With a 6-0 thrashing of the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday, the Caps’ eighth win in a row, folks are already muttering – maybe jokingly – that the team is peaking too early and winning so much now isn’t as advantageous as it sounds.
Technically, this can be true. Like last season, the Caps won so much early on that the later games became meaningless in the standings. Meanwhile, other teams that didn’t play as well early on, like the Pittsburgh Penguins, got hot at the right time and advanced further in the playoffs.