The Capitals have actually clawed their way back into playoff contention: numbers for the morning after

📸 : RMNB

The Washington Capitals bounced back in a big way from their disheartening loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night. The Caps hosted the playoff-bound Buffalo Sabres and beat the mess out of them, 6-2, at Capital One Arena.

Hey now, they might actually do this thing. Whoa.

• This game was legitimately one of the best they’ve played this season. They came out of the gates on fire, stemmed the tide of Buffalo’s comeback, and then responded with more fire. At the end of regulation at five-on-five, score and venue adjusted, the Capitals owned 54.6 percent of the shot attempts, 55.7 percent of the scoring chances, 52.6 percent of the high-danger chances, and 51.9 percent of the expected goals. If they continue to play like that over these last couple of weeks, they WILL make the playoffs. However, if this team had a semblance of consistency this year, they wouldn’t be in their current predicament in the first place.
• If you want the scoop on how the win and other results from around the league have impacted the Capitals’ mathematical odds of qualifying for the postseason, Ian has you covered with his postgame post. According to MoneyPuck, their odds only increased to 13.9 percent, but other outlets have them quite a few percentage points higher.
• I thought this was perhaps Connor McMichael‘s best game of the season. He registered two points (1g, 1a) in 16:03 of ice time to go along with five shots on goal, six shot attempts, six individual scoring chances, four individual high-danger chances, one takeaway, one hit, and two shot blocks. McMichael now has 41 points (11g, 30a) in 73 games this season, which is more than respectable.

With tonight’s 6-2 win over Buffalo, the Capitals extend their home point streak to a season-long seven games (3/9/2026-4/4/2026: 5-0-2). In addition, Washington is 10-1-2 (.846 P%) in its last 13 games at Capital One Arena, dating back to Jan. 31. pic.twitter.com/RX3ukf0i3x

— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) April 5, 2026

• In his age-40 season, Alex Ovechkin recorded the fastest two assists of his career, notching them in a span of just 20 seconds in the first period. Is that not otherworldly wild to anyone else? With the two points, Ovechkin became the first Capitals player to cross the 60-point threshold this season, the 19th time he has hit the mark in his career.
• Really cool to see that Ryan Leonard‘s goal featured fellow rookies Cole Hutson and Justin Sourdif on the assists. The marker was Leonard’s 17th of the season, and he has seven goals in his last 15 games.
• While the Capitals were doing wild stuff in the NHL, you may have missed that Ilya Protas and Andrew Cristall absolutely tore apart the Hartford Wolf Pack for the AHL’s Hershey Bears. Protas recorded six points (1g, 5a) in the win, while Cristall scored his first pro hat trick in a five-point (3g, 2a) showing. Bogdan Trineyev also chipped in four points (2g, 2a).

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