📸: Alan Dobbins / RMNB
Washington’s capitals won the metropolitan division on Tuesday and have now won the eastern conference two days later.
Capitals won their first regular season conference victory since they beat Pittsburgh’s Penguins by seven points during the 2016-2017 campaign. This year’s victory was obtained when they killed the Hurricanes of Caroline 5-4 during a shooting.
Winning the conference guarantees that capital will have an advantage at home at home at least the first three rounds in the playoffs.
This is the fifth time in the history of the franchise that the capital has won the East, and the previous four times also came at the time of Alex Ovechkin (2016-17, 2015-16, 2010-11 and 2009-10).
Capitals are currently 50-19-9 and have 109 ranking points, reaching 50 victories for the sixth time in the history of the franchise. They are sitting at three points behind the Winnipeg (112) jets in the presidents’ trophy race, although the caps have a game in hand.
If the season was to end now, the capital would be equaled to Montreal Canadians in the first round of the playoffs. They played the Canadians in the first round in 2010 after winning the East, a famous loser in seven games.
