Record:41-20-8, 90 points
Playoff position:First place in Metropolitan Division, one point ahead of Philadelphia Flyers
The Capitals season has been a tale of two teams.
Before facing the Boston Bruins on Dec. 23, the Capitals were 26-6-5 and led the NHL with 57 points. But the Capitals lost 7-3 to the Bruins that night, beginning a stretch when they went 15-14-3 entering the pause, including 6-8-3 since Feb. 2.
On Dec. 22, Washington led the NHL in scoring (3.54 goals per game) and was eighth in goals-against (2.76 per game), 10th on the power play (21.8 percent), and second on the penalty kill (85.7 percent).
More Capitals season snapshot coverage: Awards | Fantasy honors | Memorable moments
Since then, the Capitals are eighth in the League in scoring (3.28 goals per game), 29th in goals-against (3.44 per game), 24th on the power play (17.0 percent) and 19th on the penalty kill (78.7 percent).
In the weeks leading up to the pause, the Capitals were trying to battle out of their malaise, but they've struggled to string together complete games, and as a result, they haven't won consecutive games in regulation since a four-game winning streak from Jan. 13-27.
Despite that, the Capitals are in position to finish first in the Metropolitan Division for the fifth straight season.
Much of Washington's offensive production has come from its top-six forwards, with Alex Ovechkin leading the way with 48 goals, tied with Boston's David Pastrnak for the NHL lead. But the bottom of the lineup began to produce more in recent weeks too. Carl Hagelin has 16 points (seven goals, nine assists) and Richard Panik has 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) over the past 22 games.
John Carlson leads NHL defensemen with a career-high 75 points (15 goals, 60 assists), six shy of tying Larry Murphy's single-season Capitals record for points by a defenseman, set in 1986-87.
