The Capitals Are Playing With House Money

They really shouldn’t be here.

On February 13th, a 6-3 drubbing at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche had left the Washington Capitals with their 9th loss in their last 10 games. Their points percentage of .519% was good enough for the second-lowest mark in the Metropolitan Division.

After a couple of dominant wins against the Penguins and Blackhawks proved to be too little, too late to avoid selling at the deadline and expanding their draft capital, the Caps embarked on a trip out to Western Canada that included games against the Jets, Canucks and Oilers–three of the top-five teams in the Western Conference by points percentage. On paper it would be one of the most daunting stretches of the…