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One in three Capitals playoff games have gone to overtime during the Ovechkin Era

By Ian Oland

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April 23, 2018 4:55 pm

Caps fans, no, you’re not crazy, and, yes, the Capitals are actively trying to kill you.

Via some excruciating stats from the Capitals PR, we now know that over a third of Capitals’ playoff games during the Ovechkin Era have gone to overtime. Yes, 35 of 102 Capitals playoff games since the 2008 playoffs have gone to sudden death (34.3 percent). That’s the highest percentage of overtime games of any franchise in the NHL during that time span.

And the Capitals, as you might have guessed, have a losing record (16-19).

Capitals fans have not responded well to this torture. Here’s a sampling of overtime tweets that Peter compiled during his Game Five recap.

Clearly, it has taken a toll.

The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg called the Capitals’ dalliance with overtime absurd. Other adjectives that would have worked include crazy, foolish, goofy, illogical, laughable, preposterous, stupid, unreasonable, wacky, loony, dippy, idiotic, and screwy.

Monday night, the Capitals will play their 103rd playoff game since Alex Ovechkin was drafted onto the team. The Caps have an opportunity in Game Six to eliminate the Columbus Blue Jackets and advance to he second round.

With a dominant performance, the Capitals could even dismiss the Blue Jackets in regulation. But the Caps fan in me that has been scarred over the last decade thinks they’ll lose the game in overtime. And then the series will be decided during Game Seven… in overtime. Why? Because that’s just how this team does things.

Here are a few more nutty overtime stats from the Capitals PR.

  • Since 2008, the Capitals’ 35 overtimes only trails the Chicago Blackhawks (38) for the most during that span.
  • The Capitals have played in 66 overtime games in franchise history, tied for the ninth-most among all NHL franchises and third-most by any non-Original Six club.
  • The Capitals have required overtime in 13 of their last 24 postseason games dating to Game 1 of the 2016 Conference Semifinals vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins, including nine of their last 11 taking place in the First Round.
  • Washington is the first team in NHL history to play a combined nine overtime games in the opening round of back-to-back postseasons.
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