Washington Capitals is integrating a new coach, a new system and a lot of new players. Last week, they lost four of their best players, including their future Hockey Hall of Fame wing, Alex Ovechkin, to the COVID protocol. The injury also made two pivots (Nicklas Backstrom and Lars Eller) the other best wing (Tom Wilson). They are already without Michal Kempny and Henrik Lundqvist for their injuries at the end of the season. And, oh yes, a guy named Michael Sgarbossa was the center of the fourth row tonight.
Despite all these issues, Cardiac Caps continue not to lose in regulation and sometimes also win. The capitals have accumulated points in the standings in all games this season – a sequence of seven consecutive games – and are 4-0-3. With their thrilling last-minute victory against the Islanders, the Capitals jumped to number one in the NHL.
Tons of adversity. More points at Nacional. pic.twitter.com/klVZQ0FhhQ
– John Walton (@JohnWaltonPxP) January 27, 2021
The capitals’ reign alone at the top began at 9:33 am Eastern Time, and ended an hour and 58 minutes later. That’s when the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Calgary Flames 4-3 at 9:31 Mountain Time and improved to 6-2-0 (they played more games than the Capitals).
Eighteen minutes after that, at 8:49 Pacific Time, the Vegas Golden Knights, driven by a Max Pacioretty hat-trick, forced overtime and ended up losing the point against the St. Louis Blues, drawing with Washington by 11 points of classification each (5-1-1).
Thus, the capitals ended the night tied for second overall in the championship. They are also in first place at MassMutual Oriente.
The capitals are one of four teams that have not lost in regulation this season.
RMNB coverage of Caps vs Islands
Screenshot courtesy of the NHL classification page