10 – Number of points separating the first-place Capitals from the bottom of the Metropolitan Division, with the Caps currently sitting at 65 points and the seventh/eighth-place Islanders and Rangers are tied at 55 points apiece.
That’s the smallest divisional gap between first and last in the League; next in line is the Central, where Winnipeg leads seventh-place Chicago by 14 points. By comparison, the other two divisions have a first-last gap of 36 points (Atlantic) and 39 points (Pacific); every team in the Metropolitan Division has more points than the fourth-place team in the Atlantic Division.
Four of the Caps’ first five games out of the All-Star break, including the win over Philadelphia back on Wednesday, are against Metro opponents. So far this season, they are 9-4-0 vs. Metropolitan teams, the second-best intra-division record of the eight squads – and they’ll take on the team with the best record, the Penguins (10-4-0), tonight.