Mike Giangreco
February 11, 2010

The 2010 Washington Capitals are in the record books. Albeit, they don’t hold the all-time record for consecutive victories, but they matched the third-best win streak in NHL history and that’s not too shabby.

The Caps rallied once again in the third period and almost pulled out a win Wednesday night, but fell short in overtime, losing 6-5 to the Montreal Canadiens, and believe it or not, the loss was good for them.

Laich, who tallied a hat-trick in the loss, recognizes his team’s weaknesses despite its recent success.:

"Well eventually you're playing with fire getting down by two or three goals," Washington center Brooks Laich said. "During the streak we have been able to come back. We can't continually do it, it's not a recipe for success, and eventually when you play a good hockey team they're going to find a way to beat you."

From an outside perspective, the Capitals look like the most dominant team in the league right now. While they’re certainly a Stanley Cup contender, there are undoubtably "chinks in the armor."

The most visible flaw is the team’s penchant for getting behind early in games. But even that has been masked by Washington’s strength to battle back from deficits.
It’s as if the Capitals are a heavy-weight boxer. Taking punches in the early rounds. Getting caught with hooks and jabs. Bloodied and down. Then suddenly (most often in the third period), their opponent leaves himself open to an uppercut and the knockout punch is delivered.

During the 14-game win streak, the Capitals have trailed eight times and the team’s net-minders have often dealt with a blitzkrieg of shots.
Conversely, Washington has awoken in the final period every time they were down, outscoring opponents 29-6 over the 14-game span.

The streak was similar to that college student who never studies, but somehow pulls out an "A+" on every exam; only to get burned on the mid-term with an "F."

"This is 14 times worse than just one loss," winger Tomas Fleischmann told The Washington Post. "This one hurts worse than the others. I'm really upset right now. We had opportunities to win it, but we played really sloppy on our defensive zone. You can't win if you play that sloppy."

With just two games before the Olympic break, the streak is over. The pressure is off. Now the Capitals can take time to re-evaluate their weaknesses. The front office can plan a trade for a defenseman. And after using both Jose Theodore and Michal Neuvirth in the loss, head coach Bruce Boudreau can devise a plan for the log-jam in net.

The Capitals wrote their name in history with a pencil. But their eyes are on a far bigger prize. One that etches their names on metal.