Caps clinch Metropolitan title, top seed in East
With their 4-2 win over the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night, already their 52nd win of the season, the Washington Capitals not only became the first team in the league to clinch a division championship this season (which they did by winning the Metropolitan Division title), they also secured the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals now have a 19-point lead in the conference standings.
The win also means the Capitals are just two wins away from tying their franchise record (54 during the 2009-10 season) even though it was only their 72nd game of the season.
They are only the seventh team in league history to win at least 52 of their first 72 games. Out of the previous six teams, five of them ended up making it to at least the conference finals while four of them went on to win the Stanley Cup.
The next step for the Capitals is securing the second Presidents’ Trophy in team history, and at this point it seems to be a lock and could happen within the next week. Even if the Capitals did not win another game the rest of the season the Dallas Stars would need to go 7-1-1 in their final nine games to finish ahead of them in the standings (and that includes the Stars’ Tuesday night game against the Chicago Blackhawks). The Los Angeles Kings would need to go no worse than 8-1-1 in their remaining 10 games to move ahead of the Capitals.
Along with the Capitals securing the No. 1 spot in the conference on Tuesday, Alex Ovechkin also continued his quest to win another goal scoring title by scoring his 43rd goal of the season. If he finishes with the league lead it will be the fifth year in a row (and the seventh time in his career) he has done it. He is going to need a little bit of a hot streak the rest of the way to hit the 50-goal mark for the seventh time. Because he missed two games this season he is on track to finish just below that mark.
His current pace has him on track for around 49 goals in 80 games.
His pace over 82 games would have been right at 50.
The Washington Capitals are going to be the top seed in the Eastern Conference.(USATSI)
