With a win tonight in Tampa (or in Sunrise on Saturday), the Caps would set a franchise mark for points in a season (eclipsing the 1985-86 team‘s 107 points) and tie the team record for wins (50) in a season.
It’s worth noting that that ’85-’86 squad played an 80-game season, while this year’s Caps will play 82. More importantly, when that team from a generation ago was tied after 65 minutes of play during the regular season, the game ended in what was known back then as a “tie,” with each team getting one point in the standings, whereas nowadays teams stage a mini-skills competition and don’t leave until someone is declared the winner… and awarded a win and an additional point in the standings. Four times this season, the Caps have grabbed that shootout win and extra point. Additionally, back in the mid-80s, overtime losses – as far as the standings were concerned – were treated the same as regulation losses, and teams didn’t get a point solely for being tied after sixty minutes. The ’85-’86 Caps didn’t lose a single regular season game in overtime, but this year’s team has received points for losses eight times so far.
In other words, the 2008-09 Caps have already picked up 12 points (four via shootout wins, eight via OT/shootout losses) and four wins (in shootouts) that weren’t available to the 1985-86 incarnation of the team.
The question to you, then, is should this Caps team set a new franchise record for wins and/or points in a season, is it “legit?”
Of course, the post script here is that that 1985-86 team lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Rangers, a team that finished 29 points behind the Caps in the Patrick Division that season – a reminder that records and regular season successes mean nothing once the second season starts.