Your savory breakfast links:
- P marks the spot:
- The Caps became the earliest team to clinch the Presidents’ Trophy since 2002… [WaPo, PHT, CBS Sports, DC Pro Sports Report]
- … and the team’s post-clinch celly was so low-key it was practically no-key. [CSNMA]
- Why has a team this good gotten so little attention? Blame the Golden State Warriors. [Guardian]
- Recaps and other assorted musings on last night’s Presidents’ Trophy-clinching win from us, Vogs, Monumental video (Trotz, Holtby, Wilson, Schmidt, Niskanen, Tortorella, Jackets room), NHL.com, AP, WaPo, CSNMA (gamer, rewind), DSP, Frankovic, Peerless, S&S, NoVa Caps, FiCP and RMNB, and from the visitors’ bench, Columbus Post-Dispatch and The Cannon.
- Tom Wilson had a very good game, scoring the Trophy-clinching gamewinner on the day before his 22nd birthday. [CSNMA]
- More on Wilson, this from Elias: Tom Wilson’s tiebreaking goal early in the third period was the game-winning goal for the Capitals in a 4-1 victory over the Blue Jackets that clinched the best record in the NHL this season for Washington. Wilson is known more for spending time in the penalty box than he is for his offensive contributions – he ranks second in the league this season with 152 penalty minutes – but it’s been a guarantee of points for the Capitals when his name has appeared in a scoring summary this season. Washington has won all seven games in which Wilson has scored a goal this season and the Capitals are 17-0-1 in the 18 games in which he recorded at least one point.
- Dmitry Orlov did not have a very good game. It was so not-good that Coach Trotz called him out postgame. [CSNMA, RMNB]
- Digging deep into the Caps’ metrics to see what’s happened and why as the postseason draws near. Conclusion: They’ll need to play the games. [Rink]
- GM Brian MacLellan announced that the Caps have inked free-agent college goalie Adam Carlson from Mercyhurst. He will report to Hershey on an ATO and his two-year contract will begin July 1. [Rink, USCHO, SBN College Hockey, TSS]
- Say Cheese! ‘Twas team photo day and Justin Williams‘ sentient, self-aware salad stole the show. [WaPo, RMNB, FTW, Bar Down, BarStool Sports, Inquisitr, NVC]
- Speaking of Williams, he took some time to visit with his Cobourg hometown fans when the team was in Ottawa. [Northumberland Today]
- Two foundational players for the Caps – John Carlson and Karl Alzner . [THW]
- Don’t call it a comeback – Jason Chimera is enjoying personal and team success in this contract year. [CSNMA]
- Who do you have on your NHL Coach of the Year ballot? [TSS]
- Three reasons to believe. [S&S]
- Finally, happy 65th birthday to Hartland Monahan, happy 59th to Eddie Godin, and a very happy 22nd birthday to Tom Wilson. Go get ’em, Willy.