Lighting the Lamp and Rocking the Red

It's so much fun to root for a good team.

You'll have to excuse me.  I'm not used to this.  The Washington Redskins' last truly good season was 1991.  The Washington Wizards/Bullets' last truly good season was 1978-79.  The Washington Nationals/Senators' last truly good season was 1933.

None of those teams are any good right now.  In fact, they're all embarrassingly bad.

The Washington Capitals are not.

The Washington Capitals are magnificent.

The Caps beat the Islanders 7-2 yesterday, improving to 34-12-6 with an Eastern Conference-best 74 points.  They've scored an NHL-best 202 goals with an NHL-best +57 goal differential.  They've won seven games in a row.  They're pounding teams.  It's terrific.  They're Peyton Manning.  Their offensive potential looms even before the game begins.  The opposition knows they're going to have to score in abundance because you're just not going to shut the Caps out.  Not going to happen.

Okay, so it has happened once this year.  Buffalo blanked the Caps 3-0 on December 9.  In their next meeting, the Caps ripped the Sabres 5-2.

The Red Wings dominated the Caps last week, doubling the shot output and taking a 2-1 lead.  Then the Caps scored two goals in 45 seconds.

In Pittsburgh, the defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins came out flying, going up and down the ice with the Caps in one of the most exciting games of the season.  The Caps won it, 6-3.

The season still has 30 games to go before the postseason, when things will really get interesting.  Until then, I say to all of those faint-hearted opponents coming up on the schedule.  You don't mess with the Washington Capitals right now.  You get out of the way.  (Sorry, Jack Hillen.)

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