Capitals clinch top spot in NHL’s Eastern Conference, will have home-ice advantage through playoffs

With a 5-4 shootout win against the Carolina Hurricanes Thursday night, the Washington Capitals clinched the top spot in the NHL’s Eastern Conference and will have home-ice advantage throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Capitals, now 50-19-9 with 109 points, were the first team to clinch a playoff spot this season. They have four games remaining in the regular season, and as of Thursday night, they are one behind the Winnipeg Jets for the best record in the entire league.

If they hold out, they will win the Presidents’ Trophy for the first time since 2016-17, when they went 55-19-8 with 118 points. They have won the Presidents’ Trophy three times: 2009-10, 2015-16 and 2016-17.

All this comes off the heels of captain Alex Ovechkin scoring his 895th career goal on Sunday, passing Wayne Gretzky as the greatest goal scorer in NHL history. It took Ovechkin one fewer game – 1,486 – to tie Gretzky’s record before breaking it today, just one game later.

While Ovechkin will not finish anywhere near Gretzky’s career point total of 2,857, he will likely hold on to one of the NHL’s most coveted records for many, many years to come.

Dylan Strome leads the team in assists and points with 51 and 76, respectively. Ovechkin is second with 69 points, and Belarusian forward Aliaksei Protas is third with 66 points, scoring 30 goals and 36 assists. Tom Wilson is second in goals with 32, a career high.