March Madness excitement in DC

The Washington Capitals had a memorable March especially the ones who are still around after surviging the trade deadline. Gone are Anthony Mantha, Joel Edmundson and Evgeny Kuznetsov. The Caps uploaded on some draft stock, extended an RFA defenseman and are keeping the house money along with reinforcements from the Hershey Bears.

It all added up to a month where the Caps went 9-5-1 to catapult them into third place in the Metropolitan Division. There are now nine games left in April and if the Caps can keep winning they'll be in the playoffs.

First up for them is a road contest against the Buffalo Sabres tomorrow night. Then it's the last game of the season between Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. That comes Thursday night at Capital One Arena.

Following that the Caps will jet for Raleigh for a road contest with the Carolina Hurricanes in a game that could be a preview of the first round. Following that, the Caps are back home Sunday evening against the Ottawa Senators.

From there it's five games left. April 9 they're at the Detroit Red Wings then back in Buffalo on April 11. Then it's back to back home games on the 13th and 15th, respectively, against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Boston Bruins, who just faced the Caps on Saturday. Caps fought them to a shootout before coming up short.

The season ends with a road contest in Philadelhphia agianst the Flyers. Could that game have divisiional seeding impacts? Well we still got a few weeks to find out. The playoffs themself start on April 20.

What made the March run impressive was how Spencer Carbery was able to weather the storm of the trade deadline no matter what Brian MacLellan did with the phones. The Caps also beat some good playoff opponents in that stretch. Wins that can get them ready should they make it there.