Your savory breakfast links:
- Five reasons why the Caps were the first team in the NHL to clinch a playoff spot. [NHL.com]
- A couple of leftovers from Tuesday’s overtime win. [Dump ‘n Chase, WashTimes, FiCP]
- Justin Williams is basically a cure-all for whatever line is ailing. [WaPo]
- Three of the team’s four Russians were on hand to chat with – and charm – some lucky fans after the game. [Caps Outsider, FICP, NoVa Caps]
- Rank ’em. [Rink]
- He’s at 42 wins, a new franchise record; can Braden Holtby catch Martin Brodeur for the all-time record? [CSNMA]
- The Caps as a whole are chasing some impressive team numbers. [CSNMA]
- That the team has been as good as they have been this season does not come as a surprise to those who know them best: former Caps. [AP]
- Alex Ovechkin is clutch, and now just a few overtime game-winners away from a guy roughly six times his age (give or take a year). [Sportsnet, THW]
- The additions of Daniel Winnik and Mike Richards, plus the return to health of Jay Beagle, has meant less of a need for the team’s top-six forwards to kill penalties. [WaPo]
- There are issues of concern with the Caps, to be sure, but it’s not all bad news. [StarsandSticks]
- The postseason is assured; that’s just step one in what the Caps hope is going to be a long journey. [CBS DC]
- Now that the Caps are officially a playoff team, might that mean there’s more opportunity for Stanislav Galiev to get into the lineup more often? [Caps Outsider]
- The Caps were patient with Evgeny Kuznetsov, and the wait has proved to be more than worth it. [StarsandSticks]
- Had one game gone another way over a decade ago, Alex Ovechkin might have joined the NHL wearing a Columbus jersey. [THN (DGB)]
- With expansion on the agenda at this year’s GM meetings, thoughts turn to who might be protected in the next expansion draft. [ESPN, National Post, Puck Daddy, CSNMA]
- Get a quick rundown of the hockey panel at this year’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, which featured the Caps’ own Director of Hockey Analytics Tim Barnes. [TSN.ca]
- Caps’ prospects Kevin Elgestal and Jonas Siegenthaler have arrived in Hershey, with Elgestal signing an amateur tryout and Siegenthaler being reassigned to the Bears. [Bears, Stucc]
- Welcome to the Monumental Sports family, arena football team to be named later! [Rink, DCist]
- Behold, the beauty of hockey (and then some) captured through the season’s marshmallow treat. [WaPo]