folded four teams (Quebec, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Hartford) and tons of talent into the league in 1979. And if WHA stats were recognized, Ovi would rank fourth all-time in career goals behind Gordie Howe (975), Wayne Gretzky (940), and Bobby Hull (913). So perhaps we get two to three more years of Ovi so he can be the undisputed all-time goal-scorer?
Matchup with Montreal: The Capitals draw Montreal in the first round as they’ll face the Canadiens in the postseason for the second time. Their previous meeting still may have some scars: Washington after winning the President’s Trophy blew a 3-1 series lead to the eighth seeded Habs and were never the same under Coach Bruce Boudreau (he’d be fired less than two seasons later). We’ll preview the showdown Monday.
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