The Washington Capitals sit comfortably at 38-11-8 at 84 points on the 24th of February. If someone were to say this a year ago, when the Caps struggled to score goals and barely squeak into the playoffs, a lot of folks wouldn't have believed them. So what has gotten the Caps this far. A lot.
Alex Ovechkin, Logan Thompson, Tom Wilson and many more
We'll start things off with your captain Alex Ovechkin who added onto his legacy with a hat trick on Sunday afternoon against the Edmonton Oilers. This was his first hat trick against Edmonton and he now has one against 20 different NHL franchises, tying Brett Hull for the most in NHL history.
In his career it was his 32nd careeer hat trick to tie Phil Espositio for the fifth most in NHL hisory. This list is topped by Wayne Gretzky (50), Mario Lemieux (40), Mike Bossy (39), and Brett Hull (33). Ovechkin also notched his 135th career game winning goal to tie Jaromir Jagr for the most in NHL history.
Over the weekend, the Capitals scored a combined 15 goals dating back to their first game back from the 4 Nations break in Pittsburgh against the Penguins. The only other two times they had that many over a span of two days was from Jan. 10-11, 2003 (16), and Dec. 11-12, 1981 (15).
Ovechkin owns a goals per game rate of 0.71 this season, which puts him on pace to pass Wayne Gretzky at home against the Chicago Blackhawks on April 4. Ovechkin owns a career average of 0.60 and that rate has him on track to break the record on April 12 at the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Overall the Capitals extended their home point streak to 16 games, the second longest in franchise history behind a 17 game stretch in 2016-17. Washington is also 7-4-0 in the second game of back to backs this season and their seven wins in the second game of back to backs are the most in the NHL.
And it's not just Ovechkin either. Let's look at the defense. Jakob Chychrun has been lighting the lamp offensively more than John Carlson has but both have been effective. In fact the entire defense from top to bottom has been excellent which opens up the offense for Chychrun who has 17 goals on the season.
Back to forwards and Tom Wilson. He scored in Pittsburgh, took a hit late in the game, entered yesterday's game a game time decision yet opened the scoring for his 26th goal of the season. He is hot again for the first time since early on in the season and he has four goals in three games and six goals in his last seven games.
Connor McMichael has 20 goals on the season and is also on a streak of his own as he's on a four game point streak with two goals and two assists. It was the first time in his career the 2019 draft pick reached 20 goals. And we can't talk about the 2019 draft class without mentioning another name.
Aliaksei Protas has also been excellent with 23 goals and 27 assists for 50 points. That also includes five game winning goals. Dylan Strome has 18 goals and 40 assists for 58 points. Then there's Pierre-Luc Dubois who has fit in nicely into this new lineup and over exceeded many pundits expectations. He has 13 goals and 35 assists for 48 points.
Then there's Logan Thompson who really seized the opportunity and earned himself an extension recently. He's 25-2-5 with a 2.25 goals against average, a .920 save percentage and two shutouts. Charlie Lindgren on the other hand is 13-9-3 with a shutout of his own.
Really it all starts at the top. Chris Patrick and Brian MacLellan deserve a pat on the back for constructing this team and turning it upside down one year later in the best way possible around these parts. Spencer Carbery dserves high praise for keeping this team together for the task at hand night after night.