The Washington Capitals, 8-7-1, sit second to last in the Metro. And yet, they are only three points out of first. Such is the Metro in 2017. Once the best division in hockey, it's best statistical team sits in the basement, while the Penguins and Jackets look to figure out why they're not living up to expectations.
The Devils lead and, for now, the playoffs remain a reasonable hope for everyone in the division.
But check out this Capitals lineup:
Caps lines this morning:
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) November 10, 2017
Stephenson-Backstrom-Oshie
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-DSP
Vrana-Eller-Wilson
O'Brien-Beagle-Chiasson
Djoos-Carlson
Orpik-Bowey
Orlov-Chorney
Braden Holtby has a .920 save percentage. I didn't know if he'd be able to sustain his awesome play now that he was no longer behind such a great team/defense. But he has, and he's the only reason the Capitals aren't eliminated from the playoffs already.
Chandler Stephenson on the first line.
Devente Pelly Smith on the second.
Tom Wilson on the third.
Matt Niskanen, Borokovsky and Connelly on the DL.
An actual NHL line featuring O'Brien, Beagle and Chiasson means they are dresseing, currently, a minimum of six fourth line players at the moment.
But when you really think of all the roster moves they've made over the last six months, the injuries they've had and the roster they've iced, their record is a minor miracle. Holtby deserves the Vezina just for his play so far alone. He's propping up a very bad team and it's impressive. He never got the credit he deserved, even when he won a Vezina, he seemed to always get second billing to Carey Price and Devon Dubnyk and Bobrovsky, but he should be celebrated as the NHL's best goalie (Antti Raanta not withstanding haha).
A loss to Buffalo on Tuesday ended a three game winning streak, and they'll look to pick it back up again tonight against the Penguins - a team they always beat and enjoy playing!
The Capitals are in the midst of a crazy schedule where they play 11 times over 19 days with just eight days off in between. Yesterday and the day before were their only back-to-back days off between games for a three week period.
It is an insane schedule, but if you look, pretty much every NHL team has a stupid schedule. Whoever is in charge of schedule logistics at the NHL seems to have failed spectacularly this year. And this is an eastern team. If you want to see a truly idiotic schedule, check out the Coyotes.